XINING, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- In the snow-covered Mongolian Autonomous County of Henan, a loudspeaker blasts out slogans in Chinese and Tibetan from a silver van slowly passing on the street: "To fight against the coronavirus, it is important to remember not to take off your masks when going out, and wash your hands frequently!"
The county is in northwest China's Qinghai Province. Situated on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it has an average altitude of 3,600 meters above sea level. Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, local authorities have enhanced the promotion of protection and prevention.
"Me and 14 other volunteers have spent four hours every day doing promotion in both Chinese and Tibetan since Jan. 28," said county publicity official Tsering Gonpo. "So far we have given out more than 6,500 free medical masks and more than 20,000 pamphlets."
"Guarding public health is our responsibility," said Tsering Gonpo.
The local government has issued a letter to the public cautioning them about the epidemic while also reminding people how to avoid infections. The promotion has extended to vegetable markets, drugstores and even the houses of local herdsmen living deep in the grassland.
To make the knowledge catchy and easy to understand, authorities created a three-verse doggerel based on local dialects and traditions.
Do Gekyap, 56, lives in a small town in the county. Each day, he watches a Tibetan language news program on the local satellite television in real-time. The host of the program constantly tells the audience how to wear masks and how to wash their hands properly.
"It is important to wear masks when we go out, and we need to form the good habit of handwashing," Do Gekyap said.
Do Gekyap said he has been praying every day for the epidemic to end as soon as possible.
"I hope that the patients will recover soon," he said.
Amdo Satellite TV of Qinghai Broadcast Television is the only satellite TV service in China broadcasting in Amdo, a dialect of the Tibetan language. Since the virus outbreak, it has presented more than 270 related news items and shown more than 20 promotional videos about the virus. Its public account created 31 short videos on Chinese short-video sharing app Douyin, or TikTok, drawing more than 1.5 million clicks.
"What we do is accurately translate the primetime news from the state and provincial TV and broadcast them in real-time," said Tenzin Tso, deputy head of the TV station. "We also show the latest government notices about disease prevention and control in the Tibetan language."
Such bilingual promotion is spreading to countless households on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
"Many farmers and herdsmen can access such information on their mobile phones," said Tashi Dondrup, who edited the Tibetan version of a book on preventing the virus infection and protecting public health. "New forms of media have effectively spread the news."
The book was based on the one compiled by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The Tibetan version of the book was released on Feb. 2 in an electronic format and received a lot of views on WeChat and Douyin," Tashi Dondrup said.
"It makes great sense to do bilingual promotion," said Feng Lingzhi, with the research center of Tibetan Buddhism in Qinghai Province. "It will help raise people's awareness against the coronavirus in Tibetan areas."
