Tibetans to attend major trade fair with Russia

Harbin, June 14 (Xinhua-ANI): A Tibetan delegation will attend a major trade fair to open Friday in northeast China's Heilongjiang province, bringing the plateau region's cultural icons and commodities to the annual event that highlights trade with Russia.

The 50-member delegation, consisting of Tibetan business people, artists and government employees, will bring highland barley, Thangka-a kind of Tibetan scroll painting featuring Buddhist themes, cashmere kataks and Tibetan herb including the precious caterpillar fungus, believed to be a medicinal cure-all.

The Tibetan exhibition booth at the 23rd China Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair is a Tibetan-style structure decorated with murals, golden roofs and the the wheel of dharma, an auspicious symbol of Tibetan Buddhism.

It displays photos showing Tibet's beautiful landscape and a wide variety of plateau products for sale that range from highland barley liquor and yak butter tea to dried yak beef and herbs.

Tibetan artists will stage traditional singing and dancing performances during the fair.

The Harbin trade fair will run during June 15-19, with 3,000 exhibition booths, of which 700 are run by foreign exhibitors, mostly Russians.

At last year's fair, overseas-related contracts worth 17.82 billion U.S. dollars were signed.(Xinhua-ANI)