Tongren, called "Reb-gong" in Tibetan, is capital of Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province. As the only national-level historical and cultural city in Qinghai, Tongren County is rich in ethnic cultural resources.

The world-renowned thangka, sculpture, and stone carving arts here are called "Reb-gong Arts". The thangka of Tongren County, with its exquisite handicrafts and bright colors, are especially popular with people from all over the world.

In recent years, Tongren County has made efforts to train thangka artists so that the thangka industry can help alleviate poverty in the region.

On March 4, six or seven young artists at Reb-gong Art Institute of Tongren County were painting a giant thangka together called "City of Buddhas". After they complete this giant thangka, they expect to create three Guinness World Records: the world’s longest thangka, the Tibetan Buddhism thangka with the most complete Buddha images, and a single thangka with the most Buddha images.

"This thangka is 1,118 meters long and completed by more than 400 artists who have been separated into seven groups. The seven young artists were all trained thanks to the poverty alleviation funding. They have been studying here for five years, and now are all masters in thangka painting," said Tashi Damdro, who is in charge of the Reb-gong Art Institut.

Since 2010, the Tongren County Poverty Alleviation and Development Bureau has invested more than 4 million yuan in training thangka artists from impoverished families. At present, more than 100 children from impoverished families have embarked their way to prosperity after studying at the institute.