After nearly 20 years' efforts, the first phase of the work on the Art and Literature Records of Tibet has been completed. The first draft has around 1.5 million words.

Awang Tenzin, deputy director of the Tibet's Ethnic Art Research Institute, says that local chorography is an important part of Chinese traditional ethnic culture. As a social science, it plays an increasingly important role in many aspects, such as preserving history, inheriting culture, educating people, as well as cultivating and promoting national spirit, etc.

The contents of the Art and Literature Records include Tibetan literature, art, opera, and others, which can fully demonstrate the accomplishments achieved in recent years in Tibet's art and literature fields and help give people around the world a more comprehensive understanding of the Tibet's cultural development. At the same time, the records will play a beneficial role in boosting the prosperity of arts and culture in the new era.

The completed first draft is informative, has rich content, clear historical context, and strong stylistic characteristics, all of which lays a solid foundation for the next phase of compilation work. At an assessment meeting for the Art and Literary Records, the head of the  region's Culture Bureau and specialists suggested that based on the foundation of the current draft, the first and second compilations of the records should be combined so as to ensure its publication  in the year 2020.