44 BEIJING REVIEW MARCH 26, 2020 http://www.bjreview.comCULTURE
‘D
ear friends, welcome to Lhasa, I’m
your tour guide today,” said a blithe
Tsering Drolkar, bringing an aura of
faraway magic with her green chuba, the long
sleeveless Tibetan tunic worn by women over a
blouse. The place where she was standing was
even more so—the foot of the Potala Palace,
one of the dream destinations of tourists all
over the world and a UNESCO-recognized World
Heritage Site in Tibet Autonomous Region in
southwest China.
The uniTue thing about the tour guide’s
introduction to the 1,300-year-old palace first
built by Tibetan King Songtsa Gambo (617-
650), the Tang Dynasty (618-907), was that she
was not leading the usual group of tourists that
day. Instead, she was speaking to the camerathat was livestreaming her narration of the
landmark’s history to present it before the world
in time of the novel coronavirus pandemic and
self-isolation globally.
It was the first time that the 40-hectare
complex, which houses more than 130,000
priceless cultural relics, had appeared in a
livestreaming. Considering public health safety
during the outbreak, the Potala Palace, visited
by over 1.5 million people every year, was
closed since January 27. To fill the vacuum,
Drolkar stepped in on March 1 with a 60-minute
livestream, conducting an online tour for more
than 1 million “visitors” from all over the coun-
try. Along with her, they “walked” along the
classic visiting routes, enjoyed the historic sites
and amazing artifacts, and learned about heri- tage conservation, all from the safety of their
own home.
As a special treat, they were taken on a tour
of the Potala Palace Cultural Relics Research
OfĶ ce to see how ancient classics stored in the
palace were being conserved and digitally pre-
served for future generations. They were also
taken to the lofty golden roof of the palace, out
of bounds for the general public.
“Using digital technology to livestream the
Potala Palace is a new way of making more peo-
ple know more about it,” said Jorden, Director
of the Potala Palace Management OfĶ ce. “Such
interactive cloud tours enable viewers to experi-
ence the charm of the palace without leaving
their home.”Smart solutions
In December 2019, the Alibaba Group, the
Chinese multinational technology company,
launched its digital tourism economy project.
The objective is to boost tourism, cultural tour-
ism and ecological partnership projects by
combining actual experiences with virtual ones
using the cloud platform. The online services
include e-maps, shopping, food and tourism.
The new venture comes after the group’s in-Finding the
Silver Lining
The Potala Palace and other famed tourist
destinations turn to livestreaming and cloud
services By Zhao Wei
Some priceless statues from the Potala Palace in
Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China,
are shown in a livestreaming to provide detailed
XIN explanations to online visitors on March 9
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