Tibet： a Holy Land at the Roof of the Earth （Part Ⅲ）

The exhibition ＂The Holy Land of Tibet＂ was held in Taipei Palace Museum from July 1 to September 19. Tibet, an autonomous region of China known as the Roof of the Earth ： enjoys rich and time-honored Buddhist traditions. For instance, a popular legend about the origin of the Tibetan people is widespread,that the Goddess of Mercy incarnated herself into Macaque and married with Rakasasa and their offspring were ancestors of theTibetan ethnic group. Religious concepts and image styles of Tibetan Buddhism are drastically different from Buddhism of inland China.That is why inland Chinese feel unfamiliar with Tibetan Buddhism.     

The Gilt-Roofed Hall for the Tenth Panchen Lama Inaugurated

ERDENI Choji Gylitsan.the tenth Panchen Lama,oneof the two highest-ranking Living Buddhas(the otherbeing the Dalai Lama)of Tibetan Lamaism,was bornin 1938 and died on January 28,1989.Before his death heserved as vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of theNational People‘s Congress He was a great patriot,a famousstatesman and an outstanding leader of Tibetan Lamaism.After his death,the central government allocated a large sumof money to build a magnificent gold-plated stupa at the ZhaxiLhunbo Monastery,in Xigaze, to accord with the wishes ofthe Tibetan people and to commemorate his great achieve-ments,his love for his religion nd his service to his country.The total investment for the gold-plated stupa was over64 million yuan and the construction took three years andeight months to complete The stupa,11.52 meters high andcovered in gold.leaf,used 614 kilograms of gold,275 kilo-grams of silver and 1,018 gemstones of various kinds.It has     

Qutan Temple： ＂A Miniature Forbidden City＂in a Mountain Valley

Qutan Temple, located in a mountain valley near the capital city of Qinghai Province, was first constructed in the early Ming Dynasty. This grand Chinese-style Tibetan Lama temple was built against the background that the Ming Dynasty supported Tibetan Lamaism to better rule the Tibetan area. As Qutan is the     

Sword Mountain Fair in the Depth of Memory

Minhe Hui Ethnic Autonomous County, located in the east of northwest Qinghai Province, used to be a critical pathway linking Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and central China. Over the sweep of Chinese history, Minhe County has evolved into a community for different ethnic communities to inhibit together. The county consists of 14 ethnic groups, mainly including Han, Hui, Tu and Tibetan who believe in Buddhism, Lamanism, Taoism and Islam respectively. There are many Buddhist temples in Minhe, a…     

My Fascinating Adventure to Awancang

Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is located at the conjunction of the west end of Qinling Mountain Range and Animaqing Motmtain,bordering with westem Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan provinces. During Chinese lunar New Year, local monasteries hold diverse religious rites, such as doing Buddhist services, sprinkling holy water, demonstrating Buddhist treasures and setting things free. Religious celebrations reach the climax on the thirteenth of the first lunar month by displaying woven Buddha paintings. Other Buddhist celebrations include debating on sutras, presenting Tibetan dances, displaying butter light festivals, and holding Maitreya Buddha statues to turn around monasteries.[第一段]     

Beauty of Tangka Painting

<正>Tangka is a form of painting art depicting Tibetan Lamaism and reflecting traditional Tibetan culture. Tangka paintings reveal strong religious subjects, portray solemn and noble images,     

Regong Art： Blending Aesthetics and Religion

Originating in the iSth century, Regong art is named after its birthplace—Tongren County in northwest China＇s qinghai Province. The area is known as Regong in Tibetan. As an influential school in Tibetan Buddhist arts, Regong art has evolved over the centuries from a simple reflection of the times, to the present, more elaborate, influences from the artists＇ surroundings.     

Xodoin Festival and Tibetan Opera

LATE summer and early autumnare golded seasons on the Ti-betan Plateau.Xodoin Festival.a major holiday featuring Tibetan op-era performances,is celebrated annual-ly by the Tibetan nationality.Duringthe festival people go on outings,orwatch theatrical performances.Xodoinmeans butter picnic in the Tibetanlanguage.Originally it was not a Tibe-tan opera festival,but a part of Tibe-tan lamaism.Tibetan-Buddhist tem-ples had a rule that during a certainperiod in summer monks must stayindoors and study.Only after thatperiod were they allowed to go out fora rest.At that time Buddhist followers.especially farmers and herders in sub-urban areas,took well-prepared butter     

