XINING -- Twenty newly compiled volumes have added 17 million characters to the Tibetan medical canon and have been published by the Ethnic Publishing House, as China seeks to protect its ethnic medical practices.

The previously existing 60 volumes compiled by the Qinghai Tibetan Medicine Research Institute, based in Northwest China's Qinghai province, collected and collated ancient Tibetan medical books and documents from monasteries, hospitals, schools, research institutes and other archives across China, as well as documents discovered in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, India, Nepal and Russia.

Kadrogye, the director of the institute, said that after more than 10 years of research, the medical canon now has 80 volumes. The new volumes record 292 ancient and modern Tibetan medicinal classics, covering clinical medicine, drug recognition, prescriptions, rituals and the processing of medicinal materials.

The new works cover 2,900 years of the development of Tibetan medicine, which is one of China's most influential medical subjects.

In 2006, Tibetan medicine was added to the list of China's national intangible cultural heritage. More than 5,000 ancient Tibetan medical books and documents have been recorded in history. Many of the books and documents have sustained damage such as mildew, corrosion and moth decay.

Kadrogye said that during the compilation of the new volumes, researchers proofread original texts and utilized bibliographic methodology to classify and annotate the documents.