 |
| The moving figures of men and horses were taken from a traditional-style painting made during the Ming Dynasty. They are Bashiba and a party of Tibetans passing through the arid, barren hills of Gansu on their way to Mongolia to cement friendship between Mongolians and Tibetans in the 13th century. (It was because of this friendship that the Mongols did not overrun Tibet, but instead became a patron of Tibet's Buddhist faith). The journey lasted three years, and brought much hardship to the travelers. To better show this, Nyima Tsering chose to place the figures in a realistic setting instead of the formal, heavily ornamented background of the original. |