LANZHOU -- Chinese scholars are working to collect, compile and publish ancient Tibetan literature that has been taken overseas due to various reasons, amid efforts to preserve and promote the distinctive Tibetan culture.

　　To date, researchers with the Northwest University of Nationalities in Gansu Province have compiled five volumes of photocopies of the ancient Tibetan literature housed in the National Library of France.

　　The photocopied documents have been published by the Shanghai Chinese Classics Publishing House, said Zhaxi Dongzhi, a researcher on the Tibetan ethnic group at the Lanzhou-based university.

　　The literature found in France is from the seventh to 10th century. It was originally discovered at the famed Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu, Zhaxi Dongzhi said.

　　"These documents cover history, religion, language and script, art, astrology, science and technology, literary works, social life and others. They offer very important, first-hand material for domestic researchers to study the history of the Tibetan Tubo Kingdom (about 629-840)," he said.

　　The Tubo Kingdom was founded by the Tibetan hero and statesman Songtsan Gambo. Songtsan Gambo introduced Buddhism to the kingdom and created Tibetan's own script according to Sanskrit. This enabled the history of the kingdom and the Tibetan ethnic group to be recorded.