arts

main cities of tibet: lhasa , shigatse , shannan , tingri , nakchu , ngari , nyingchi , tsedang , zhangmu , chamdo

xining tibet's traditional culture is rich and diverse, and can be broadly divided into religious culture and folk culture. religious culture consists of temple architecture, buddhist sculpture, murals, and thangka painting. a thangka is a scrolled religious cloth painting or silk embroidery edged with brocade, and also is a unique handicraft in tibet. the highlight of thangka art is its color-coordination, brush strokes and scale of image. specialized training is required in order to master this specialized tibetan skill. all the large monasteries in tibet are abundant in this art form and the potala palace has two 50-meter-long thangkas, which are kept in a two-story warehouse. giant thangkas are displayed for worship for lamas and lay people during important festivals.

folk culture covers folk story telling, singing and dancing. there are numerous well known tibetan fables and mottos, the most famous ones are the mottos of sakya and kaldan. the best-known work of tibetan folk literature is the saga king gesar, an epic of how king gesar and his followers helped people get rid of evil. for tibetan people king gesar is the incarnation of justice, bravery, power and ideal.

tibet is known as an "ocean of song and dance." guoxie is a communal dance where the dancers perform in a circle, hand in hand. duixie has been called tibetan tap dancing. guozhuang, a dance also performed in a circle, is popular in the farming, pastoral and forest areas in tibet, and guozhunag dance in qamdo is the most famous of all. while the ebullient raba dance is performed on squares, and its protagonists should be highly skilled. the qiangmu, danced by a sorcerer who goes off into a trance, is a religious dance performed to exorcise evil spirits.

tibetan opera derives from sorcerer dancing, but it also has a plot, fixed vocal music, dancing, and a specialized performance mode.

 

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last updated: march 21, 2006

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