Over 20,000 pilgrims and tourists Sunday joined in a pilgrimage trek to a Tibetan sacred mountain in Ngari Prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
It is the anniversary of the birth and achievement of nirvana of the Buddha, Sakyamuni on each 15th day of the fourth month by the Tibetan calendar.
According to local residents, never before did so many people gather here in the pilgrimage event as this time.
It is a tradition for many renowned buddhist monks to travel a long way from different parts of the country to deliver sermons upon the anniversary at the mountains, whose peak is 6,714 meters above the sea level.
(People's Daily May 27, 2002)