Gov´t protects Tibetan religions freedom

WATCH VIDEO

Inside the Drepung Monastery, Monk Awan Quntseng has finished his daily work and spent this evening reading and watching TV.

Awan Quntseng, a monk of Drepung Monastery, said, "Great changes have happened to the living and learning conditions in the monastery in the past decades. With access to electricity, we can study by day and night. Many young monks use computers. "

Influenced by their mother's belief in Buddhism, Awan and his brother entered the Buddhist institution after they graduated from primary school. There they studied totally free of charge, with living necessities provided free. And Awan was only one of tens of thousands.

Tibet now has 1,700 monasteries, temples and gathering places for Tibetan Buddhism, with 46,000 monks and nuns.

More than one million people visit the sacred places of Lhasa to pray and worship every year. And their pilgrimage journey has become easy, thanks for the development of modern transportation.

Gongbu, a pilgrim, said, "It used to take about a month from Nagqu to Lhasa traveling by foot and on horseback. Now we can take trains and buses. Some wealthy people can get here within two or three days by car."

Since the 1980's, the central government has invested more than 700 million yuan in maintaining and protecting the monasteries, temples and other religious gathering places in Tibet.

Editor:Liu Anqi