Yona Photo

Age-old wooden walls gives the Da’ersi Temple in Xining a warm feeling

* The Tibetan alphabet has 30 consonants, sometimes known as radicals. The vowels used in the alphabet are a, i, u, e, and o. While the vowel a is included in each consonant or radical, the other vowels are indicated by marks; thus ཀ ka, ཀི ki, ཀུ ku, ཀེ ke, ཀོ ko.

Mud on the floor can take remarkable shapes and patterns

Detailed handcrafts on the corner of a closed door, keeping unwanted visitors outside the Tibetan village

Layers of ceremonial paint create the idea of an abstract impressionistic painting