Yushu Festivals and Events

Besides Chinese traditional festivals, Yushu reserves a variety of famous festivals of its own which spread throughout the year showcasing the very characteristic features of Yushu. Here introduce you some festivals in Yushu.

Horse Racing Festival (赛马节)

Celebrated on July 25, Horse Racing Festival is the largest Tibetan festival in Qinghai. Yushu people are inseparable from horse racing in offering mountain worship, welcome guests, and wedding. On that day, the Tibetan people will wear bright national costumes and put their tents all over the Jiegu (结古) grassland. They will take part in horse racing, yak racing, Tibetan wrestling, equestrianism, archery, shooting, ethnic singing and dancing, Tibetan clothing display and other activities with national characteristics.

Caterpillar Fungus Festival (虫草节)

It is held on June 6. During the two-day festival, caterpillar fungus, Tibetan handicrafts and animal husbandry commodities will be exhibited and sold. "King of Caterpillar Fungus" and "Place of Caterpillar Fungus" will be selected, and caterpillar fungus forum will be held to discuss the development of caterpillar fungus industry.

Kangba Culture and Arts Festival(康巴文化艺术节)

It is held on July or August every year. Kangba Culture and Arts Festival is held by Yushu, Ganzi Prefecture in Sichuan(四川甘孜州), Diqing Prefecture in Yunnan(云南迪庆州) and Qamdo in Tibet(西藏昌都地区) in turn. At that time, thousands of tents will appear on the beautiful grassland in Yushu, forming a colorful tent city. In addition to the grand opening ceremony, there are also unique local ethnic characteristics of singing and dancing, costumes performance and breathtaking horse racing, cattle racing, equestrian and other folk sports performances.

Tiaoshen(跳神)

The monasteries in Yushu not only hold the Tiaoshen ritual for religious purposes, but also hold the activity of Tiaoshen purely for public entertainment. The art of Tiaoshen is also moved into the folk arena to compete with folk songs and dances, which adds a lot of new colors to the horse racing in Yushu.

Amdo Tibetan Opera(安多藏戏)

Amdo Tibetan Opera is a new type of Tibetan opera formed and developed on the basis of Tibetan folk songs, folk rap, folk dances and Tibetan Buddhism culture. During the performance, the characters’ movements on the stage absorb many factors of Amdo folk dance and Han Opera, so the rhythm is not as fast as that of Tibetan Opera. Clothing is also different from Tibetan Opera. It is similar to ancient or modern Amdo Tibetan clothing. In terms of makeup, except for using masks when playing gods, monsters and animals, all the other actors use facial makeup. Unlike the traditional performance form of Tibetan opera and most roles in Tibetan Opera, which requires wearing masks, but before the performance, one person wishes the audience and introduces the plot.