San Tauh and his son San Jeka paint thangka at home in Wutun village of Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Huangnan, northwest China's Qinghai Province, Sept. 21, 2012. At dawn of a deep autumn, 50-year-old San Tauh started his daily praying at the worship hall at home. The praying costs him more than an hour, including chanting sutras, lighting aromatic plants, kowtow and spinning prayer wheels in the nearby temple. As a devoted Tibetan Buddhist, San Tauh never misses his worship during the past years. Living in Wutun Village, San Tauh, who started to learn thangka painting around 40 years ago, is one of the best thangka artists in Qinghai. Wutun Village is regarded as home of the thangka art. The Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Tar'er Lamasery all order their thangka from here. As most of fellow villagers, San Tauh and his family members work together to draw thangka paintings. Twenty one-year-old San Jeka, the only son of San Tauh, can do some simple work in thangka painting after learning the skill from his father for almost 5 years. Whereas, Doje Zhoima, San Jeka's elder sister is already a veteran thangka painter, who is able to complete a thangka independently, from simple steps like grinding pigment and color filling to complicated works like sketching and final tracing in gold. There are very few female Thangka artist in the past, because the skill can only be taught to male descendant of the family in tradition. However, San Tauh broke the rules when Doje Zhoima graduated from middle school about 10 years ago, because he thought labor work would be too tough for her. After devoting herself year after year following instruction of her father, Doje Zhoima made great progress in painting skills, some of her thangka are even more popular than her father's. In recent years, as Tibetan cultures are widely spread, San Tauh's family receive so many thangka orders that they can hardly complete in several years. Although the earnings is considerably high, San Tauh and his work group never lower the standards on production of a single piece of artwork. San Tauh's team, including himself, his son, an apprentice, his daughter and the son-in-law, work 10 hours a day throughout 11 months in a year. However, they usually produce no more than three large-sized thangka paintings because of complicated procedures. "Although the price of thangka paintings is very high now, I will keep the traditional working manner as an artist to guard the fame of thangka. Shoddy and fake works would ruin the precious art." San Tauh said. Besides his son and daughter, San Tauh also received around 30 apprentices during the past years. As apprentices usually need to learn and practice about 15 years before they are able to paint independently, many learners follow San Tauh from their childhoods. "Fewer people have the patience to practice the skill day by day. Some of my followers finally give up." San Tauh said with a glimpse of pity in his eyes. As living condition were greatly improved in recent years, "luxuries" in the old days, such as cars, computers and smart phones becomes affordable to the family. "The phone is too smart for me to know all its functions, while I use it as a camera mostly besides making phone calls." San Tauh said and reviewed photos on his iphone, "In the past, if I met some favorite thangka designs in the temples, I only sketched on the paper or remember them in mind. It is much easier to do it now with the phone. I can shoot photos and review any designs I like conveniently." In quiet and peaceful residence with Tibetan-styled decorations and elaborately-clipped plants, San Tauh, together with his son and daughter, is absorbed in drawing two half-finished thangka paintings. At a corner of the courtyard, three-year-old Dianzin Doje sat on a cushion and seriously imitated his grandpa San Tauh, brushing colors on his drawing board. Maybe, a future thangka artist is growing up. (Xinhua/Zhang Hongxiang)
