Rebkong Cultural Centre

Background and Objectives of the RCC

The Rebkong Cultural Center (RCC) continues to evolve into a unique institution in the landscape of Tibetan learning in a distinctive region of the Tibetan cultural world. A team of dedicated staff work with other collaborative partners to envision and establish this unique institution.

In under two years, the RCC moved from an idea to become a pioneering local indigenous non-governmental organization run by Tibetans and dedicated to public education, service and community-building.

The primary objectives of this project are as follows:
(1) to strengthen the community
(2) to improve Tibetans’ access to information by establishing a public access trilingual Rebkong Cultural Center (RCC)
(3) to create a centre for capacity building among Tibetans
(4) to build an innovative and creative institution that is of direct benefit to local Tibetans, and that may then be replicated elsewhere in other Tibetan areas.

Awarding of NGO Status to the RCC
A significant indicator of the success and local relevance of the RCC is the fact that the local government offered NGO status to the RCC in April 2004. The reason given for the transferal of NGO status is that the scope of the RCC’s work is more extensive than that of a library.

The core programs of the RCC include the following:

1. Trilingual Library Collection
2. Audio-Visual Library
3. Women’s Education Program (WEP)
4. Publishing Program
5. Museum of Local History
6. Adult Education
7. Computing Centre (in progress)
8. Community Lecture Series (in progress)

Trilingual Library Collection
The RCC’s main program is the collection and offering of secular and spiritual texts in Tibetan, Chinese (forthcoming) and English (forthcoming) to a highly literate region of the Tibetan plateau.

Audio-Visual Library
The AV Library offers both secular and spiritual materials in Tibetan, English and Chinese in various media, including DVD, VCD, VHS, cassette tape and digital formats.

WEP
Each year, the WEP provides educational support for two women with high academic standing and coming from low-income families to pursue post-secondary education. The WEP also supports approximately ten girls to attend high school.

Publishing Program

Museum of Local History
Space within the RCC grounds is dedicated to highlighting the unique local history of the Rebkong area through artifacts, texts, paintings and personal affects of local intellectuals. Given the rapid socio-economic changes taking place in Tibetan areas like Rebkong, such spaces serve a useful purpose in educating the urbanizing Tibetan communities of their traditions and histories.

Adult Education
A key community outreach program offered by the RCC is adult education. One of the stated aims has been to offer English classes to local Tibetan college students during school breaks. The first session in February 2004 offered 80 seats and received 120 applications. The instructors are native English speakers. The second session in July 2004 offered 250 and received 500 applications. Adult learners applied from as far away as Xining. Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy classes are also offered at the RCC.

Computing Centre (forthcoming)
The RCC will purchase computers and provide training for local Tibetans to use the computers via the emerging Unicode Tibetan font. The Computing Centre will teach computer operation and offer Tibetans access to the web.

Community Lecture Series (forthcoming)
The RCC plans to invite and integrate visiting scholars and other experts, be they Tibetan, Chinese or international visitors, in various aspects of Tibetan culture to speak to the local community. The goal is to promote community learning and discourse on a wide variety of aspects of Tibetan culture.