A new roadside shop to sell Buddhist art in the Tibetan Autonomous prefecture of Huangnan in western Qinghai province has been attracting tourists both from elsewhere in China and overseas.

Run by a 26-year-old Lama and his elder brother, the shop in Tongren county has received many orders for its Tangka painting scrolls, done in the Ragoin school of Lama arts. Customers have so far included a lamasery from the 10th Panchen Lama's hometown, with an order for a fresco, though most buyers come afar from the United States, Japan and France as well as from Beijing, Hong Kongand Taiwan.

Since they opened the shop about one month ago, the young Buddhist entrepreneurs have sold nearly 10,000 yuan (1,200 US dollars) worth of art, including patchwork pictures, applique and Thangka, a traditional Tibetan Buddhist roll painting.

According to the shop owners, their village, named Wutun, is the hometown of the Ragoin school, which includes fresco and Tangka paintings, as well as painted clay sculptures and carvings.The term Ragoin is a transliteration from the local Tibetan language.

In Wutun, as in four nearby villages, nine out of ten men are good enough at painting to make a living out of it. Many of them have opened their own shops in the prefectural capital and even in Xining, capital city of the province.

According to the head of the prefecture's culture bureau, the Ragoin school of Lama arts boasts a history of 500-600 years.

( People's Daily September 20, 2002)