xi's moments
Home | Heritage

Intangible cultural heritages shine with Belt and Road Initiative

By Li Hongrui | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-04-06 08:54

Butter sculptures from the Kumbum Monastery. [Photo/Xinhua; VCG]

Qinghai: Kumbum Monastery's butter sculpture

Butter sculptures from the Kumbum Monastery, or Ta'er Monastery, was listed in the first group of national intangible heritages approved by the State Council of China in 2006.

Butter carving originates from the Tibetan Bon religion. With the development of Buddhism, it greatly improved in terms of style, patterns, content and techniques. Nature provides the source of the color for the butter carving. Red is from agate, green from jade, white from pearl, yellow from gold, blue from malachite and black from charcoal.

The process of butter sculpting is complex. And before the carving can even begins, the pattern and content must be approved by the abbot of the monastery. When a butter sculpture is finished, the natural fragrance of the butter is still perfectly intact.

|<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next   >>|
Global Edition
BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349