Xinhua, October 16, 2006

China -- The China Tibet Culture Festival will open in Austria on Oct. 18 and run till Oct. 29, marking the 35th founding anniversary of China-Austria diplomatic ties and the ongoing "Year of China" initiated by the Austrian government.

The festival is the sixth large exhibition abroad of Tibetan culture since 2001, said a spokesman for the Chinese Association for Cultural Exchanges with Foreign Countries.

The festival will include an exhibition of more than 200 photos selected from 150,000 pictures by 100 photographers from 19 countries. They were invited to take photos in Tibet last year.

Helmut Strohmer, a well-known Austrian photographer, is also expected to display 50 works, showing impressions of modern life in Tibet.

Fifteen Tangkar -- traditional song and dance -- performances will illustrate the religion, medicine and history of Tibet, the spokesman said.

A song and dance ensemble will perform folk songs and dances. The organizers have invited four Tibetologists and living Buddhas to give lectures at universities and meet with Austrian Tibetologists.