Published by: World Tibet Network News Monday - October - 6, 1997

BEIJING, Oct 5 (AFP) - Chinese authorities have completed a 26 million yuan (3.1 million dollar) renovation of the third largest monastery in Tibet, the official Xinhua news agency said Sunday.

Over the last four years, experts and workers have reconstructed more than 11,000 square metres (118,360 square feet) of buildings at the Ganden complexand used 41 kilograms (90.2 pounds) of gold to regild the monastery's rooftops, it said.

More than 1,660 square metres (17,862 square feet) of murals were also restored, it added.

The monastery, 60 kilometres (37 miles) east of the regional capital of Lhasa, was established in 1409 by the founder of the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

Beijing regularly highlights such restoration efforts as evidence of its support and respect for Tibet's indigenous religion and culture -- which exiled Tibetans and overseas observers say have suffered under Chinese rule.

Such spending is more motivated by economics -- the desire to develop tourism, in particular -- than religion, they charge.

Ganden monastery was destroyed by artillery fire at the start of the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution.

Chinese troops took control of Tibet in 1951, and the region's god-king, the Dalai Lama, fled into exile eight years later following a failed anti-Chinese uprising in Lhasa.