The temple wall is painted with bright yellow. [Photo/chinatibetnews.com]

Tibetan buildings in different areas of Tibet have distinctive architectural characteristics, while forming an overall harmonious and unified style.

The Tibetan buildings generally near the mountain and by the river, so people would like to obtain materials from local resources including stones, soil, wood and leather as building materials.

Most architecture has followed some inherent Tibetan ethnic characteristics except tents, which have a style of its own.

The most distinctive feature of Tibetan architecture is nothing but the load-bearing mode, namely the wall bearing structure, which is also the biggest difference between Tibetan buildings and Hans buildings, the former uses the wall column hybrid bearing structure.

The bearing mode of Hans buildings is column bearing, while Tibetan craftsmen transfer part of the weight of the buildings onto the walls by a clever way.

The Yumbu Lhakhang Palace is a classic Tibetan palace. [Photo/chinatibetnews.com]

The bearing structure of Tibetan is composed of contracture wall and column grid structure. The traditional Tibetan buildings mainly use soil and rock as the materials with few adhesive.

In order to make a building higher, the Tibetans usually make the ground level of a wall thick and make it thinner as additional floors are added; therefore, the decentralization could guarantee the building's stability. In addition, several arch-style beam frameworks are used to expand the architectural space.

The bearing mode no doubt reflects Tibetans' wisdom in details. Almost all the large buildings are built without blueprints, nor any auxiliary means such as suspension wire, perfectly embodying the workers' rigorous and unconstrained imagination.

A Tibetan building, whether it is a big framework or a piece of wall, depends on no rigorous planning, but only the designers' imagination and worker's execution. The great buildings in the Tibetan history such as the Potala Palace were all born from such cooperation model.

The Qinghai-Tibet plateau in the history is barren, desolate and single-colored, but people living here have been crazy about colors and beauty. Colorful carved beams and painted rafters in the various Tibetan buildings decorated with yellowish brown or white make people feel like in the imperial palace. It is the Tibetans' understanding of beauty and deep love for life.

Tourists pay visit to Tibet, a holy place. [Photo/chinatibetnews.com]

The white pagodas can be seen everywhere in Tibet. [Photo/chinatibetnews.com]

Photo shows the typical Tibetan architecture. [Photo/chinatibetnews.com]

Photo shows the old town of Gyangze County of Shigatse Prefecture, Tibet. [Photo/chinatibetnews.com]

The Tsedrup Monastery is located in the Tengchen County of Chamdo Prefecture. [Photo/chinatibetnews.com]

Photo shows the typical Tibetan architecture. [Photo/chinatibetnews.com]