LHASA, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Shoton Festival, which ended Monday in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, featured multiple displays of Tibetan culture, including opera performances, an exhibition of painted scrolls and a cycling race.
The weeklong event, also known as the Yogurt Banquet festival, started with the "sunning of the Buddha" ceremony held in the 600-year-old Drepung Monastery.
Pious Buddhists walked around a 1,480-square-meter portrait of Buddha and prayed while excited tourists recorded the sacred rite with their mobile phones.
Situated at the foot of Mt. Gambo Utse, the Drepung Monastery is one of the most important monasteries in Tibetan Buddhism. The Shoton Festival originated in the monastery more than 1,000 years ago.
Losang Danba, deputy secretary of the Lhasa municipal committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said the regional government spent more than 14 million yuan (2.28 million U.S. dollars) to widen roads leading to the monastery in order to make transport more safe and convenient.
Tibetan opera performances were also staged at the Norbu Lingka park Longwangtan parks during the festival, attracting both locals and tourists.
"I bring my whole family to watch Tibetan opera during every Shoton Festival. The audiences are large and we have to come early in order to get seats," said 62-year-old Soinam Zhaxi.
"The performers' colorful costumes are very beautiful. Although I can't understand what they are singing, their movements and expressions impress me. I can feel their sincerity and enthusiasm," said Deng Xiaolong, a 24-year-old tourist from south China's Guangdong Province.
Festival organizers also staged an exhibition dedicated to "thangkas," or Tibetan painted scrolls, as well as held a 9.5-km bicycle race in order to raise awareness about environmental protection.
The festival was originally a religious occasion, when local people would offer yogurt to monks who had finished meditation retreats. It has been held since the 17th century and is considered one of the most important festivals on the Tibetan calendar.
Tibet saw robust growth in tourism in the first half of the year, with the number of visiting tourists reaching 3.43 million, an increase of 21.8 percent from the same period last year. Meanwhile, its tourism revenues surged 32.1 percent year on year to 3.2 billion yuan in the period.
The plateau region typically experiences a three-month peak travel season starting from July.
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