Chinese Tibetologists have rebutted the accusations that the Tibetan culture is being destroyed, saying such claims glorified the anachronistic culture of the few serf owners, while ignoring the improvements enjoyed by the Tibetan people.

Zhang Yun, a researcher with the China Tibetology Research Center, said the "Tibetan culture" uttered by the Dalai clique only represented their own class and had little to do with the vast majority of the people in Tibet.

In old Tibet, the serfs and slaves that accounted for 95 percent of the population had no guaranteed right to live, let alone educational and cultural rights, Zhang said in an article published by the People's Daily overseas edition.

Since Tibet's peaceful liberation and democratic reform in the 1950s, the southwestern autonomous region has made great strides in preserving and developing Tibetan culture, with the government investing heavily in education and cultural preservation.

Between 1951 and 2021, over 257 billion yuan (37.4 billion U.S. dollars) were poured into the region's educational sector, helping raise the number of primary and middle schools from 462 and four respectively at the end of 1959 to 832 and 156 in 2021.

In the period spanning 2006-2020 alone, the central government allocated more than 3.4 billion yuan for the maintenance and repair of 155 cultural relic sites in Tibet.

Tibet now has three items (Gesar, Tibetan opera, and Lum medicinal bathing of Sowa Rigpa) included on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. There are 106 items on the national intangible cultural heritage list with 96 state-level representative bearers. The University of Tibetan Medicine has trained over 7,000 Tibetan medicine professionals since its establishment in 1993.

"The Tibetan culture has gone through a fundamental transition from one monopolized by a small fraction of feudal serf owners to a culture jointly created, promoted and shared by all people in Tibet," Zhang said.

The Tibetologist said that despite the noticeable achievements, Tibetan culture doomsayers have continued to smear China's Tibet policies and cry out grievance for the decayed serfdom culture of the old Tibet.

"The true intention of the Dalai clique and some Western governments is not to protect the Tibetan culture, but to split China and restore the old rule," Zhang said.

In another article published by the Global Times, Tibetologist Li Decheng denounced the illegal nature of the Dalai clique and the so-called "Tibetan government-in-exile."

"The Dalai clique is a separatist political group engaged in separatist and sabotage activities," said Li, another researcher with the China Tibetology Research Center.

The Dalai clique represents the remnants of the feudal serf-owner class in old Tibet, and is supported and utilized by international hostile forces, Li said.

Meanwhile, the so-called "Tibetan government-in-exile" is only an illegal organization without political legitimacy, according to the article.

The organization is in essence an illegal organization plotting to split China. Furthermore, its existence and activities are totally unconstitutional and illegal, Li said, adding that it has no legitimacy at all from a political and legal point of view.