In China, the ancient books and documents on Tibetan
study written in characters of different nationalities are
numerous. In the 1920s and 1930s, some scholars had planned
to sort out these materials systematically. However, owing
to lack of necessary conditions, their hope died
quietly.
After the founding of New China,
particularly in the last decade, the related research bodies
at both state and local levels have done much to save,
categorize and publish ancient books and documents on
Tibetan Studies. By the end of the 1980s, ancient Tibetan
books published in China totaled over 200 kinds, with more
than one million copies. These include not only famous
historical works as Green History, Red History, The Wiseman
Xerab, Records of Royal Rulers in Tibet, The Lang Family,
and Sakw Genealogy, but also a large number of
representative works on religion, literature, poetry,
artistic theory, grammar and so on. Some scientific
documents, such as Four Medical Codes and Classics of
Calendar Calculation were also published and available to
the world.
Besides the original Tibetan works,
a large batch of Tibetan historical materials, such as
Selected Official Documents From Tibetan Historical
Archives, Selected Ancient Tibetan Laws and Regulations and
Selected Tibetan Historical Materials Series were completed
and published. Some important historical documents
originally preserved only in original Tibetan historical
books were also included in these
publications.
Tibetan Tripitaka, including the
Kanjur (the translated scriptures), and the Tanjur (the
translated elucidating treaties), are an encyclopedias of
traditional Tibetan study. In 1987, the Center for Tibetan
Study of China set up the Bureau for Correcting Tibetan
Tripitaka in Chengdu. The duty of this working body was to
read different editions and then compare and correct them.
These efforts would finally result in the publication of an
authoritative Tibetan Tripitaka (Revised Edition) of 158
volumes in deluxe edition of 16 mo, which is expected to be
a perfect combination of the published Chinese Great
Scriptures in Chinese. This work is currently under way. The
first volume of Tibetan Tripitaka is scheduled to be
published by the China Tibetology Publishing House sometime
later this year.
While successfully
categorizing and publishing historical documents in Tibetan,
a similar work on those materials written in Chinese has
also achieved considerable success. To date, the published
historical documents in Chinese total about two hundred and
cover the period from the Tang Dynasty to the Republic of
China. They include historical records, dossiers, memorials
to the throne, surveys, local annals, travelogues, and notes
and diaries. Some are exceptionally rare; Historical
Materials About Tubo Quoted from ''The Complete Tang Prose''
and "The complete Tang Poetry'', Tubo History as a
Mirror, Tibetan Historical Materials From ''Records of the
Ming Dvnasty'' , Tibetan Historical Materials From ''Records
of the Qing Dynasty'' , Memorials to the Throne From Local
Tibetan Government, Dossiers About the Situations on the
Borders of Sichuan and Yunnan in Late Qing Dynasty,
Telegrams on Tibetan Affairs in 1912 , Selected Documents on
the Death and Funeral Service of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama
and the Reincarnation of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Selected
Dossiers About Ninth Panchen Lama's Activities in Inland
China and the Obstructions He Met When Returning Tibet, and
Reports From Huang Musong, Wu Zhongxin , Zhao Shouyu and Dai
Chuanxian on Their Duties of Dealing With Tibetan Affairs,
all are vitally important materials for Tibetan
Study.
Thanks to the close cooperation and
joint efforts of those involved units, the work of
translating historical documents between Chinese and Tibetan
has also been undertaken smoothly.
Equally
important is the publishing of ancient books and documents
in both Chinese and Tibetan so that this irreplaceable
material is not lost. It has not only provided interested
scholars with rich historical materials, but also given
convincing evidence to expose the plot of ''Tibet's
Independence'' and safeguard China's unification. At the
same time, it also protects an important historical cultural
heritage. According to a concerned personnel in Tibet, in
the past, many valuable works had only one or two
handwritten copies. They were printed on wood -blocks, and
their distribution was strictly limited. Even in modern
time, the local Tibetan government locked the historical
documents in dark rooms. Ordinary people were not permitted
to read them without charge. Only after the founding of new
China were these works, for the first time, publicly
published and widely distributed. They have returned to the
hands of all Tibetans.
|