PEOPLE IN THE BARKOR STREET：PALBAR,AN OLD MANIN SHARSASUALLEY

According to local custom in Lhasa, people refer to the area around the Jokhang Temple as ＂Barkor Street＂. ＂Lhasa＂ is ＂the Buddha＇s land＂ in Tibetan. In the hearts of Tibetan people, the Jokhang Temple is one of the most holy places because a statue of the twelve-year-old Sakyamuni is enshrined and worshiped there. Every year, the temple attracts many Tibetan Buddhist monks and disciples come from far away and pay homage to the Buddha. As time passed, the area of Barkor Street around the Jokhang Temple has become the busiest district in Lhasa. Eight alleyways extend out from the Barkor Street. Here the old citizens of Lhasa reside, and this is where Lhasa＇s unique economy, national culture, traditional craftsmanship and local Tibetan customs and practices flourish.     

New Books

One Hundred Cases of Tibetan Folk Culture
The author is Sakong Wangdu. The book records one hundred cases of basic Tibetan folk culture in its original forms. In particular, these cultural elements include many that have yet to be written down hence they are gradually being lost. The book promotes a positive approach to the rescue of the traditional folk culture of Tibet and is written in an easy-to-read style for the mass of people in pursuit of a better understanding Tibet and Tibetan culture. The China Tibetology Publishing House produced this book in February 2013 at the price of 36 Yuan （ISBN 9787802535619）.     

Inheritance and Vicissitude of the Tibetan Diet——A Case of A Tibetan Rural Community

The dietary structure and customs of the Tibetans1 include both simple and complex elements.The transition from a diet composed mainly of tsampa and butter tea to the integration of alien and industrialized foodstuffs into the Tibetan dietary culture reflects,in a way,the processes of adaptation,integration and vicissitude of the Tibetan rural community during modernization.This article attempts to discuss the relationship between the traditional culture and modernization in Tibetan rural communities during the process of cultural interaction and modernization by studying the dietary structure and customs of Tibetan farmers in Nyang-re Township located in the north outskirts of Lhasa,Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).     

The Influence of Tibetan Buddhism on Contemporary Mongolian Eco-literature——Case Studies on Xue-boGuo's Novels

Tibetan Buddhism,one of the important sects of Buddhism,is believed by a lot of researchers to have disseminated into Tibet from India,Nepal and its adjacent Han nationality congregating areas in around 7th century.The subsequent spread of Buddhism in Tibet experienced two periods of fast diffusion,during which the original Buddhist doctrine merged with Tibetan traditional culture,and a new form of religion with typical Tibetan characteristics came into being.     

A Brier Introduction to Titetan Masks

The art of Tibetan masks forms an essential element of traditional Tibetan culture. The masks are famous for their unique style, diversity of shapes and characteristically simple, unsophisticated and primeval beauty. Tibetan masks are therefore an important area for research. This article intends to give a brief introduction to the masks in order to offer readers a basic overview of this art.     

THE MODERNIZATION OF TIBETAN OPERA——As exemplified by the Tibetan Opera Group of the Tibet Autonomous Region

<正>Traditional Tibetan opera is classified into two categories-the folkloric Tibetan opera,which is popular in the secular world,and refined Tibetan opera that pervades in upper-class society and Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. These two aspects of Tibetan opera mainly showcase the contents and themes of Tibetan Buddhism in order to reflect     

A Look at Sino--Tibetan Relations through Tibetan Cold Weapons

Tibetan armament has a long history that is heavily influenced by the culture of Central Plains. An important part of the Chinese culture of armaments, they also retain their uniqueness and interrelationship. In Tibetan historical records written in the Ming Dynasty, there were detailed accounts of swords. In general, Tibetan armaments advanced substantially during the Tang Dynasty by learning from the Tang.     

