By Zhu Linyong (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-16 07:15

Tibetan scholar Dekyid has worked for many years in the Display Room for Tibetan Cultural Legacies on the third floor of the China Tibetology Research Center (CTRC) in northern Beijing.

Tibetan scholar Dekyid arranges some of the traditional boxes that will go on display at the museum. [China Daily]

Although she likes her work she said she often wished the exhibition hall was bigger - it measures less than 50 sq m - so that more exhibits could be put on show for visitors.

Now her dream is set to come true, as a new China Tibetan Culture Museum is being built to accommodate the region's cultural arts and treasures. Construction work began last April and the museum is scheduled to open later this year.

The new museum, which is affiliated to the research center, "will become the most inclusive and authoritative institute in the Chinese capital for disseminating Tibetan culture", CTRC chief director Lhakpa Phuntsogs said.

Zhang Chunyan, head of the preparatory office for the museum, said: "We hope the museum will attract scholars from at home and abroad, as well as local people, students and anyone who has an interest in Tibetan history, arts and culture."

As well as a host of static exhibits, there will be slide shows, videos, 3-D copies of cave paintings and models representing the Tibetan way of life, she said.

The museum will also have a Tibetan caf, a store selling books, art replicas and other souvenirs, a performing arts center, and rooms for lectures, conferences and screenings of Tibetan-themed films.

There will also be hands-on studios to give visitors a real taste of Tibetan culture such as how Buddhist sutras are printed in the traditional way, she said.

"During major Tibetan festivals, the center will also host parties for visitors, especially high school and university students, who might even get an unexpected gift", Zhang said without elaborating.

"If the construction work goes to plan, the museum will open in early August", she said.

Built at a cost of about 160 million yuan - provided by the central government - the museum will occupy a lot off the northern 4th Ring Road, a few miles east of the Bird's Nest - the main
stadium for the Beijing Olympics.

Once completed, the museum will cover about 20,000 sq m, Zhang said.

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