Tibetan Buddhism is one of the three main branches of Chinese Buddhism. With its heartland on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it has a history of more than 1,000 years. This religion incorporated the indigenous primitive Tibetan religion, Bon, and took the shape of Tibetan Buddhism, or what is referred to by the Chinese as Lamaism. Its unique feature is the system of reincarnation of holy men. Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples were built all over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as well as at Garze and Aba in Sichuan Province, Depen in Yunnan Province, Gannan in Gansu Province, some areas inhabited by Tibetans in Qinghai Province and many places in the hinterland. In addition to the monasteries belonging to the Tibetan Buddhist sects, there are also many other Buddhist temples and monasteries scattered around China. These monasteries, while contributing greatly to the recording and preservation of history, and the spreading of culture, have attained very high artistic levels in the aspects of architecture, painting and sculpture. They are the most precious historical and cultural treasures the Tibetans and people of other ethnic groups living on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have bequeathed to mankind. Cheng Weidong, who majored in philosophy at Peking University, now works as a senior journalist for Ethnic Minorities Pictorial Press. He acted as a member of the Review Committee of News Photography in China for five years in a row. He has participated in large scale reporting expeditions, including "Travels Along the Frontiers of China,"A Trip to the Langcang River," "Journey to Ngari in Tibet" and "Travels in the Hengduan Mountains - Three Rivers Converge." He has explored China's borders with Russia, Vietnam, Mongolia, Myanmar, India and Nepal.
