The ongoing "Beauty of Tibet" painting exhibition sponsored by China Tibet Online, China's largest website on Tibet-related information and the Shanghai Overseas Chinese Foundation has attracted a large number of audiences who hope that such exhibition could continue in future. Audiences were deeply impressed by the paintings.

While Tibetan painting is so popular among the westerners, shops that offer Tibetan delicacy, ornaments and so on sell well online and offline as well.

When western people appreciate the unique culture, both in spirit and material, would they think of one thing: should the great people who have created the magnificent culture have the right to enjoy modern civilization, which the Tibetan people have also contributed a lot?

However, some foreign media outlets with the political intentions criticize the Chinese government, like wielding economic tools to divert local attentions from politics and assimilate Tibetan culture.

Such criticism, almost made instinctively, makes it doubtful whether the commentators have really been to Tibet themselves. Otherwise, why do they keep voicing a clichéd perspective no matter what changes have taken place in reality?

Anyone who's been to Tibet will be amazed by the solid, established system of Tibetan culture. It permeates every details of Tibetan life, diet, medicine, language, entertainment and so on. This is also why Tibetan culture has survived massive social shake-ups in the past millennium. Its vigor should not be underestimated.

So why can't some westerners accept that Tibet, as well as any other place in the world, need to move on in all aspects of the society. And Tibetan people, like any people of every quarter of the globe, have the demand to keep up with the modern era while keeping their unique culture at the same time.

No ordinary Tibetans are willing to live in a backwater museum to be exhibited to foreign visitors who can appraise how well their culture is "preserved."

Like every other ethnic group, Tibetans are interacting with other economies to infuse new vigor into their own community. Economic growth and cultural prosperity are not in opposition. Instead, they boost each other.

I expect the German people and those from other countries who had prejudice on Tibet's normal development will change their mind or will be less bewildered by the Dalai clique's constant hyping of "cultural genocide theory" after seeing the exhibition. After all, Tibet is so vivid; It is not consumable at all.