Ritu Cliff Painting

Cliff painting was a type of art which shows human beings themselves in ancient times. In primitive society, there was no class power, poor productivity, or advantage tools, people created a kind of means of expression to record and memory their lives and life. Through the means were not good or high-tech enough, but it featured a unique, vivid and fantastic mind of human beings at that time, which could not be relaced forever.

Ritu Cliff Painting - Brief Introduction

Ritu Cliff Painting is one of the cultural relics of China, located in Ritu County of Tibet. It mainly distributed in southern part of Pangongtso and eastern part within the area of 200-300 square kilometers. The painting cliff scenery could be easily found along Xinjiang - Tibet Highway nearby Ritu County. The mural and painting was carved by solid rock or other hard tools, some of them were carved deeply, some were just carved a little on surface. There are only few colorful paintings on it.

Widely things were showed and carved vividly on the rocks such as hunting, religious ceremonies, horse racing, graze, farming, the sun, the moon, the mountains, the cows, the horses, the goats, the donkeys, the antelopes, the houses, and living people.

Ritu Cliff Painting - Culture

Cliff painting is a kind of stone carving culture, which Ritu Cliff Painting is the most representative of it in Tibet Region. There are large numbers of cliff paintings distributed in Rimudong, Lurilangka, Alon Valley, Kangparejiu, etc, in Ritu County with high artistic value. Those cliff paintings were all caved on the rocks and palisades by solid rock or other hard tools, all of the pictures were vivid and interesting. The cliff paintings mainly show the social life at that time such as hunting, religious ceremonies, shooting, farming, dancing, and the war, etc. Tourists can easily imagine and enjoy it with those pictures.

Ritu Cliff Painting - Distribution

Large amount of Tibetan cliff paintings were found in middle period of 1980 to early 1990. According to a rough statistics record, there are more than 60 places of painting cliffs have been found and marked including over 5000 pictures. They are mainly distributed in southern Tibet and northern Tibet, and the upper reaches of Yarlung Zangbo River where are also called Changtang (features no man's land), covering 14 counties in Tibet region.

Ritu Cliff Painting mainly distributed in the southern part and eastern part of Pangongtso Lake, approximately 200-300 square kilometers. About 13 cliff painting have been found in Lurikangka, Alon Valley, Napulon, etc, in Ritu County.

Ritu Cliff Painting - Travel Tips

Attractions

Most of them can be easily found along the XInjiang - Tibet highway, and few are distributed in remote places.

Traffic

There is the dirt road (unsurfaced road) around Ritu Cliff Painting area. The Sports-utility Vehicles drives better than other little car on this road.

Accommodation

If you are not going ahead to Xinjiang, you'd better turn back to Lion Spring River to overnight. Lion Spring River is a relatively larger city around Ritu Cliff Painting, which is full of hotels and guesthouses.

Ritu Cliff Painting - Value

Ritu Cliff Painting is the physical material of researching Tibetan history, religions, arts and folk customs, etc, as it has recorded the economic life, social activities, and religious beliefs during that time. What's more, it is also good for learning Tibet ethnohistory, Tibet ethnology, Primitive religion in Tibet, Tibetan ancient ecology, Tibetan ancient traffic and ancient Tibetan art, etc.