The launching ceremony of a five-year Tibet Autonomous Region key cultural relics protection project and the Tashilumpo Monastery protection project is held at the Tashilumpo Monastery in Xigaze of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on April 18, 2008.

April 19: China on Friday launched a 570 million yuan (US$81.43 million) project to preserve 22 historical and cultural relics in the southwestern Tibet Autonomous Region. The project, China's largest protection move in the region, will last until 2010. It included 15 monasteries under state-level protection and seven historical sites proving the rule over Tibet by central governments through history, said Yudawa, the Tibet Autonomous Regional Cultural Heritage Bureau director.  (China.org.cn)