Tibetan sutra-printing has been a long-standing practice in Dege county for centuries and it is in this county in Sichuan province where the largest Tibetan sutra-printing house is located.
On Thursday, the local cultural officials of Dege have announced that the printing house will be expanding its facilities to house the blocks used by the printing house and display other related materials used in traditional sutra-printing. According to the Kamba Culture Institute Vice Director Yang Sheng, the 320,000 Tibetan sutra printing blocks used in the printing house were all stacked up to the roof, placing the printing house at risk to fire hazards. The printing house was built in 1729 in wood and it does not have electricity.
The new museum is set to be built in 2018 and funded by the state with an amount of 80 million yuan. A digital archive would also be included in the museum, as well as a library given the printing house's collection of classic literature regarding all five major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
It is the hope of the local authorities that the museum would restore the awareness of the public regarding the history and essence of Tibetan sutra-printing, as well as showing its importance to Tibetan culture. The printing house often has 60,000 visitors per year and likely to increase once the airport close to the county in Sichuan will be done, cutting the travel time to Dege.