A Review of Contemporary Tibetan Painting

Tibetan fine arts have embraced a whole new era sincethe 1980s. Diverse subjects and innovative techniquesfeature the styles of contemporary Tibetan painting.Murals of NorbulingkaThe epic mural series”Origins of Tibetans: Politics andReligions” in the new palace of Norbulingka mix differentstyles of Tibetan painting and feature plain colors and grandscenes. The murals illustrate the political and religious historyof Tibet: from pre-historic Tibetans said to be decedents of amale monkey a…     

A Brief Review of Chinese Print

Chinese print can date back 1100 years. For example, carved bricks and stones in the Han Dynasty are actually ear, forms of woodprint. As a type of print art, wood board printing invented in the Tang Dynasty was closely related to life of ordinary people and helped to spread arts in ancient China. Buddhist sutra Vajracchedika printed in 868 AD is the important evidence testifying to the wood board printing of the Tang Dynasty and the world＇s earliest complete printed book still preserved today. Thus it is generally recognized as the peak of print art of the Tang Dynasty.     

A Review of Contemporary Tibetan Painting （Part Two）

Wutun School, while influenced by world art, is having growing impact on the development of world art, which reflects its most prominent characteristics in the contemporary art arena. The newly-created 560-meter-long epic scroll, entitled ＂Panorama of Tibetan Painting of China＂, overviews politics, history, culture, religion and economy of Tibetan nation, fully demonstrating various schools of Tibetan painting and reflecting highest levels and overall strength of contemporary Tibetan painters.     

Motuo： A Lotus Holy Land in the Heart of Tibet

It is indeed miraculous to see tropical fruits such as bananas and pineapples growing in the snow-capped mountains of Tibet. But this is the ever-mystical Motuo, a Tibetan county located in the southern slope of the Himalayas.     

Tibet： a Holy Land at the Roof of the Earth （Part II）

Revival of Buddhism： from the second half of the 10th century to the 13,h century
After Langdarma was assassinated, the ruling group of Tibet was torn by internal strife. Tibet was again under the state of separation and Buddhism declined. In the late period of the 10th century, with the constant efforts by Buddhist monks and the support of Guge Kingdom, Buddhism began to revive in Tibet.     

Treasure of the Snow-covered Highland

Tibet, known as the“roof of the world”, has long been a destination of pilgrims from around the globe for its unique and mysterious culture. And antiquities and relics excavated from this area, which are testament to the Tibetans' diligence and intelligence, have been an abundant resource of the famous Tibetan culture. About 50,000 years ago , the ancestors of the Tibetans entered the Stone Age. The pottery shown in picture one, a monkey-faced sculpture excavated in Qu Gong, is the remains of the decorative part of a large piece of earthenware. It illustrates the widespread idea that the monkey     

King Gesar Returns to Enlighten Olympic Visitors

From July 30 to August 30, 2008, China Association for the Protection and Promotion of Tibetan Culture and Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province co-hosted an exhibition that presents hundreds of Thangka paintings portraying stories of the central epic poem of Tibet, The Epic of King Gesar, in the Ethnic Culture Palace in Beijing.     

Jiedexiu： Homeland of Tibetan Pulu Fabrics

““““Pulu““““, or Tibetan woolen fabrics, are as important and popular among Tibetans as cotton clothes are to inland Chinese. This type of richly textured cloth originated in Jiedexiu, a small town in Gongashan County of southern Tibet. Here, the rhythmic sound of pulu weaving, which has echoed throughout the land since ancient times, can still be heard along the banks of the Yarlung Zangbo River.     

Labrang Monastery： A Last Purified Land

Labrang Monastery has the strongest religious atmosphere among all the Tibetan Buddhist temples that I have visited. In Labrang Monastery, commercial influence is rarely seen here and there are not many tourists. Perhaps due to its solemn religious atmosphere, visitors are not noisy as they are in other sightseeing places. They usually peacefully observe the sacred halls, solemn religious rites and faithful monks with their eyes and camera lens. All these should be attributed to its monks w…     

ANCIENT PAGODAS IN BEIJING

Pagodas, an architectural type unique to Buddhist cultures, are widely distributed over the vast land of China, available in high mountains and deep valleys, ancient temples, snow-covered plateaus and the depth of deserts. Pagodas were not indigenous to ancient China but introduced together with Buddhism.