Background for the slideshow (Xinhua photos)

Shoton Festival

Shoton Festival (Yoghurt Festival), usually celebrated in the sixth month of the Tibetan calendar, is one of the most popular holidays in Tibetan Buddhism. "Sho" means Yoghurt and "ton" means banquet in the Tibetan language. The ceremony comes from a religious rite in which monks would descend from their temples in the mountains and receive alms of yogurt from local people. More

"Guozhuang dance"

In the Tibetan language, "Guozhuang dance" means "singing and dancing in a circle". The festival is celebrated in two different styles: one for farmers, and one for herdsmen. The farmer’s version is popular in Qamdo in eastern Tibet, while the herdsmen's guozhuang is popular in the vast pasture land of Damxung, Heihe, and Sog Xian.

The movements of guozhuang are agile and vigorous. The loose, wide trousers of the male dancers look like the feathered legs of eagles, and the men's movements are imitative of the bird, often symbolically representing an eagle spreading its wings, hopping, and soaring.