Panchen Rinpoche wraps up tour of Tibet's Qamdo

LHASA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Panchen Erdeni Chos-kyi rGyal-po completed a 13-day tour of Buddhist and social activities in Qamdo City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

Panchen Rinpoche, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice president of the Buddhist Association of China, and president of the association's Tibet branch, arrived in Qamdo's Jomda County on June 5.

During his tour of Qamdo, Panchen Rinpoche visited monasteries of different sects of Tibetan Buddhism, where he held prayer meetings and expounded on the Buddhist sutras. He also gave head-touching blessings to more than 130,000 people.

It marked the second time Panchen Rinpoche visited the city to conduct Buddhist and social activities.

In Qamdo, Panchen Rinpoche also visited several other locations, including a station of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway under construction and an economic development zone, among others.

He arrived in the regional capital Lhasa on Sunday and will continue to undertake a series of Buddhist and social activities during his stay in Tibet.