Celebration of Shoton Festival 2014 was started on Auggust 25th

The world famous Holy City, Lhasa ushered the annual Shoton Festival on August 25th, 2014. Shoton Festival has been widely regarded as the most solemn Tibetan festival except for the traditional Tibetan New Year Festival. Grand Buddha exhibition ceremony will be held in Drepung Monastery, and hilarious Tibetan opera performance will be presented in the parks in Lhasa. Both the

The annual Shoton Festival would be celebrated on June 30th according to the Tibetan Calendar. This traditional Tibetan festival coud be dated back to middle 11th century. Shoton means "eating yoghurt" in Tibetan. Therefore, Shoton Festival is also noted as Yoghurt Festival among local Tibetans. The celebration of Shoton Festival was enriched gradually with time goes by. It is recorded that there is only a simple religious ceremony on Shoton Festival at the very first. Currently, Shoton Festival becomes a local folk festival and various activities were included in its celebration, including both the religious ceremonies and recreational activities. The Buddha exhibition ceremony help in Drepung Monastery is noted as one of the most solemn religious activities in Tibet. The Tibetan opera performance presented in the parks in Lhasa provides local Tibetan's the chance to spend a leisure time with their families and friends. Certainly, these celebration activities offers visitors the chance to look into the local folk customs and traditions.

This year, the celebration of Shoton Festival was started on August 25th and will last to September 2nd. A large number of local Tibetans, pilgrims and visitors from different corners of the world attended the opening ceremony of Shoton Festival - Buddha Exhibition Ceremony in Drepung Monastery. Except for the noted Buddha exhibition and Tibetan opera, visitors could also pay a visit to various exhibitions to explore the Thangka art and have a taste of the local snacks. To promote the tourism in Tibet, exhibitions aims at introducing the scenic spots in in different regions in Tibet will also be carried in Lhasa during the Shoton Festival celebration.

Buddha exhibition in Drepung Monastery - the openning ceremony of Shoton Festival attracts thousands of pilgrims and visitors every year. This year, the pilgrims gathered at Drepung Monastery at 4:30 early in the morning. A large number of visitors in Lhasa also get ready for witness the grand religious ceremony early in the morning. Late August is the best season for Tibet tour and the natural scenery on Tibet Plateau is in its best state. The celebration of Shoton Festival always symbols the coming of the highest season of Tibet tour.

It is reported that the air/train tickets to Lhasa from Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing and some other domestic cities were out of supply aout 10 days in advance of Shoton Festival. The occupancy rate of different levels of hotels in Lhasa reached 90 percent, and the admission tickets of Potala Palace were also out of supply around the Shoton Festival.