Tibetan studies experts in Europe

The Flourishing Tibetology in Tibet, China
----Gelsang Gytsen

Tibetology is a comprehensive discipline studying the formation, development and other Tibet related issues such as its politics, economy, culture and society. China is the hometown of the study on Tibet. The modern Tibetology in Tibet, China, has gained great momentum, and has attracted great attention from international Tibetology arena.

I. Long History of Tibetology in China

Study on Tibet in China can be dated back to several thousand years ago. Ancient Tibetology scholars recorded and studied the history and culture of Tibet plateau. Documents in Tibetan language written by the scholars are large in quantity and abundant in content. Among all of the ancient documents in different dialects, those of Tibet ethnic group is only second to those of Han as regards to quantity and content. Moreover, documents by Han nationality are the earliest in recording and studying Tibet ethnic group, besides those by Tibet ethnic group themselves. About 2,000 years ago, in the Qin and Han period, there were documents in Hanzi about the ancestors in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Since Sui and Tang Dynasty, there have been numerous documents on Tibetan history and culture in Hanzi. Officials of different dynasty wrote historical record, local chronicles, archives and all kinds of private works on the history and culture of Tibet in details, such as "Book on Tang Dynasty", "Book on Song Dynasty", "The History of Yuan Dynasty", "The History of Ming Dynasty", and "Record of Qing Dynsty". Han is the first among all of nationalities in China to study Tibet and its history and culture. Since Yuan Dynasty, there have been a great many documents about the history and culture of Tibet nationality in Mongolian and Manchu characters as well. All these documents and materials cover various aspects of Tibet, such as history, literature, religion, politics, economy, art, folk customs, and so on. They reflect the evolution of the history and culture of Tibet ethnic group, and the study journey of Tibet, Han and other nationalities as well. Today, scholars on Tibetology have kept benefit from the rich and precious historic documents in dialects of different nationalities, which assist the development of Tibetology.

II. Formation and Development of Modern Tibetology in Today's Tibet

Modern Study on Tibet can be traced back to 1950s. Great changes have taken place at the time in political systems. The Central Government has not only paid great attention to the social and economic development of Tibet, but also made great effort as to Tibetan culture. The modern study on Tibet in Tibet, China, has been carried out and Tibetology has entered into a new era.

In late 1950s, over 70 members from Tibet Society and History Research Group joined forces with experts from Central Institute for Nationalities of China Academy of Social Sciences carried out an intensive research and study on Tibetan society and history. They obtained significant information regarding different disciplines, such as history, sociology, nationality, archeology, linguistics, and ancient anthropology. At the same time, scholars from Tibet together with those from other places in China collected, collated and studied the documents on Tibetology. Through the research, collecting, arranging and study, precious materials were accumulated for China Tibetology, and solid foundation for modern Tibetology in Tibet, China were laid.

During 1960s, with the support from the Central Government, great achievements had been made in the collection, arranging and study of Tibetan historical and cultural heritage. With the initiative of Tibet Cultural Relics Management Committee, various effective measures have been carried out. Ancient documents were well preserved. Historical relics were repaired. Tens and thousands of precious historical documents were collected and collated. Meanwhile, exploration and protection of Tibetan local culture and art heritage was widely implemented. Folk works were rescued and compiled. Tibetan folk music and dance materials were collected and collated. Traditional Tibetan operas were collated and re-edited. Folk songs, proverbs, fairy tales and stories were compiled into books. The fundamental research of folk cultural heritage was carried out. Tibet Autonomous Region Founding Committee organized five Buddhism Seminars and collated the numerous Tibetan Buddhism classics.

Between 1950s and 1960s, large-scale social survey and the collection and collation of cultural heritage were carried out. Besides the abundant research material, it also trained a group of Tibetan experts who made great research achievements. It laid the foundation for the overall and deep research work and the gradual formation of the structure of today's Tibetology in Tibet.

III. Great Achievements in Tibetology in Tibet, China

Since 1980s, studies on Tibet have entered into a new stage. In the past two decades, studies on Tibet have developed rapidly in Tibet and have made unprecedented achievements. Guided under the principle of fully inheriting and developing traditional Tibetology, Tibetology scholars have adopted various methodologies from different modern human studies, such as anthropology, sociology, nationality science, history science, religion science, linguistics and archaeology. They have analyzed the historical culture and current status of the Tibetan society and produced significant research results. Tibetology in Tibet has made great achievements.

A. Achievements in the Study of History, Literature and Arts

Over the past few years, Tibatology scholars in Tibet have conducted several large-scale surveys, collection, collation, edition, and publishing of the Tibetan folk cultural and art heritage. In 1989, A General History of Tibet with the famous Tibetan historian Mr. Charba o Phuntsok Tseden from Tibet Academy of Social Sciences as chief editor was published. It is the first general history works edited by Tibetan scholar, containing most abundant literature and history materials. In 1993, the over 800,000-word long History of Chinese Operas and Story-telling Ballads: Tibet Volume with illustration was published. The 1.73 million-word long Collection of Chinese Folk Songs: Tibet Volume was also published in the same year. A series of collections, such as Collection of Chinese Proverbs: Tibet Volume, Collection of Chinese Folk Stories: Tibet Volume, Record of Tibetology, Record of Language and Words, and Record of Folk Custom are now under compilation and will be published within few years. All of the achievements have provided rich materials for the establishment of scientific discipline of Tibetology, and made it convenient for the development of Tibetology at deeper and higher level.

