Martin Li

    martin.mouise@163.com

    TIBETANS displayed several huge Thangkas, or Tibetan scroll paintings, at the region’s 500-square-meter pavilion at Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, attracting visitors’ attention at the ICIF’s main venue.

    Many ICIF visitors spent significant amounts of time standing in front of the huge Thangkas featuring colorful Buddhist images on the Tibet Pavilion’s walls.

    Creating Thangkas has been popular in Tibet for centuries. The first recorded instance of Thangka-making originated with Tibet’s leader during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). He used his blood to paint a portrait of a goddess, and his wife decorated the painting with her jewelry. This is how the tradition of Thangka came into being, according to media reports.

    Making Thangkas is complicated.

    Thangkas are usually placed upright in a rectangular shape. Cotton canvas and linen cloth are the common fabrics on which pictures are painted with mineral and organic pigments. Important Thangkas use ground gold and gemstones for pigments.

    Orienting lines are drawn to guide the sketching. Images are then roughly drawn, following a fixed proportion. The featured deity or saint occupies the center while attendant deities or monks surround the central figure and fill the borders.

    Painters then apply pigments to the sketch. Black, green, red, yellow and white are the basic colors used. Colors are mixed with animal glue and ox bile to keep them bright. At the final stage, facial features and eyes are finished, which is done only after a ritual held on a fixed day.

    The picture is then mounted on a piece of colorful silk, and a wooden stick is attached on the side for hanging and rolling.

    Visitors to the Tibet Pavilion were also delighted to watch Tibetan dances and listen to cultural songs. Performers’ enthusiasm and smiling faces impressed many people and inspired many photos.