“Tribes” Known for Lhamo Performance

The Shoton （Sour Milk Drinking） Festival is one of the indispensable festivals for the Tibetans. When I reached Lhasa, however, it was already “something that had happened in the past.” My friends told me, the festival featured Tibetan opera performance in the Norbu Lingka, and monks and lay people were immersed in a world of art and happy celebrations. They also told me Tibetan opera was called Lhamo in Tibetan, meaning fairy maid.     

THE LITTLE NYINPA“PRINCESS”

<正>The village of Nyinpa is located in Lingka Township,Baxoi County,Chamdo Prefecture in Tibet.It is a small village,with a population of 1.50people,and is located deep in the mountains.Spring comes late in Nyinpa.It is not until the second half of April that     

Butler of The Potala Palace

When Qamba Lobsang bade farewell to his uncle at the Norbu Lingka, summer palace of the Dalai Lama, he didn't realize he would be doing the same job as the old man in the future: serving as a butler at the palace.However, what Galsang is doing is somewhat different from what his uncle used to do. As a senior official under the Gaxag government in old Tibet, his uncle was charged with tending the Potala Palace and Norbu Lingka. As     

Whistling Arrows in Gongbo

Some 1,500 years ago, people in the Gongbo area invented whistling arrows to enliven their celebration of bumper harvests and major events.Today, China lists shooting whistling arrows among ethnic minority sports events.Arrow, Bow and TargetThe whistling arrow is 0.6 meter long and is topped with a wooden head that is hollow. Square at the arrowbead,     

Lhasa Rejuvinated

The Norbu Lingka Road running for two km between Norbu Lingka andthe Potala Palace was built in 2000 with investment of 20 million Yuan.It is lined with snow pine trees and its sidewalks are paved with galzed tileslike those used to pave the sidewalks of the Chang'an Boulevard in Beijing.     

Old Ferryboats in Tibet

According to Tibetan historical documents, as early as the Tubo period, sailing activites were recorded on the Yarlung Zangbo River and Lhasa River. According to Biography of Padmasambhnva, he onec crossed the Yarlung Zangbo by a wooden bout with a horse＇s head to reach Samye Monastery murals in the Samye Monastery, Potala Palace and Norbu Lingka record this.     

BUDDHA＇S BLESSING WITH MERCIFUL RAIN - A Record of the Visit of the 1 lth Panchen Lama to Yushu

Editor＇s comments： After the Yushu earthquake of April 14th with a magnitude of 7.1, the 11th Panchen Lama sent a consolatory letter with his donation of 100 thousand Yuan to the people of all nationalities in Qinghai Province in conjunction with his requirement that all monks in the Tashilunpo Monastery （which is his home monastery） to pray for the victims of the disaster. On April 20th he held a religious convention in the Xihuangsi Temple in Beijing to release the souls of those people who lost their lives during the catastrophe from purgatory.     

Toast Songs Popular in Ngari

When guests came to visit Diya people in Ngari,the hosts would ask the young girl in the family to toast them with songs. Holding a wine cup, the girl would stand in front of the guests in turn, and after singing one song, would invite the guest to drink one cup of wine; each guest was serenaded with a different song, although all centered on blessing. From many different people, I have received details of the different songs that now fill my notebook. One song goes like this: In the azure a…     

Millennia Anniversary of King Gesar

In November 2001, UNESCO approved China's proposal for celebrating the millennium anniversary of King Gesar in 2002-2003. The Chinese deem this as a confirmation of their efforts to rescue, compile, translate and publish the longest epic in the world. Efforts have since been made to prepare for the event. The National King Gesar Office joined hands with local branch offices to sponsor celebration activities from last June.——Garze in Sichuan held a meeting in the hometown of Gesar in June;     

Birthday and the Year of Birth in Tibet

Iknew nothing about birthday celebration in my childhood, nor even of the concept of "birthday" itself. Though I did hear that some aged people would hold a celebration for their 80th birthday, I was completely ignorant about the meaning behind this. Holding     

THE SOCCER TEAM OF NYIRU VILLAGE

正One"hidden village"in the Tibetan-inhabited communities is home to a fashionable and somewhat miraculous occurrence:the rise of a local soccer team. The passion of the people here with regard to the sport can almost be said to be a newly found spirit. With 128 ethnic Tibetan households in total accounting for around 700 people, the small Nyiru Village is not typically the place where one would expect to find avid soccer fanatics, but since the formation of the team, a myriad of wonderful stories have become     

Qomolongma Festival HELD IN XIGAZE

The Qomolongma Cultural Festival, held from August 26 to September 1,2001 in Xigaze, was a grand gathering. Complete with a theatrical performance, tour, commodities fair and trade talks, it displayed the progress Xigaze Prefecture has had made in the past 50 years, especially during the ongoing reform and opening program.     

Lhasa Bathing Festival: Night Activities

The seventh Tibetan month sees bloo-soming flowers,warm climate and smile faces in the valley of the Lhasa River. As the Garma Duiba Star rises over the Holy Bottle Mountain in the southeast, the Lhasans tell one another: "The Bathing Festival begins."The Star appears only for seven nights a year, and correspondingly the Bathing Festival lasts for seven nights, too.As night falls with Garma Duiba Star rising to join other twinkling stars, Lhasans, the young in par-ticular, go out for a…     

Old Lady Recalls Road Building

The mother of Vice Party Secretary Zholma lives with her daughter to the west of the Tashilhungpo Monastery. According to Zholma, many of the people living in that are a are formerroad builders and her mother was happy to be there with these old acquaintances of hers.     

New Life of the Lhobas

People of the Lhoba ethnic group groaned under slavery some 50 years ago, living in dense forests. Today, however, people of the Lhoba ethnic group, with the smallest population compared to others, enjoy a life enjoyed by modern people.     

Passion and Strength Protects the Border- A story of the civilian patrol contingent of the border police station of Trango Town in Saga County

Trango Town of Saga County in Shigaste is located at an elevation of 5370 meters with a population of 1,305 people. It shares a 105-kilometer border with Nepal, consisting of five border passes. It is one of the key border protective areas of the local police force in cooperation with a local civilian patrol contingent. From the downtown of the county to Trango Town, it takes about two hours.     

MY MUCH-BELOVED SOUTHWEST UNIVERSITY FOR NATIONALITIES——An Interview with Lozang Gyaltsen,the Party Secretary of the Southwest University for Nationalities

The Southwest College for Nationalities was founded in July 1950 and was formally established on June 1st,1951.The college was renamed the Southwest University for Nationalities with the approval of the China Ministry of Education on April 16th,2003. On June 1st,2011,the university is going to celebrate its 60th anniversary.Having completed 60 years of hard work and won success through strenuous efforts and a creative approach with generations of students,the university has realized its dreams and glorie...     

HORSE RACE IN NORTH TIBET

This annual horse race takes place in every township of the north Tibetan grassland,one by one,starting from August 1st. The principal activities are usually a horse race and a blessing by touching the foreheads of people by a Rinpoche.