[Photo by Wang Kaihao/China Daily]

As of now, there are 55 sites in Tibet that are listed as protected and 4,277 sites in the region that are listed as "immovable historical heritage".

According to Liu Yuzhu, the director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, who spoke at a conference in Lhasa recently, the central government's financial support for cultural heritage protection in Tibet has been greatly increased in recent years.

"No less than 2 billion yuan will be spent in the next five years," he says. And more than 1.6 billion yuan has already been spent in the past five years.

Between 2011 and 2015, 17 provinces and municipalities in China began programs to help preserve cultural relics in Tibet. In total, 130 projects were launched, with 20 still ongoing.