Jin Shangyi, honorary chairman of the China Artists Association, looks attentively at a piece of Thangka painted by young painter Konjo, May 8. [Photo/China Tibet Online]

A piece of Thangka themed with the Sakyamuni Buddha on exhibition, May 8. [Photo/China Tibet Online]

An exhibition on artworks of young Thangka masters officially kicked off in the Art Gallery of Splendid Tibet, Songzhuang Art Center of Beijing, on May 8.

The exhibition displays around 40 pieces of exquisite Thangka paintings by four young and middle-aged Thangka artists. Some of the artworks are collections of celebrated monasteries in Tibet.

"From the artworks, we can see that the young Thangka painters have not only inherited excellent Tibetan cultural traditions, but also brought fresh ideas and vigor into this ancient art form," said Jin Shangyi, honorary chairman of the Chinese Artists Association.

As inheritors of Miansa School, one of the schools of Thangka, Norbu Sida and Tsering Wangyel, both born into painters' families, have taken the lead in restoring and imitating the mural paintings in noted monasteries in Tibet and Qinghai Tibetan-inhabited areas.

Young as they are, Phumtsog (after 70s) and Konjo (after 80s) have already painted frescos for the Tashilhunpo Monastery, seat of the Panchen Lamas and Norbulingka, the summer palace of the Dalai Lamas.

Sita, vice minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC central committee，Jin Shangyi, honorary chairman of the Chinese Artists Association and Han Shuli, chairman of the Tibet Artists Association, attended the opening ceremony.