Qinghai Tibetan Culture Museum

The Qinghai Tibetan Culture Museum is the only comprehensive museum in the world that collects, protects, displays and studies Tibetan culture. It is divided into two museums, the south museum is themed on Tibetan culture, and the north museum is themed on Tibetan medicine. The second floor of the South Museum has Tibetan costume hall, Tibetan card cushion hall, Tibetan architectural art hall and Tibetan calligraphy art hall, the third floor is the Silk Road and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau civilization hall, the fourth floor has a painted grand view hall. The painted grand view hall displays the longest Thangka in the world that has won the "Guinness World Record" - the grand view of Chinese Tibetan cultural art painting, which is 618 meters long and 2.3 meters wide. This Thangka was meticulously painted by more than 400 top craftsmen in Tibet over a period of 4 years, using pure natural minerals such as gold, silver, coral, pearl, gemstones and plant pigments such as saffron, madder, rhubarb, etc. The colors of the painting are bright and never fade. This scroll takes the history of the Tibetan people and the origins of the various sects of Tibetan Buddhism as its main line, showing Tibetan Buddhism's understanding of the formation of the universe and the earth, the emergence of human beings and social changes, and its understanding of the future world. The North Museum has a Tibetan medical history exhibition hall, a Mandala and surgical instrument exhibition hall, an ancient literature exhibition hall, and a Tibetan medicine specimen exhibition hall. In the Tibetan medical history exhibition hall, you can understand the world view, mind and body view, health preservation view of Tibetan medicine, the types and effects of Tibetan wine and tea, various methods of physical exercise and mind cultivation, unique therapies such as bloodletting, moxibustion, cupping, Homa, fire moxibustion, etc., the Buddhist view of life and death, the funeral culture of the Tibetan people, astronomical calculations, etc. In the North Museum, you can also appreciate a special and vivid teaching tool that appeared in the history of Tibetan medicine development - Mandala. "Man" means "medicine" or "drug", and "Tang" is the abbreviation of "Thangka" unique to Tibetan culture. Mandala makes the profound content of Tibetan medicine more concrete and vivid, which is a miracle in the history of medicine. The North Museum also displays the largest handwritten copy of the "Four Medical Classics" in the world. The "Four Medical Classics" (AD 773~783) is a classic in the treasure trove of Tibetan medicine, and its advent marks the formation of the Tibetan medical system. The museum has too much content to display, and half a day's time is very tight. It is opposite the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Natural Museum. If you have a whole day, you can see the two museums together, and experience the Tibetan meal at the Tibetan Culture Museum at noon, it would be perfect.