The incidents happened in Aba and Garze Tibetan Prefecture, southwest China’s Sichuan Province on the first day of the Chinese New Year, Jan. 23 caused some Western officials and media as well as the“Tibetan government-in-exile” to criticize China’s policy on ethnic Tibetans.

One of the arguments is that development destructs Tibetan culture. However, does modernization really run counter to cultural preservation? Not necessarily.

Every ethnic group including Tibetans has the right to pursue development and modernization. What is really behind the strong reactions of some Western officials and media? In fact, they stemmed from the deep-rooted racism in their mindset, hoping that Tibet remains secluded in a backward and mysterious world for them to enjoy as if peeking animals in the zoo.

"This is typical Cultural Romanticism,” said Jin Canrong, professor of School of International Studies, Remin University of China based in Beijing, capital of China.  

As a matter of fact, Tibetans have a strong desire for modernization from the bottom of their heart. On the one hand, they are proud of their own cultural heritage, on the other hand, they are diffident about their current economic, scientific and technological levels. With the development of the whole country, Tibet will, and must transform from a traditional, rural, agrarian society to a secular, urban and industrial society. This historical trend cannot be reversed.

Over the past six decades, the Chinese central government has contributed a great deal to Tibet’s economic development. Tibet’s gross domestic product increased by 111 folds with its GDP up from 129 million yuan (US$20.44) in 1951 to 50.7 billion yuan in 2010(US$9.03 billion). The central government has invested 38 billion yuan (US$6.02 billion) in developing Tibetan language schools. From 1980s till now, it has also spent 1.4 billion yuan (US$220 million) in the maintenance of cultural relics in Tibet. Since 2006, both the central and regional governments have poured in 60 million yuan (US$9.51 million) to renovate intangible cultural items at the state and regional levels. In the next five years, another 1.6 billion yuan (US$254 million) will be put into the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. Unfortunately, little has been known to or recognized by some of the Western officials and media.