Recently there is a gathering taking place in the Damxong County of Lhasa City. More than 20,000 people have worn splendid clothes enjoying the horse racing festival “Dangjiren”.

 
Located in the grassland area in northern Tibet, Damxong means “the chosen grassland” where there are plenty of water and green grass. “Dangjiren” horse racing festival has 300 years of history which can be traced back to the 17th century and has become a folk sport and cultural gathering which includes horse racing, trading, literary and art activities as well as competitions all in one.

 
Being referred to as “the people on the horse backs”, the Tibetan people consider horse as the core element in their life and cultural history. The horse figure has accumulated every single drop in the life of the Tibetan people, therein having formed the unique “horse culture” such as the “Ancient Tea Horse Route”, “horse skill performance” as well as “circling the mountain in the year of horse” etc.

The “Dangjiren” horse racing festival has been listed into the 2nd batch of national level intangible cultural heritage. The festival can be traced back to the 17th century when the Mongolian cavalry stationed at the Damxong grassland and raised military horses. They carried out military training activities and held a cavalry review once a year. The Mongolian cavalry has become history yet the main content of cavalry review has evolved into a horse racing activity and has become today’s “Dangjiren” horse racing festival.

The Tibetan people's enthusiasm in taking part in the traditional cultural activity has proved that "Tibetan culture genocide" is nonsense.

       
The Tibetan culture has been continuously developing. Taking “Dangjiren” horse racing festival as an example, in 2016, Damxong has explored and has been creative in building the programs for the traditional horse racing such as horse skills, Guozhuang, fashion performances, therein inviting a team to work on designing horse racing field. The unique folk custom has brought a great enthusiasm to the tourists visiting the place.

Damxong will combine the traditional culture and tourist industry, giving the priority to the preservation of the fragile ecological environment on the plateau, therein establishing “the hometown of sacred mountains and lakes”, “the home town of northern Tibet landscape” and “the hometown of geothermal hot springs ”