NUMBER OF TIBETAN ANTELOPES IN TIBET EXCEEDS 200,000

With the Tibet Autonomous Region's increasing efforts and initiatives to protect wildlife in recent years,the Tibetan antelope population in Tibet has increased from around 50,000 in the 1990s to over 200,000 today.The number of Tibetan wild donkeys has increased from around 50,000 to around 90,000.The number of black-necked cranes has increased from less than 3,000 to around 8,000.The number of wild yaks has increased to around 10,000.Populations of snow leopards,rock sheep and other wild animals have also seen a marked recovery.     

新书

Tibetan-Style Fitness-A Collection of Traditional Tibetan Fitness Methods(New Edition)This book was written by Lhagpa Phuntsok,a well-known scholar of Tibetan studies,who,after pouring over a tremendous number of ancient Tibetan classics,began to collect information with regard to healthcare,disease prevention and treatment,and longevityfocused fitness and then analyzed different schools' arguments while adding his own views.The work was printed with pictures to present various angles of fitness theory,what Tibetan-style fitness is all about,and how to engage in related exercises, it also provided the author's own "secret formula" for unlocking the gates to longevity and sound fitness.Published by the China Tibetology Publishing House in June of 2020 at the price of 68.00 yuan(ISBN:9787521102093).     

INVESTIGATION OF THE CONTENT OF ANCIENT TIBETAN METALLIC BUDDHA STATUES BY MEANS OF NEUTRON IMAGING METHODS

Many important cultural and religious objects from Asia consist of outer metallic shapes, usually bronze, which fully enclose inner contents made of organic materials such as wood, bark, paper, textile, plants and others. Bronze and other metallic materials, such as copper and silver, are generally more transparent to neutrons than to X‐rays. However, organic materials are less transparent to neutrons than to X‐rays and therefore organic materials, enclosed by metallic materials, can be made visible with neutrons. Therefore, neutron imaging (radiography and tomography) was found to be an ideal tool for the inspection of objects that consist of metal outside and organic materials inside. This has been successfully demonstrated here with four metallic Tibetan Buddha statues, providing archaeometry with a powerful new tool. The first successful applications of this novel technique are described in this article. Further possible and useful applications of neutron imaging of cultural objects are outlined.