Xining, February 15 (People's Daily News) -- During the Lantern Festival, the butter flowers of the Tar Temple in Huangzhong District, Xining City, Qinghai Province, once again "bloomed." Butter flower is a special form of sculptural art that uses white ghee with mineral pigments added as raw materials to create a variety of exquisite artistic shapes.
The production of ghee flowers must be carried out in the cold winter temperature, before the fifteenth day of the first month, the monks of the Taal Monastery will set up a frame in the cold room to shape the butter flowers, in order to prevent the ghee from melting due to the influence of human body temperature, the monks will put their hands into the ice water from time to time to cool down.
Nowadays, after the arduous exploration and accumulation of generations of art monks, the pattern of ghee flowers has been renovated year by year, the content is constantly changing, and the skills are becoming more and more sophisticated.
Thar Temple butter flowers. People's Daily Photo by Zhang Haoqian
The monk is making butter flowers. People's Daily Photo by Zhang Haoqian
Ghee flowers being made. People's Daily Photo by Zhang Haoqian
Ghee for making ghee flowers. People's Daily Photo by Zhang Haoqian
Ghee flowers. People's Daily Photo by Zhang Haoqian