Tibetan Culture

Dumplings ready to pile up trays–cooked in just 12 minutes on a stacked steamer.
Family, Tibetan Culture, Tibetan Food

One Last Savory Bite

As an expatriate, the journey afar from North America back to my motherland, the Tibetan plateau, has always been very special. Just the thought of a trip home uplifts memories of my upbringing in the majestic land where I feel most connected. Spending two months with my loved ones, visiting historic spots, as well as […]

Family, Food, Tibetan Culture, Travel

Family Life: A Day on the Grassland

  A day on the grassland with my paternal family—the biggest family reunion I’ve ever attended. Fifty-six families, 180 people total, from two distinctive worlds (agricultural and nomadic), joined together on Mgar-tse’s grassland in Rebgong, Amdo region. They included farmers, animal herders, educators from elementary school to university, small business owners, doctors, students of all […]

Donned with silver belts and coral necklaces, only unmarried Tibetan girls from the host village/group are privileged to dance in the Lerol festival.
Spirituality, Tibetan Culture, Tibetan Tradition

Amdo Tibetan ‘Klu rol’ Festival — Part II

  [Continuing Klu rol (lürol) Festival part I…] Summer is a festive season in Rebgong, Amdo region on the Tibetan plateau, and Klu rol (lürol ) festival is held yearly in many Tibetan villages and a few Monguor villages between June fifteenth and the twenty-fifth of the lunar calendar. My village, Gling-rgyal (AKA Langjia) is one of the most […]

Tibetan Lha-ba, Mountain God Amyes-magpa, who is temporarily manifested in a human medium, holding his hair and a knife with his teeth after cut his forehead.
Spirituality, Tibetan Culture, Tibetan Tradition

Amdo Tibetan ‘Klu rol’ Festival — Part I

  Summer is a festive season in Rebgong, Amdo region on the Tibetan plateau, and Klu rol (Lürol) ཀླུ་རོལ། festival is held yearly in many Tibetan villages and a few Monguor villages between June sixteenth and the twenty-fifth of the lunar calendar. My village, Gling-rgyal (AKA Langjia) is one of the most known sites for this folk culture. […]

Family, Tibetan Culture, Tibetan Tradition, Travel

On the Road to My Hometown—Rebgong

My twenty-hour journey, flying from Chicago to Beijing, then to Siling (ཟི་ལིང, officially Xining, the capital of Qinghai province) was long but rather a smooth ride. After a couple of days in the city, my little brother Chudar, niece Yechun, and I traveled to my birthplace, Rebgong (རེབ་གོང, Tongren officially), also known as ‘The Rebgong Golden […]