So went a typical afternoon in one of the most revered institutions in the Tibetan world, the Parkhang printing lamasery in the mountainous heart of the Kham region.

They decide a computer will help with their daunting task, and they hire American consultants to install one in their mountaintop lamasery.

Built as a prince’s home in the 17th century, the complex was gradually transformed into a lamasery and is today one of the most active — and colorful — Buddhist temples in the city.

Painted to resemble a lamasery, the library contains thousands of travelogues, biographies and medical treatises that bear only a passing resemblance to Western-style books.

These days, the unmistakable marimba jingle of iPhones and the melodic bleep of Skype can be heard in lamaseries across this remote expanse of snowy peaks and high-altitude grasslands in northwestern China.