On April 19, the Yalong Tibetan culture exchange club hosted “Gesang in Bloom,” the first Tibetan cultural festival at Renmin University China. The event was supported by the Student’ Affairs Office. Over 300 teachers and students participated and enjoyed cultural interaction with Tibetan students.

Gesang is the Tibetan name of Sims Azalea, and means “happiness.” Gesang can survive in tough environment like highland or extreme cold conditions, and is the city flower of Lhasa. Tibetan people treat the gesang as a symbol of love and hope, so they place their future expectations on the flower.

There were two zones in the festival:  culture exhibition and culture interaction. In the exhibition area, students viewed Tibetan handicraft work, household items and books, and listened to Tibetan students’ explanations of them.

In the culture interaction area, Tibetan students performed dances called Guozhuang and Xuanzi, and many of the students gathered to join the dance. Students were also given the opporuntity to try on Tibetan clothing. They took photos holding Hada, a piece of silk used as a greeting gift in Tibet, in front of the Tibetan tent.

Signature design in Tibetan language was also one of the highlights of the festival. It helped students to feel the charm of Tibetan language. Students from Tibet also brought delicious food from their hometowns, to the delight of the particpants. RUC Yalong Tibetan culture exchange club was founded in May 2013, starting and organizing by Tibetan students in RUC. The club now has over 40 members and is focused on communicating Tibetan culture  to promote national unity.   The club  offers basic Tibetan language  classes and Guozhuang dance classes. They also particpate in many activities both inside and outside the campus, like the Mengzhiyun party and  the Yapan national culture exhibition. According to Suolang Yangzong, the director of the club, they wanted to contribute to the communication and development of Tibetan culture by hosting these activities.