Tibetans Usher in Tibetan New Year

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 14, 2002

Tibetans Usher in Tibetan New Year

Resplendent in holiday finery, Tibetans recognized the Year of the Water Horse on Wednesday, just after the nationwide celebration for the Chinese lunar New Year which fell on Tuesday.

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Resplendent in holiday finery, Tibetans recognized the Year of the Water Horse on Wednesday, just after the nationwide celebration for the Chinese lunar New Year which fell on Tuesday.

Costumed performers ushered in the occasion with a televised special of events from the past year and blessing for the new year.

They proclaimed 2001 a year of great accomplishments for Chinese, including Tibetans. In addition to China's entry into the World Trade Organization and Beijing's win to host the 2008 Olympics, Tibetans celebrated the 50th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of the region and the construction of the Tibet-Qinghai railway, the world's highest railroad.

After watching the show, Buddhist disciples, holding butter lamps, swarmed into incense-filled temples to pray for peace and luck in the coming new year.

The Potala Palace in downtown Lhasa, decorated with colorful banners, drew crowds of ethnic Han and foreigners as well as Tibetans.

Top officials of Lhasa visited local herdsmen and spent the first day of the New Year with them.

The first day of the New Year is the biggest festival for Tibetan people. Good wishes of "zhaxidele," or luck, are common greetings among Tibetans the world over.

In the eastern city of Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, over 300 Tibetan students with their teachers held New Year's parties.

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