Under the old system of feudal serfdom, the article notes, 95 percent of Tibetan people were illiterate and only a small portion of the Tibetan population, mostly monks, serf owners and their children, could have the opportunity to learn and use Tibetan.

In New China, Tibetan people's native language has been effectively protected by the Central People's Government and the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, since the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet in 1951, and, in particular, since the Democratic Reform was launched in 1959, the article points out.

China's Constitution and the Law on Ethnic Regional Autonomy stipulate that ethnic minority people have the freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written language, it says.

While Tibet adopts a dual-language teaching system using both Chinese and Tibetan languages, Tibetan has always been one of the main subjects in Tibetan schools of all kinds and all levels.

Except a few urban schools which are mainly open for Chinese students of Han nationality, most local primary schools use Tibetan language as their teaching language.

Currently, local junior middle schools are gradually turning to teaching subjects on natural sciences with Tibetan language. Tibetan language is also being used in Tibetan middle schools in inland areas, the article says.

Both Tibetan and Chinese are used by all local government units for official documents and materials as well as official seals, certificates, forms, envelopes, papers, signs and signatures.

Higher People's Court and Higher People's Procuratorate of Tibet are using both Tibetan and Chinese to handle legal documents. In recent years, the higher people's court and the higher people's procuratorate have published a series of books on laws and legal terminology in Tibetan language.

Tibetan has been a main language for local radio and television broadcasting. The Tibet People's Radio Station broadcasts 41 hours a day, including 20.5 hours in Tibetan language.

The Tibet Television Station now broadcasts 12 hours of Tibetan language programs each day. Its satellite channel opened in 1999 to increase the coverage of the Tibetan language programs for Tibetans in Tibet and neighboring areas.

Tibet Daily has invested heavily in building up a computerized Tibetan language editing and typesetting system, while its Tibetan reporters are using the Tibetan language in interviews and in writing news stories. The Tibetan language edition of Tibet Daily boasts a circulation of 16,000 per day.

To date, the article says that 108 titles of popular science books in the Tibetan language have been published and a number of TV documentaries on farming technology have also been made and sent to Tibetan villagers.

There are five Tibetan language literature periodicals in Tibet, and two of them have published a total of 100 issues. And all amateur troupes are using the Tibetan language in their performances, and the ten professional troupes in Tibet mainly act in the Tibetan language.

The article goes that since 1989, the Tibet People's Publishing House and the Tibet Ancient Documents Publishing House have published 441 books in the Tibetan language. Meanwhile, there are 20 Tibetan language newspapers and magazines.

Over the past five decades, the study, use and popularization of the Tibetan language has played a major role in promoting socioeconomic development and social stability and in pushing forward the prosperity and progress of science, culture and education in Tibet, the article points out.

All these show that the rumors spread by the Dalai Clique that "the Chinese government is abandoning the Tibetan language step by step" and "the Tibetan culture is being eliminated" are against the facts, it stresses.

(Xinhua)