Rebgong (Tongren)

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (Regong Arts, Inscribed 2009); The Thangka Painting Villages Of The Rebgong Valley And Longwu Monastery, Founded 1301 · Tongren, Qinghai

Rebgong is a valley in Amdo where an entire population paints. For some six hundred years the villages around Tongren - Wutun above all, and Nianduhu and Guomari - have produced thangka, appliqué, barbola and clay sculpture for monasteries across the Tibetan world, to the point where in Wutun it is easier to find a household with a painter in it than one without, and boys have traditionally started learning at six or seven. UNESCO inscribed the whole tradition in 2009. What this means for a visitor is unusual: you do not look at craft in a museum case, you walk into a courtyard where four generations are working on stretched cotton and grinding mineral pigment, and a single large thangka may represent a year of one person's life. The valley also holds Longwu Monastery, founded in 1301, and in lunar June it holds Lurol, a village festival of drumming and dancing that includes real piercing and is not put on for anyone.

Wutun and Longwu, Tongren, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Tongren, Qinghai, China

The villages and their streets are lived in and open at all hours; the WUTUN UPPER AND LOWER MONASTERIES and LONGWU MONASTERY each charge a modest ticket and keep daytime hours, roughly 8:00-17:00, with shorter winter opening. THE THANGKA STUDIOS ARE FAMILY HOMES AND HAVE NO HOURS - painters work through the day and the practical window is late morning to late afternoon. Ask before entering any courtyard. LUROL, the village festival with its piercing rituals, falls in the sixth lunar month, usually July, with dates set by the lunar calendar. Access rules for foreign visitors in Tibetan areas can change at short notice.

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