It's the third time that Hebei assisted Tibet to help preserve and protect cultural heritage, following the large-scale renovation project on Potala Palace between 1989 and 1994, and the three-year cultural relic recovery program in Ali Prefecture which ended last year.

With the agreement signed between the two regions in January this year, Hebei specialists in ancient architecture and cultural relics will help survey, design and supervise the project during the renovation process of the Sakya Monastery, the earliest monastery of the Sakya Sect of the Tibetan Buddhism.

The monastery, renowned for preserving a large amount of Buddhist instruments and Tibetan book collections, was built in 1073 and experienced an expansion project in 1260 during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).

Since the northern part of the monastery has collapsed, experts will only rebuild the southern portion of the monastery, which covers an area of 45,000 square meters, with an estimated investment of over 70 million yuan (US$8.4 million).

Tibet has 1,700 historical and cultural sites, of which 18 are on the state protection list and 64 under the care of regional cultural relics departments.

The Chinese government has allocated a total of 300 million (US$36.15 million) in funds to renovate and open more than 1,400 Tibetan monasteries and temples in the past 20 years.

(Xinhua 02/21/2001)