Youngsters inject vigor into traditional Tibetan arts

From Beijing to Lhasa, young lovers of Tibetan arts are trying to keep the centuries-old cultural traditions alive in their creative ways and make them more accessible to modern audiences.

At a mini theater named Hello Xizang in Beijing, visitors can experience authentic Tibetan performing arts of opera, sgra snyan or a folk lute of the Himalayas with six strings, and dance. Many of the actors who are from across Xizang are now based in Beijing to stage regular shows. Despite being far from home, they say the enthusiasm of audiences have touched them deeply.

"After every performance, some audience members come to us specifically, telling us they are particularly fond of our traditional culture, and they feel as if seeing our snow mountains, yaks and grasslands in Xizang through our songs and dances," said Losang Zhaba, one of the theater's performers.

The theater's producer is Gesang Yangla, who was born in the 1990s and graduated with a bachelor's degree at the Beijing University while later obtaining a master's degree from Columbia University in the United States. Then she chose to return home to develop platforms for Tibetan arts.

"I am keenly interested in culture and arts. We have so many artists, cultural resources and folk artists in Tibetan areas, with many such groups and content. Yet there are too few platforms to present them. I've always believed art isn't that far as people imagined," she said.

At the historic Jebum-gang Art Center, the once landmark of the old town of Lhasa has been revitalized as a hub for exhibitions and performances. Its operations manager Cai Dongwei is a young lady born after 1995, who has chosen to stay in Lhasa for the development of Tibetan arts.

"After I came to Xizang, I actually found another identity of mine. I could believe that apart from my first identity of an inland Chinese, I'm also a local of Xizang," she said.

Across Lhasa, such initiatives are helping traditional Tibetan culture evolve through innovation and integration, drawing more youngsters to contribute their youth to keeping intangible Tibetan heritage thriving.

Youngsters inject vigor into traditional Tibetan arts

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's official visit to China signals a policy shift towards building a more pragmatic relationship between the two countries, according to a Canadian researcher.

Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin an official visit to China through Saturday, which marks the first trip by a Canadian Prime Minister to the country in eight years.

Robert Hanlon, director and principal investigator of Canada and the Asia Pacific Policy Project (CAPPP) at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, told the China Global Television Network (CGTN) that Carney's visit indicates Canada is recalibrating its strategic perception of China, which could cement the foundation for the country's economic diversification efforts and boost the development of bilateral cooperation.

"I think it's a clear message that he has moved Canada's strategy to a much more pragmatic, interest-based, -focused relationship with our trading partners, moving away from values-based narratives that we might have heard on previous governments. Canada has spoken about moving from what the Prime Minister's Office is calling "from reliance to resilience", and that means diversifying our economies and our trade everywhere in the world. And so China being our second largest trading partner, it makes perfect sense for our PM to head to Beijing," he said.

The scholar also noted the huge cooperation potential between the two sides in economic and trade fields, citing Canada's efforts to step up shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the planned construction of an oil pipeline in Alberta which aims to increase export access to Asian markets. "Canada and China both share tremendous economic opportunities together and so finding ways to enhance our exports. Canada specifically looking to build out its LNG and oil, kind of export market. We know Canada is a major producer of critical minerals and China is a buyer. And so there's a lot of synergy between that kind of those kind of markets," he said.

Canadian PM's visit to China paves way for more pragmatic trade ties: scholar