The Chinese government has made impressive efforts to bring Tibet into the modern world while preserving its traditional culture, a US journalist said on Sunday.

David Jones, interim managing editor of the Washington Times, said in an e-mail interview with the Xinhua News Agency that during his trip to Tibet in September, he saw that much had been done to repair temples and build museums.

Tibetan song and dance has also been revitalized as part of the government's efforts to protect Tibetan culture, he said.

"Large sums have been spent to preserve and restore Tibet's temples and monasteries ... Almost $30 million has already been spent on the Potala Palace alone," he wrote in a report about his trip to Tibet, published in October.

"The government also sponsors professional and amateur dance and theater troupes and has set aside up to one-third of Tibet's total area for wildlife preserves," he said.

In his report, Jones said officials in Beijing and Lhasa seem to have come to the same conclusion that they can attract tourists to the region by preserving its culture.

Jones said he had a "romantic picture" that Tibet was rather backward before he went there, but was surprised to see a modern Tibet with first-class highways and good communication links.

Even the yak herders had cell phones and motorbikes.

"It is obvious to me that the government has spent a lot of money on infrastructure," he said. "The mobile-phone reception in some parts of Tibet is better than in West Virginia."

The government of Tibet is "very much a mixture of Tibetan and Han officials at all levels", he said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 7, 2008)