Tibetan crafts entice city shoppers
Exhibition of cultural heritage, old and new, once again draws crowds to Beijing's Beihai Park, Yang Feiyue reports.
Chodzin has been surrounded by eager visitors inquiring after his work ever since he set up his booth in Beijing in late April.
He makes tsatsa, intricate Tibetan clay sculptures, from three-dimensional Buddhist deities, stupas and mantras, to other sacred symbols.
"They were all handmade by myself and my students and are a manifestation of traditional Tibetan tsatsa, which has deep spiritual and cultural roots," says the man from Rangtang county, in the west of the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province.
Each piece reflects the creativity of its maker, he says.
Rooted in Tibetan Buddhist practices, tsatsas are primarily made as merit-making offerings. They are commonly placed in stupas, on altars, or at holy sites as acts of devotion, and are believed to bring blessings and protection.
The sculptures are not only exemplary for their round forms but also for their use of a variety of techniques, including bas-relief, line engraving, and painting, Chodzin explains.
"The diversity of sculptural methods and molding techniques results in a wide array of poses and forms, giving each tsatsa its own unique expression," he says.
