Tibet's Dungkar Monastery completes major repair

The Dungkar Monastery, which stood witness to the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, has recently completed repairs worth eight million yuan (about 1.3 million USD), according to the government in Yadong County, where the monastery is located.

The year-long repair and renovation project started from July last year at the lamasery, situated in southern Tibet's border region with India and Bhutan. Its main hall, religious paintings, pagoda and monks' residences had been damaged in a 6.8-magnitude earthquake in 2011.

Built in the 16th century, Dungkar is famed as the site where the official agreement was delivered during Tibet's peaceful liberation 64 years ago.

In 1951, an agreement was signed between the Central People's

Government and local government of Tibet on Measures for the

Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, shortened as the "17-article Agreement", in Beijing.

Zhang Jingwu, the only representative of the central government handed over the agreement, along with a written letter from Mao Zedong to the 14th Dalai Lama in Dungkar lamasery.

The 17-article agreement included agreements giving Tibetan people the right of exercising regional autonomy under the unified leadership of the Central People's Government. It allowed Tibetan people to enjoy freedom of religious belief and determined the revenue of lamaseries would remain unchanged.

After the meeting, Dalai and his entourage returned to Lhasa, capital of Tibet. Endi