Published by: World Tibet Network News, Sunday, Jun 2, 1996

XIGAZE (May 28) XINHUA - Religious believers and laymen in the Tibet Autonomous Region have today hailed the golden board presented by President Jiang Zemin.

In Jiang's Handwriting, the golden board unveiled today in the Zhaxi Lhunbo Lamasery was inscribed with words of "Safeguard the Country and Benefit the People".

Tibetans expressed their heartfelt gratitude for the care for Tibetan Buddhism from the central government and the Communist Party.

"I feel very happy today, I thank the president from the bottom of my heart," six-year-old 11th Panchen Lama said, uttering the words on the board repeatedly in both Chinese and Tibetan.

"This is a day of auspiciousness and jubilation, and I'm rather happy to attend such a grand ceremony in my lifetime," 74-year-old monk Puncog said excitedly. He has been staying at the lamasery since he was nine.

"I whole-heartedly thank the president for his special care for Tibetan Buddhism," Puncog said.

Sarkang Gajim Cering, vice-director of the Democratic Management Committee of the Zhaxi Lhunbo Lamasery, is a well-respected monk who is versed in Tibetan Buddhism.

Over the past 550 years, successive Panchen Lamas, with their patriotic activities, gained support from the vast religious believers and nonbelievers and the central government, he said.

In its history, the lamasery had received four boards from ancient emperors of China, but it is the first time that a top leader of Chinese Communist Party has presented the historic golden board to the religious circles after the founding of new China.

"The inscription of the board demands that we continue to uphold the banner of patriotism, firmly safeguard the unity of the motherland and solidarity of different ethnic groups, defend state sovereignty and the authority of the central government, and protect the interest of the country and the people," Sarkang Gajim Cering said.