The Potala Palace [Photo/China Tibet Online]

There are indeed a lot of age-old rubbishes mainly in the well-shaped tunnels or storerooms, some of which have been stored there for over hundreds and thousands of years, Ding added.

During the construction, since parts of well-shaped tunnels were of no practical value, some discarded materials were left there and not cleared away. There were also some rubbishes resulted from the weathered wall, including the clay for consolidation and decayed rafters for connection.

The Tibetan people do not clean up the rubbish inside the storerooms, because they believe firmly that everything in the storerooms of the Potala Palace is endowed with divinity therefore dumping would bring bad luck. In that case, small animals such as rats are always invited, playing and leaving their faeces there.

There are numerous treasures stored as well. As time passes by, no one can detail what’s exactly inside the storerooms therefore they do not dare to dump the rubbish for fear of deserting any invaluable piece of treasure.

People’s concerns are not groundless. When cleaning up the storeroom during the first maintenance of the Potala Palace, staff members came across many treasures, such as corallines, turquoises, silver coins and other precious items, according to Ding Changzheng.

Is there any underground palace?

Ding Changzheng said that the rumored labyrinth-like underground palaces are in fact well-shaped tunnel, which do not house various treasures or rare ancient books.

The Potala itself is a treasure house however, since it contains the golden handwritten Buddhist scriptures, valuable gifts from Chinese emperors, and a lot of priceless antiques. There are many colorful sculptures and paintings chronicling Buddhist folklore and ancient Tibetan life.