Preserving intangible cultures of Tibet

Intangible cultures receive better protection and preservation through the joint efforts of the locals and the government in the Tibet autonomous region.

Organized by the Information Office of the State Council and as part of the ongoing 5th China Tibet Tourism and Culture Expo, which kicked off on Friday evening in Lhasa, capital of the region, 20 journalists from 15 different media are scheduled to observe different sites and interview different people in the next few days.

According to the schedule, the media team made a trip to Nyemo county to learn the preservation of Tibetan paper and incense production crafts.

According to the county's culture bureau, it has 13 items of intangible cultural heritages, including four national, two national, four city level, and three county level cultural heritages. The county has altogether 28 intangible cultural inheritors.

"The intangible cultural heritages of our county include the traditional way of Tibetan incense production, Tibetan paper making, Tibetan opera mask making, Tibetan calligraphy, scripture carving, Tibetan drum making, clay sculpture, pottery, and prayer flag printing," said Nyidron, a staff member from the cultural bureau of Nyemo.

"The government provides bonus to these intangible inheritors every year, and they receive subsidies between 2,000 yuan ($280) to 20,000 yuan annually from the government on their efforts in cultural preservation," said Nyidron.

Tsering Dorje, a Tibetan resident in the Thonda village of the county, said his family is engaged in the Tibetan incense production business for generations, and he learned the skills from his father.

Tsering Dorje said most villagers operate incense production business, and the procedures of the incense production are still mainly operated by hands, although villagers have started adopting an electric machine to squeeze the incense clay in recent years.

He said several years ago, his family could only earn a maximum of 100,000 yuan in a year. In the last three years, his family is able to make between 300,000 yuan and 400,000 yuan from his incense business.

"I mainly wholesale the incense from my home, I do not have a particular shop, purchasers come to our village to buy, and my business is good as my home is near from the main road," said the 46-year-old.

"Another boom to my business in recent years is online sale and social media, with many tourists getting to know my incense from social media like Douyin," he said.

Nyidron said her county is enriched with intangible cultures in Lhasa, therefore, different handcrafts and products from 11 intangible cultural cooperatives of her county have been invited to attend the exhibition activity of the ongoing expo.

"Tenzin Chodrak, one of our national intangible cultural inheritors, has been invited to attend the expo in Lhasa in the next few days."