B. Remarkable Achievements in All-round Way Survey of Cultural Relics and Archeological Work

In the first half of this century, archeological studies in Tibet were virtually nonexistent. Since 1950s, based on the general survey of cultural relics, archeological discovery in Tibet has progressed greatly. Many Stone Age cultural remains were unearthed. Ancient cemeteries, stone inscriptions, murals and tablets were discovered. By the end of 1980s, in Tibet, 55 Old and New Stone Age sites, 20 ancient cemeteries and about 2000 tombs were discovered. The Karuo Ruins in Qamdo (dated back to about 4,000 years ago) and Qugong ruins in north suburb of Lahsa (dated back to about 4,000 years ago) were excavated in 1970s and 1980s respectively. The excavation has provided reliable evidence to correct and complete Tibetan ancient classics and works, understand the changes of environment, deeper understand the activities, culture and society of Stone Age people in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the studies of widely interested origins and evolution of Tibetan culture, and so on. It also unveiled the mysteries of Tibet in ancient times. By 1990s, the Autonomous Region has basically completed the region-wide general survey of cultural relics and confirmed 1,768 sites of cultural remains. Among them, there are 18 important cultural relic sites under state protection, and 67 cultural relic sites under autonomous region-level protection. In 1994, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee placed Potala Palace on the World Heritage List. What needs mentioning is that lots of precious cultural relics have been well protected due to the substantial capital allocation from the Central Government for reparation and restoration. They also provide valuable materials for Tibetology scholars in profound study of the ancient civilization of Tibet nationality.

C. Ancient Documents and Archives are Well Preserved

There are enormous number of ancient documents and archives of studies on Tibet. It is hard to give a specific figure of document in Tibetan-language. With the support from the Central Government over the past few decades, there have been remarkable achievements in the rescue, collocation and publishing of Tibetological ancient documents. A great number of historical cultural documents in Tibetan-language, ancient archives on wood, metal and stone and religious classics were under overall protection, rescued and spread, including the only edition of Origin of Buddhism by Dewu reflecting the history of Tibetan nationality, the almost out-of-print Bon Tripitaka (308 volumes), the valuable Collection and Study of the Pattra-Leaf Sutra in Sanskrit Found in Lhasa, and well-known Buddhism Tripitaka (collated version), and Tibetan Calendar. They cover history, philosophy, religion, linguistics and literature, laws, biographies, geography, Tibetan medicine and pharmacology, calendar, craft, art, architecture and many other disciplines. It can be said that most of classics and works in Tibetan-language have their modern version now. The Tibet Academy of Social Sciences also established publishing house to publish ancient documents in Tibet-language. The Tibet Autonomous Region Archives is one of the archives which contain most abundant local documents, with millions volumes of archives, and archives in a variety of other languages, such as Han Chinese, Manchu and Mongolian. All of the archives are now under the protection of modern technology.

D. Folk-telling Epic, Life of King Gesar, were Rescued

The folk-telling art, Life of King Gesar, is regarded as the king of Tibetan literature and is worldly recognized longest Tibetan folk-telling epic. It is long in size and rich in content. Over the past four decades, the Central Government and Autonomous Region Government have paid great attention to rescue and collate the epic. Around 1980s, formal institute was set up to excavate, collect, record, collate, study and publish the epic. Since 1980s, The Life of King Gesar Rescuing Office of the Nationality Study Institue of Tibet Academy of Social Sciences alone has visited 40 folk artists, recorded over one hundred folk-telling versions, collated 50 versions, published 34 versions, and collected about one hundred old versions. It can be said that it is possible to transform the distributed oral literature over generations into a systematic and complete literature masterpiece.

E. Tibetology Goes to the World

Since 1980, with the great achievement in China Tibetology, Tibetology experts and scholars from Tibet Autonomous Region have paid visits to other countries in the world. Academic exchanges with overseas scholars have been more and more frequent and active. Since the first visit of scholar from Tibet Academy of Social Science's visit to Hungary, Tibetologists from Tibet Autonomous Region have paid lots of visits to other countries, such as France, Swiss, Italy, Japan and Mexico. They carry out academic exchanges and exchanges of books and materials. It greatly promotes the understanding and academic exchanges between Tibetologists from China and overseas.

