At a conference at Florence University on Tuesday, Silvio Calzolani, a professor in the religion department, said it is necessary to listen to what people living in Tibet have to say about the reality of their lives.

At the one-day workshop, about 200 Sinologists or Tibet specialists from across Italy and a visiting group of Tibet specialists from China exchanged views on issues including the protection of cultural heritage, economic development and religion.

Calzolani criticized certain Western politicians and media for turning a deaf ear to the true voice of the Tibetan people. He welcomed the visiting scholars from Tibet as those "who are best qualified to speak on the issue of Tibet.''

Telling the audience about his experiences in Tibet, Professor Giorgio Mantici, vice chairman of the Italy-China Friendship Association, said Tibet, like the rest of China, has witnessed rapid development and remarkable progress since the democratic reforms in the region in 1959, and particularly since the opening up of the whole country 22 years ago.

He strongly rejected the Dalai Lama's saying that Tibet sees nothing but poverty and backwardness and people living there enjoy no religious freedom.

"The Dalai Lama's propaganda based on distorted facts is aimed at splitting China up,'' Mantici pointed out. "Seeing is believing,'' he added, and he encouraged more Italians to visit and see a "beautiful Tibet'' for themselves.

Mantici said studying Tibetan history should be done in the context of Chinese history. "An isolated study of Tibet is not helpful,'' he said. He also said Western scholars should pay more attention to today's Tibet.

Kalsang Gyaltsen, leader of the visiting Tibetan group, said significant achievements had been made in Tibet since the democratic reforms.

He said the Chinese government attached great importance to economic development, social progress and education in Tibet, as well as the protection of Tibetan culture.

"In old Tibet, there was not a single modern school; only two percent of school-age children were in school and 95 percent of young and middle-aged people were illiterate.

"Today, Tibet has 4,365 schools. Some 83.4 percent of school-age children are in school. The illiteracy rate among young and middle-aged people has dropped to 42 percent,'' he said.

(Xinhua 10/26/2000)