A view of the Potala Palace, Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, on December 5, 2018. Photo: VCG

According to the management office of the Potala Palace, from 2019, the Chinese government will invest a total of 300 million yuan ($44.9 million) over the next ten years to protect and utilize the ancient documents in the Potala Palace in Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.

The plan will be implemented by the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, and will involve preventative protection, restoration measures, digital protection and exhibitions of precious ancient documents.

At present, a total of nearly 40,000 books of precious ancient documents in Chinese, Tibetan, Manchu, Mongolian and Sanskrit are preserved in the Potala Palace, said the management office of the Potala Palace, Xinhua reported.

The ancient documents are not only relics but precious historical files that demonstrate and help safeguard China's territorial integrity, Jorden, vice director of the management office of the Potala Palace, told Xinhua.

In the 1970s, the Potala Palace organized a team to sort, protect and restore ancient documents. As a result, four collections of ancient documents were compiled and published.

In recent years, Tibet has started to input, sort and digitize the original electronic catalogue in order to better protect and utilize the precious ancient documents.

Local staff are currently rolling out digital registration for about 2,800 books of ancient documents in Chinese and Tibetan.

The Cultural Heritage Administration of the Tibet Autonomous Region compiled a pre-feasibility study report on the protection project for the Potala Palace cultural relics, which has been approved for funding by the central finance 10-year anniversary special fund, Jorden said.

Global Times