BEIJING, Nov. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- The exhibition of intangible cultural heritage inheritor Nyangbon's thangka works opened here on Nov. 15.

    Nyangbon is a thangka painter in Rongwo Township, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. 

Intangible cultural heritage inheritor Nyangbon (R) is explaining to the visitors the content of a thangka painting, Nov. 15. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Nyangbon is regarded as an inheritor of the art of Regong thangka painting. He started to learn thangka painting at the age of 12 from the master of thangka Xiawu Cairang. The Regong Painting Academy he founded in 2006 now has become a major education base for thangka painters.

    Two pieces of work by Nyangbon, The Founding Ceremony of the People's Republic of China, and Princess Wencheng Goes to Tibet, have won special awards at the China Qinghai International Art and Cultural Heritage Expo.

A visitor is gazing at piece of thangka painting with a magnifying glass, Nov. 15. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Thangka, also known as thanga and tangka, is transliterated from the Tibetan pronunciation. It refers to mounted scroll painting that is hung in a monastery or a family altar and sometimes carried by monks in religious events.

    Thangka is a distinctive art of painting in the Tibetan culture that involves many aspects of Tibetan people's life such as history, politics, culture and social life. It is not exaggerating to say that thangka is the encyclopedia of the Tibetan people's life.