Unique folk costumes featuring local customs of southern Tibet's Lhoka Prefecture lit up the recently held opening ceremony of the 2013 Yarlung Culture Festival on Aug. 15, 2013.

With the theme of "origination and predestination in Tibet: Lhoka Prefecture", this year's festival aims at facilitating tourism and socio-economic development, which ends on Aug. 21, 2013.

With its government based in Tsethang Township, Lhoka Prefecture of Tibet Autonomous Region is situated south of Mt. Gangdise and Mt. Nyanchen Thanglha range, along the middle and lower reaches of Yarlung Tsangpo River, covering an area of nearly 80,000 square kilometers with a population of about 350,000 featuring in Tibetans.

Photo shows that actors wear colorful Tibetan folk costumes in order to take part in the performance on the opening ceremony of 2013 Yarlung Culture Festival. [Photo/ China Tibet Online] 

Being the renowned cradle of Tibetans, Lhoka is the place where the Tupo Kingdom was firstly established and unified the whole Tibet. It has numerous firsts during its long history, such as the first king Nyatri Tsanpo, the first palace Yumbu Lhakang Palace, the first cropland Suodang, the first Buddhist sutra Panghonchaja and the first Tibetan opera Pakghapu, which are all associated with Lhoka.

Photo shows a kind of ordinary ethnic Tibetan costumes worn on stage, which has some elements of Gonpo costumes. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]  

Photo shows waistcoats made of black Pulu (a kind of traditional Tibetan woolen fabric) which is the typical dress of Tibetan young farmers. [Photo/ China Tibet Online] 

Photo shows a costume composed of little red round cap and apron made of white Pulu, which is the typical costume of Tsona County, a southeast Lhoka's border county which neighbors India and Bhutan. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]  

Photo shows the folk costumes with many color stripes in Tsomey County in the middle of Lhoka. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]  

Photo shows the Bangdian, Tibetan for "apron", which is a kind of woolen fabric very popular among Tibetan women, and a waistcoat made of colorful Pulu, which are inseparable in their dressing up since Lhoka is the home of Pulu. [Photo/ China Tibet Online] 

Photo shows that the beautiful folk costumes make the dancing postures much more graceful. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]  

Photo shows the mighty rider's costume. [Photo/ China Tibet Online] 

Photo shows the traditional costumes on the Ongkor Festival, a festival being prevalent in rural areas of Tibet, especially in those areas along the middle reach of the Yarlung Tsangpo River and Lhasa River Valley. In Tibetan language, "Ong" means "field" and "Kor" means "walking around", so it means walking around the crop fields to express the farmers' yearning for a good harvest. [Photo/ China Tibet Online] 

Photos shows the hunters' folk costumes which are made of furs. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]