Since 1993, scholars from Tibet Autonomous Region Academy of Social Science and the University of Tibet have been invited to Europe for research work and giving lectures by institutions such as Austrian University of Vienna, Austrian Academy of Social Sciences, Mountain Region Study Institute of Italian National Science Committee, and Norwegian University of Oslo. They have co-published translation works of Tibetan ancient history and religion with overseas counterparts and given lectures on the achievements in Tibetan Tibetology studies at institutes such as the University of Vienna, Austrian Institute of Studies on Tibet and Buddhism, Paris Oriental Languages Institute.
Over the past decade, Tibetologists from Tibet have attended 'Chinese Minority Language, Culture and History International Academic Seminar' held in USA, 1987 Austrian International Tibetology Seminar, 1992 Norway 6th International Tibetology Conference, 1995 Austria 7th International Tibetology Conference, 1998 America Brumington International Tibetology Coference, and 9th International Tibetology Conference held in Holland in 2000.

Meanwhile, more and more foreign Tibetologists come to Tibet Autonomous Region to participate in various academic activities and cooperation projects. The Tibet Academy of Social Science alone has received hundreds of foreign scholars and scholars from Hong Kong, Taiwan. In recent years, several international academic conferences have been held in Tibet. Tibetologists from UK, USA, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, India, Mongolia, Czech, former Soviet Union and other countries and those from Hong Kong and Taiwan have attended the conferences. In 1991, International the Life of King Gesar Academic Seminar was held in Lahsa. In July 2000, International Tibetan Medicine and Pharmacology Academic Seminar was held in Lahsa. Tibetology study institutes in Tibet Autonomous Region have signed agreement on long-term cooperation and exchanges, such as the agreement between Tibet Academy of Social Science and the University of Tibet, and universities and institutes from Austria, Norway, France, and America. It makes international academic exchanges be conducted in a standard and frequent way. Through the activities, the understanding and friendship between counterparts from inside and outside Tibet have been strengthened. The development of Tibetology has been promoted. It can be anticipated that, under the guidance of the Opening to the outside World Policy by the Central Government, the academic exchanges between Tibetologists from inside and outside Tibet are going to develop constantly and successfully in wider area.

IV. Teaching and Research Teams and Organizations in Tibetology

A. Tibetology Teaching and Research Organizations

Chinese Government has paid great attention to research on Tibetology, so as to promote the economic and social development of Tibet and other Tibet areas and to strengthen the protection of outstanding cultural heritage. Between1950s and 1960s, Tibetology study institutes were established at research units, universities and colleges and government departments in Beijing, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and so on. Since 1978, Central Government has allocated more investment, complementing the already existed Tibetology research team and establishing new institutes. At present, there are over 50 Tibetology research institutes.

Tibet Academy of Social Science is the Tibetology research center in Tibet region, and is also the biggest comprehensive one in the region. The academy was initiated in 1978 and established on August 5th, 1985. Now, it is composed of Institute for Nationalities, Institute for Religions, Economic Strategy Institute, Rural Economy Institute, Contemporary Era Institute, Information and Documents Department, Institute for Ancient Documents in Tibet-language, and Tibetology Study magazine, and so on. The academy has over 100 researchers, who have carried out about one hundred research projects, most of which are key projects of the state or Autonomous region. The Tibet Autonomous Region has also established even larger number of Tibetology institutes studying single discipline only, such as the Institute for Nationality of Tibet College for Nationalities, the Institute for Nationality Education of the Autonomous Region Education Office, Tibetan Culture Institute of the Autonomous Region Culture Office, Tibetan Medicine, the Institute of Tibetan Astrology and Medicine of the Autonomous Region Hospital of Tibetan Medicine, the Autonomous Region Life of King Gesar Rescuing Office, the Cultural and Historical Materials Committee of the Consultative Conferences at Autonomous Region and District levels, the Autonomous Region Archives, the Autonomous Region Cultural Relics Archeology Group and the Tibet history, art, and language departments at the University of Tibet. In addition, functional departments in the Autonomous People's Government and the Tibet Husbandry College also have Tibetology study institutes.

B. Research Team

In the past, there were only few scholars in Tibet, China, carrying out Tibetology study. However, in recent fifty years, the Central Government has gathered together the scattered Tibetologists and provided good working and living conditions to revitalizing the Tibetology study.

Since 1960s, university students studying Tibet literature and history have joined research institutes in Tibet and the training of Tibetology study team in Tibet has commenced. Under the supervision of elder experts and scholars, young scholars have grown into senior experts in Tibetology study, teaching, translation and publishing. Teaching and research on Tibetan history, religion, philosophy, language, medicine and astrology are carried out at the University of Tibet, Central Ethnic Institute, Northwest Ethnic Institute, Southwest Ethnic Institute, Tibet Ethnic Institute. They have trained lots of Tibetology study experts, most of whom are now senior talents in the Tibetology study team in Tibet.

Since 1987, about one hundred graduate students have finished their study on Tibetology, over half of whom are Tibetans. Moreover, there are even more Tibetans who have completed their undergraduate's study. Many of them have returned to Tibet for Tibetology study in Tibet. These middle-aged or young scholars are creative and have published many academic works of high level and had successful debut in the academic field. The Tibetology study team in Tibet, China, has entered into a new era.