Impact of Qinghai-Tibet Railway on Tibetan cultural heritage

In the long history of Tibet, Tibetan people have created a rich and diversified culture with distinct characteristics, which not only include a large number of tangible cultural heritage, such as the world-renowned Potala Palace, but a more comprehensive intangible cultural heritage in the forms of language and literature, opera and music, painting and sculpting, etc.

Some of its tangible cultural heritages are already on the list of world cultural heritages. In 1994, the Potala Palace was inscribed to the World Heritage List by UNESCO. In 2000 and 2001, Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka were added to the list as extensions to the Potala.

With the operation of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway that is known as the highest railway in the world, Tibet’s tourism is being developed rapidly, and more and more travelers are flocking into Tibet by the train to Lhasas. At the same time, rapid modernization has been a concern for UNESCO.

The UNESCO worried about that modern structures built around these sites would threathen the unique atmosphere there. To prevent this situation from happening, the Chinese government responded by enacting a rule barring the building of any structure taller than 21 metres in the area and also clarified that only traditional materials and craftsmanship were allowed during the restoration of these buildings. At the same time, the number of visitors to the palace bas been restricted each day, with opening hours reduced to six hours daily to avoid over-crowding since May 2003.

For the intangible Tibetan cultural heritages, such as Thangka, golden Buddha statues, scriptures, Tibetan opera masks and precious historical records of Tibetan literature, music, dancing, opera, etc., are also well-preserved by great efforts by instituting a protection list system and building more cultural infrastructure. Closer attention is paid to inheriting and protecting techniques to make traditional handicrafts, such as Thangka, Tibetan paper, Tibetan incense, Tibetan medicines and Tibetan knives.

Therefore, it is nothing for those people to worry about that the Qinghai-Tibet would lead destruction of Tibet’s culture and religious heritage. In fact, the train to Tibet brings more investment and strength to protect Tibetan culture.