Eyewitness to A PROGRESSING TIBET

In June 1989, Wang Renxiang with the Archaeological Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences located some charcoal and charcoal ash from the Qugong Ruins in the Lhasa area. Carbon-14 tests dated them back 3,115 years. In 1990-92, archaeologists found jade, stone and bone objects, pottery ware, bronze ware and animal skeletons from the ruins. They include a bronze-tin alloy arrowhead 4,000 years old. This supports the theory that the ancestors of the Tibetans living on the Tibet Plateau entered the bronze age some 4,000 years earlier. To inform our readers more about these discoveries, we publish Ancient Rock Paintings and Bolin Gyiasa Ruins in Markang and Lhasa Qugong: Ancient Brilliance of Snow Land in this issue.

If what the archaeologists have found can reveal more about the ancient civilization in Tibet, Liao Dongfans Mining Gold in Tibet-Compiling the "Tibetan Folktale" enables our readers to gain a better understanding of the story tellers, keeping alive an ancient tradition. They include Yexei Dainzin who used to be able to tell some 1,000 stories but can now only relate about half of them; and Cering Yuzin, a county magistrate, who is known for her story telling skills.

Nobody knows how many stories there are in Tibet. In a 10-year period beginning in the mid-1980s, efforts were made to record 7,000 stories told by 235 people for the compilation of 54 books, running to 11 million words. Public opinion holds that this is another major contribution to Tibetan cultural history, after the work on King Gesar.

Four years earlier, there were readers who wrote to ask about construction of a railway into Tibet. Although the Central Government had already made up its mind to build one then, the details remained uncertain. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway: Artery Vital for the Roof of the World published in this issue is expected to satisfy our readers interest in the railway. Efforts made over the past 40 years have yielded good results with regard to the settlement of two thorny problems: high elevation and permafrost. Construction of the railway is highly likely to begin in the second half of this year.

The 17-Article Agreement signed on May 23, 1951 for the peaceful liberation of Tibet brought an end to the Lamaist kingdom, and marked a new milestone in Tibetan history. In this issue, we publish a number of stories related to the Agreement. They include The 17-Article Agreement and Things Related to It that tells of the legal effect of the Agreement and its practicability; Negotiation for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet: Inside Story that tells of stories related to the negotiation, which are not known by the outsiders; and My Experience During the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet and Walking to Lhasa From Xining, which are personal experiences that invite our readers to travel back to the time of the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

Mr. Paul Pawlowski in London has, since September 2000, kept in touch with me. We have set up "Save Mnemonic Record of Tibet Trust" for the protection and studying of the way the Lhoba and Moinba people record things by tying ropes. The Trust is now in operation, and Chinese scholars are doing warming up "exercises" prior to exploring the Moinba and Lhoba societies. The results of this study eventually will be published for all to share in.

Degyi