Currently, there are about 3,000 people engaged in the time-honored Thangka painting in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, China News reported.

Thangka, a Tibetan transliteration, refers to the scroll painting hung for religious worship after being mounted by colored satin. Known as the encyclopedia of Tibetan civilization, it has a history of over 1,300 years. Traditional Tibetan Thangka themes cover religion, politics, history, culture, astronomy and calendar, Tibetan medicine and so on. In 2006, Tibetan Thangka art was included into the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list of China, a great support for Thangka inheritors and various schools of Thangka painting.     

Meychung Norbu Sidar, a national-level Thangka art inheritor.and director of Tibetan Thangka Painting Academy, has devoted himself to the theoretical research of Thangka art and painting for over 30 years. “By 2015, there had been three Thangka art inheritors at the national level, 12 ones at the regional level. Altogether 138 Thangka painters at various levels had been recognized by Tibet and some 3,000 people engaged in Thangka painting work,” said the president. 

According to Meychung Norbu Sidar, the Tibetan Thangka Art Expo held for years running has become a distinctive cultural platform for exhibitions, art exchanges and sales of Thangka. Meanwhile, the frequent national-level traditional painting art exhibitions have also enhanced the publicity of the Thangka art. We should vigorously cultivate excellent young artists so as to meet the demand of the market and afford more job opportunities for the society.