China has paid great attention to maintaining and safeguarding the Tibetan people's right to study, use and develop their spoken and written language, according to a 5,000-character article released by the State Council Information Office Thursday.
As a result, the article says, the spoken and written Tibetan Language has been widely studied, universally used and greatly developed.
The Tibetan language, an important component of the traditional culture of Tibet, was worked out by Tonmi Sanboza, a Tibetan linguist in the seventh century, according to the article.
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 the Tibetan language.
In New China, the 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.
In accordance with the stipulations of the state laws, the Tibet Autonomous Region promulgated and implemented two regulations in 1987 and 1988 respectively to provide effective legal shield for the study, use and development of the spoken and written Tibetan language.
The regulations are "Some Provisions of the Tibet Autonomous Region on the Study, Use and Development of the Spoken and Written Tibetan Language" and "Rules for the Implementation of Some Provisions of the Tibet Autonomous Region on the Study, Use and Development of the Spoken and Written Tibetan Language".
In 1988, the Steering Committee on the Work of the Spoken and Written Tibetan Language was established by the autonomous regional government, and later, similar steering committees or leading groups were set up by subordinate departments of the regional government and all prefectures and cities in Tibet.
Meanwhile, translation institutions were organized at regional, prefecture and county levels in Tibet. In 1995, a set of Tibetan language computer code was compiled with the support of the government.
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.
At present, 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.
Currently, Tibetan language is the only teaching language for 102 classes in some local middle schools in Tibet, while the Tibetan language is partially used in some other local middle schools.
Since 1989, the Tibet University has opened special classes to teach Tibetan language teachers for junior middle schools, which have, so far, fostered 1,438 Tibetan language teachers for junior middle schools and 313 translators and researchers of the Tibetan language.
Notable achievements have also been made in publishing Tibetan language textbooks. Up to now, 181 kinds of textbooks on 16 subjects for primary schools and middle schools have been completed, along with 122 kinds of teaching reference books and 16 kinds of teaching guidelines.
Since 1996, the Tibet University has stepped up the compilation of textbooks in Tibetan language, including three kinds of textbooks that have gone off the press.
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 writing news stories. The Tibetan language edition of Tibet Daily boasts a circulation of 16,000 per day.
Science workers in Tibet have been successful in popularizing science among local Tibetans, many of them farmers and herdsmen, using the Tibetan language. To date, 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 shot and sent to Tibetan villagers.
In local posts and telecommunications departments, all the staff are required to use both the Tibetan and the Chinese languages, while the two languages are used in all relevant publicity materials, graphs, signboards, posters and services.
Besides publishing a Chinese-Tibetan posts and telecommunications dictionary, local posts and telecommunications departments also provide telegram and paging services in the Tibetan language.
The Tibetan language is also used in the fostering of Tibetan writers and artists. There are five Tibetan language literature periodicals in Tibet, and two of them have published a total of 100 issues.
In recent years, over 30 influential novels or collections of stories have been published in the Tibetan language. All amateur troupes are using the Tibetan language to write scripts and to act, and the ten professional troupes in Tibet give performances in the Tibetan language.
Local publishing houses have paid great attention to Tibetan language publications. Since 1989, the Tibet People's Publishing House and the Tibet Ancient Documents Publishing House have published 441 kinds of books in the Tibetan language. Meanwhile, there are 20 Tibetan language newspapers and magazines.
Rapid development has been made in Tibetan language translation undertakings along with the reform, opening and modernization drive in Tibet.
In 1993, the Translators Association of Tibet was founded, with two branches in Lhasa, the regional capital, and Shigaze, the second largest city in Tibet, respectively.
The association has held seven training courses for 337 people so far. In 1994, an academic seminar on Tibetan language translation, the second of its kind in the country and the first in Tibet, was held in the autonomous region.
The association has also sent its members to attend national and international symposiums on translation held in inland areas, including Beijing, the national capital, Qinghai and Gansu provinces, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and foreign countries, such as Australia and the Republic of Korea.
Currently, there are some 1,000 people in Tibet engaged in Tibetan language translation, translating more than 30 million words of documents and files concerning various fields every year.
Tibet has also made remarkable progress in regularizing and standardizing the written Tibetan language. Since 1993, Tibet began drafting the standards for the information technology of the Tibetan language.
In 1997, the encoded Tibetan language became the first ethnic minority language in China recognized formally by the international standards.
In the meantime, local experts are busy working on software in the Tibetan language. In 1996, 22 styles of printing Tibetan characters passed a national appraisal.
Tibet has made efforts to standardize the special terms and phases of the Tibetan language as it is a basic work for popularizing culture and education and developing science and technology.
Since 1995, Tibet started working on the General Principles and Methods on the Standardization of Technical Terms of the Tibetan Language. Six symposiums were held, attended by experts from all fields. Over 3,000 terms and phases on the market economy in the Tibetan language have been set.
In recent years, the local government has launched campaigns to check the use of the Tibetan language in the streets and by local units.
The regional government plans to set up a standardization committee on the Tibetan language. Local experts are expected to examine and approve 1,000 new terms and phases every year. Meanwhile, the Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary of Market Economy and the Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary of Law are being compiled.
Tibet also plans to host the second regional symposium on Tibetan language translation. More local experts are expected to attend national and international seminars on the issue of ethnic minority languages.
Over the past five decades, the study, use and popularization of the Tibetan language have 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.
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.
(Xinhua)
