Sat cross-legged on a Tibetan rug, silently rolling a prayer wheel, Samdrup suddenly burst out in a furious passion and started narrating the heroic life story of King Gesar. Beside him, a voice recorder was working at the same time to record the entire process.

In this way, the 87-year-old Tibetan artist Samdrup finished narrating a tape lasting more than 2,000 hours about the Epic King Gesar, an ancient Tibetan legendary hero. The tape was produced by the Institute of Nationality Research, Tibet Academy of Social Sciences.

Started from 2000, the institute has published some 30 books on the epic and plans to bring another 15 to the public in three or five years.

With no literal record, the epic of King Gesar can be only passed down orally by Tibetan folk artists. Preservation of Epic of King Gesar was included in the Chinese folk art & culture preservation project, the largest ever in China.

Organizations responsible for saving and protecting Epic of King Gesar were set up one after another in Beijing, Lhasa and other Chinese mainland cities. Finding as well as educated artists of King Gesar is one of its responsibilities.

To date, in China there are more than 140 folk artists capable of narrating the story of King Gesar. All the artists receive well treatment from the government. Samdrup, a street beggar in old Tibet, now moves into the decent house given by the government with living subsidy and enjoys free medical treatment.

File photo shows Tubdain, a Gesar vocal folk artist, is narrating the "Epic of King Gesar".

Tibetan folk arts and cultures, like Epic of King Gesar, which was inscribed into the 1st batch state and regional intangible cultural heritages lists, received effective preservation and heritage in recent decades.

In 2006, 15 Tibetan items such as Epic of King Gesar, Thangka, Repa dance and Tibetan paper-making skills, were inscribed into the List of State Intangible Cultural Heritage, while 38 inscribed into regional level.

Statistics shows a fund totalling 630 million yuan from the central government was allocated to boost and protect the Tibetan culture since 1965. Organizations of preservation of Tibetan culture were set up in many regions of Tibet since 1980s, and sent investigation groups to visit villages, monasteries and folk artists, and collecting materials.

The 700-year-old "Diuxie" is a traditional Tibetan folk sing and dance that few people know about. Now, it was listed into List of State Intangible Cultural Heritage. The art became eye-catching after farmer artists from Lhatse of Tibet performed it in Beijing, Guangzhou, Hongkong, Macao and other Chinese mainland cities.

According to Xin Gaosuo, deputy head of Tibet Cultural Bureau, in Tibet there are 10 professional art troupes, 500 amateurish performing teams, 19 county art troupes and 160 organizations to perform Tibetan opera. They often performed in animal and agricultural areas of Tibet.

In new era, traditional Tibetan culture has been receiving effective preservation in a scientific way, Gao said.