A Tibetan soprano said she hoped the central government could increase efforts to cultivate minority talents, which can contribute to the prosperity of Chinese culture on Friday in Beijing.

Zongyong Zhuoma, a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and famous folk singer, said that she hoped the country could restore the aid fund to help train art talents in ethnic regions.

"Since the 1990s, some local governments have canceled ethnic culture classes. This year, I have a proposal regarding this issue. I hope that the country can restore support funds to train a group of outstanding ethnic minority talents," she said.

"I'm rooted in the province with the largest number of ethnic minorities - Yunnan province. There are 26 ethnic groups in the province. So what I particularly want to talk about is how to train outstanding ethnic minority talents," she said.

In the 1960s and 1980s, various academies such as the Minzu University of China, the Central Conservatory of Music, the China Conservatory of Music, the Shanghai Theater Academy and the Beijing Film Academy, produced a lot of excellent minority art talents, such as Tibetan soprano Tseten Dolma, Miao minority singer He Jiguang and Tujia minority tenor singer Fu Zuguang.

"There are also many Tibetan singers who have received training, including myself, from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music," she recalled. "At that time, the country had supportive funds and special policies to train our children who came from remote areas to become leading members of literature, arts and performance in ethnic areas."

In addition to national training for ethnic minority, artists in colleges and universities, singing and dancing troupes in ethnic minority areas are also an important cradle for the cultivation of ethnic minority artists.

She added, "For example, the Yunnan Song and Dance Troupe was established in the 1950s. Its actors and creative staff often went to live in frontier ethnic areas and collected a large amount of ethnic and folk song and dance art materials. Not only did this lay a solid foundation for art creation and performances, but also discovered a large talent pool.”

However, at present, most of the original national song and dance troupes have been transformed into pure commercial enterprises, and a large number of literary and art leaders who are both creative and enterprising have changed their career or retired.

Zhuoma conducted a survey and research, following the instruction of President Xi Jinping to create a group of influential leaders in all areas of literature and art and to build a great team of artistic talents.

In recent years, with the strengthening of the protection of intangible cultural heritage of ethnic minorities, there have been many achievements in the traditional culture and art of ethnic groups and regions, she said. Ultimately, modern culture has a big impact on traditional ethnic culture and has led to the degeneration of many traditional ethnic cultures and the disappearance of ethnic minority traditional culture and art varieties.

"The key is the lack of continuity for ethnic minority talents. Therefore, personnel training should always be the fundamental plan for the prosperity and development of ethnic culture," she pointed out.