Ngawang Basang never received any regular education as a child, but at 24, he started diploma education at a medical school in his hometown in northwest China's Qinghai Province.

Three months ago, the lama student stood out during an exam organized by the Ta'er Monastery and won the opportunity to attend a full-time course at the Medical School of the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Hainan in Qinghai Province.

The school, located in Qabqa Town on the bank of Qinghai Lake, China's largest saltwater lake, was founded in 1977. It caters to traditional Tibetan medicine, as the northwestern province has more than 1 million Tibetans, said Liu Shuling, president of the medical school.

"Besides local high school graduates, we also recruit lamas who have worked as Tibetan doctors at lamasery-run hospitals. These lamas always cherish the hard-won opportunity and are hard-working, " Liu said.

The school has trained more than 100 lama doctors over the past 10 years and has built up such a reputation that many lamas are coming from neighboring Gansu and Sichuan provinces as well.

According to Liu, Tibetan doctors were trained exclusively at lamasery-run hospitals before the Chinese government set up professional schools to promote the traditional medicine.

Ngwang Basang, for example, was chosen to learn from Tibetan medicine 11 years after he came to Ta'er Monastery to study Tibetan Buddhism.

Ta'er Monastery is one of the largest monasteries of the Yellow Sect and is said to be the birthplace of Zongkaba (1357-1419), the founder of the Yellow Sect.

"Each year, the monastery sends its best Tibetan doctor for regular education at the medical school in Hainan Prefecture," he said, adding "They will return to the monastery to serve local herdsmen and peasants after completing their studies."

In addition to traditional Tibetan medicine, the students study rudiments of western medicine and Chinese herbal medicine, too, he said. "It's systematic training, with well-equipped labs for medical research."

Tibetan medicine was developed over a long period by the Tibetan people based on their experience in life and production, absorbing the strong points of traditional Chinese medicine and ancient Indian and Arabic medicines.

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2004)