THE “DREAMWORK” OF TIBETAN CHILDREN

<正>Editor's Note:In the1980s,the State Council made a strategic decision to set up Tibetan classes and schools in the mainland to solve Tibet's serious shortage in talent,not to mention its poorer educational basis.In September of 1985,the first group of Tibetan elementary school graduates,mainly of Tibetan nationality,went to study in the mainland,setting     

An Exploration of Tibetan Women's Life in Khams in the Qing Dynasty

Tibetans, one of the oldest ethnic minorities in China, are mainly distributed in the vast western regions of modern Tibet, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan. Students and scholars of the long history of Tibetan culture, as well as the breadth and profundity of Tibetan Buddhism, have always concentrated their attention on the role of men in this history and largely ignored women. Actually, in the history of the socio-     

THE ROCK PAINTINGS IN YUSHU

正Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is situated in the southwestern area of Qinghai Province, the central region of the QinghaiTibet Plateau. It connects with Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture to the north and Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture to the east. It also neighbors Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province to the southeast as well as the TAR's Chamdo and Nagqu to the south     

ANALYSIS OF ROMAN WALL PAINTINGS FROM THE THERMAE OF ‘IULIA CONCORDIA’

Twenty‐six wall painting fragments and some plaster, ‘intonachino’ and stucco samples, discovered at Iulia Concordia, have been studied by different analytical techniques to gain information about the pigment nature and the composition of the materials. The presence of calcite, dolomite and aragonite allow the distinction of four groups of wall samples varying in the nature of pigments and in the application technique. These differences can be attributed to different execution times or, more probably, to the arrangement of the rooms in the building structure. The nature of the pigments found in the Thermae of Iulia Concordia appears similar to that found in other Roman villas of Venetia et Histria, with the use of precious pigments such as Egyptian blue and cinnabar.     

PREHISTORIC WALL PAINTINGS: THE CASE OF THE DOMUS DE JANAS NECROPOLIS (SARDINIA,ITALY)*

The Domus de Janas (Home of the Fairies, or Home of the Witches) are Neolithic hypogea located throughout Sardinia (Italy) and decorated with red and black wall paintings. The objective of this study was to define the painting technique through the analytical characterization of the pigments and binding media. Samples of painting film from different graves have been examined by means of various analytical techniques. XRD, Raman and SEM–EDX analyses identified the red and black pigments respectively as red ochre rich in hematite and carbon black, while GC–MS analyses characterized the organic binder as egg.     

NON-DESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS IN PAINTINGS AND ENAMELS

X-ray fluorescence analysis is a non-destructive method, very useful for qualitative and quantitative determination of chemical elements in paintings, frescoes, enamels, etc. Measurements have been carried out on ancient Persian mural painting allowing the identification of about ten different pigments. Furthermore, many oil paintings have been examined. For example, about thirty regions of different colour tonalities concerning the ‘Deposizione’by Raffaello Sanzio have been analysed; in this way it has been possible to determine the composition of several pigments used by the author and to identify some restored regions. The enamels of a ligneous Egyptian panel have also been studied; the results are in good agreement with those obtained using conventional methods.     

THE IMPACT OF SOLUBLE SALTS ON THE DETERIORATION OF PHARAONIC AND COPTIC WALL PAINTINGS AT AL QURNA,EGYPT: MINERALOGY AND CHEMISTRY*

The wall paintings of Al Qurna in Egypt were studied by means of XRD and ICP–AES in order to determine their mineralogical and chemical composition, and to evaluate the impact of soluble salts on their deterioration, including the identification of the building materials and pigments used. Soluble salts analysis showed that NaCl is the most common soluble salt in the bedrock, ground water and surface water samples. The building materials are affected by the ground water, while the wall paintings in the area are affected by the Upper Egypt climatic conditions, which were studied in order to detect their role in the deterioration cycle in the area.     

MINERALOGY OF BOHEMIAN GREEN EARTH PIGMENT AND ITS MICROANALYTICAL EVIDENCE IN HISTORICAL PAINTINGS

While the most famous historical green earth deposits in Italy and Cyprus were exceptionally rich in celadonite, the deposits near Kadaň, Czech Republic, consisted of thin Fe‐rich celadonite impregnations accompanied by interstratified celadonite/smectite. In superimposed tuffs, smectites become prevalent and their colour changes from forest to olive green. Powder X‐ray microdiffraction and infrared microspectroscopy permit us to distinguish between green earth minerals in microsamples taken from works of art. The Ti contents and the Fe/Mg ratios help to indicate the presence of Bohemian green earth from Kadaň. We found this material in local 18th‐century works of art and also in paintings by Anton Kern (1709–47).     

COLORFUL PAINTINGS FOUND IN TUBO TOMBS

In August 2002 the Qinghai Provincial Archaeological Research Institute received a report stating that ancient tombs in Golimo Town of Delingha City had been robbed. People were then sent to clean and dig out the two tombs, and found many artifacts.Located 30 km from Delingha City, the tombs were covered with 1.5-