Luobu Sida displays a finished Thang-ga in Luobu Sida's Thang-ga school in Lhasa, Tibet, September 11, 2009.[Chinadaily.com.cn/ Uking Sun]

“Of course, I worry about the future of Thang-ga, but I will try my best to protect and preserve the traditional techniques. I already feel happy if one of my ten students can inherit the painting skills,” Luobu Sida, a leading Tang-ga painter and teacher in Tibet, told China Daily during an exclusive interview on September 11, 2009.

Thang-ga is scroll painting usually mounted on colorful satins and fabrics. Developed in the 7th century, this unique style of painting is made by folk handicraftsmen and holds a sacred place in Tibetans' hearts. Thang-ga is found in palaces, temples, and folk houses. In terms of content, Thang-ga features all aspects of Tibetan people's lives, such as religion, history, culture, art, science and technology.

Luobu Sida watches as one student draws the Thang-ga in his school in Lhasa, Tibet, September 11, 2009.[Chinadaily.com.cn/ Uking Sun]

The Thang-ga painting has several schools, and Luobu Sida’s family has a history of making Mian’sa style Thang-ga for four generations. At the age of 10, Luobu started to learn from his grandfather and later learned from other leading painters, including Gaqin Luosang Pingcuo. From 1989, he was invited to participate in a number of construction and renovation projects, such as paintings for the coffin tower of the 10thPanchan Lama, and paintings for Drepung Monastery, one of the "great three" Gelukpa monasteries of Tibet.

A pride to work in Potala Palace

Since 2005, Luobu Sida started to copy the murals in the hall where the mandala of the Wheel of Time is placed in thePotalaPalace. Mandalas are pictorial representations of the Buddhist universe, and this mandala contains 200,000 pearls, coral, turquoise and gold thread, making it one of the most beautiful works of Buddhist art.