Qujiu
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Qujiu, Male, Tibetan, from Ganzizangzuzizhi, Sichuan, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Tibetan Thangka (Ⅶ-14). The tradition is documented in Ganzizangzuzizhi, Sichuan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Tibetan Thangka in Ganzizangzuzizhi, Sichuan: As a traditional Tibetan painting school unique to the Xikang region, the Langkajie school has vivid regional characteristics and clearly defined school features: it draws on the style of the Mentang school and is also influenced by the Karma Gadri school, and it is the only thangka tradition to combine the perspective of Western oil painting with the fine-brush, heavy-color character of Eastern painting. Its subjects are mainly stories of the Buddha, bodhisattvas, Buddha-mothers (fomu), dharmapalas, vajra-holders, and patriarchs, touching on history, politics, economy, culture, folk legend, secular life, architecture, medicine, astronomy, calendrical calculation, and other fields, with distinct regional and ethnic characteristics. While inheriting traditional Tibetan thangka painting techniques, Langkajie thangka merges the characteristics of Eastern and Western painting into a unity; it is a classic school produced by the meeting and collision of Tibetan civilization with other civilizations — a living fossil born of the convergence of multiple civilizations. In addition, its industrialization can effectively resolve local employment, promote local economic development, and contribute positively to social harmony and stability. Langkajie thangka is an important component of Tibetan thangka painting. Founded in Luhuo County, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, by the celebrated 17th-century thangka master Langkajie, it has a history of more than three hundred years and is now distributed mainly in parts of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Qujiu is anchored in the documented technical standards of Tibetan Thangka in Ganzizangzuzizhi, Sichuan. Within the documented technical tradition of Tibetan Thangka in Ganzizangzuzizhi, Sichuan: Its composition is not bound by the symmetrical conventions of traditional thangka; it pursues rich variation, with the central deity relatively small, the background abundant, the layout open, and density and sparsity properly balanced. Its painted forms are accurate and its technique fine and meticulous. Buddha figures are painted in the freehand (xieyi) manner of the Han Chinese tradition, while landscapes make extensive use of perspective techniques from Western painting, bringing out a three-dimensional spatial effect. Its line drawing rests on consummate and profound skill; the brushwork is fluent and natural, and it excels at rendering veins and textures on lotus thrones, leaf veins, and aureoles. Langkajie thangkas are meticulously colored, with restrained, subdued hues; they favor cool tones such as light purple, orange-yellow, and indigo, applied in thick, oily layers. The pigments are carefully chosen, mainly precious mineral colors such as gold, silver, pearl, agate, coral, turquoise, malachite, and cinnabar — brilliant in color and unfaded after a hundred years. Famous representative works of Langkajie thangka include the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss (Sukhavati), the Green Tara, the Two Sages and Six Ornaments, and the Jataka Tales (Tales of the Buddha's Former Lives). Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Namkha Tse and Draggo county": Founded in Draggo county of the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture by the seventeenth-century master Namkha Tse, the style has lasted over three hundred years and now spreads through parts of Ganzi and Ngawa. "Lilac, orange-yellow and indigo laid on thickly": Colour is carefully judged and sober, favouring lilac, orange-yellow and indigo and laid on thickly and oilily; gold, silver, pearl, agate, coral, turquoise, malachite and cinnabar keep the hues bright for a century. "Veining in lotus thrones, leaves and haloes": Its draughtsmanship is deep and fluent, especially in the veining of lotus thrones, leaves and haloes; Buddhas follow Han freehand painting while landscape uses western perspective to suggest depth. "The transmission-training-employment model": Transmitted master to pupil through eleven clearly recorded generations, the school is supported by associations, study halls, training bases and experience galleries under a model that links teaching with employment.
The three Tashi of the Karma Gardri
After Namkha Tashi, Chökyi Tashi, famed for blue-green colouring, and Gakshök Karma Tashi, famed for invention, carried on the style and are honoured with the founder as the three Tashi of the school.
The Sun Mirror of Lineal Proportion
The painting treatise compiled by the eighth Karmapa, Mikyö Dorje, from his teachers' experience and his own, which together with Namkha Tashi's practice laid the theoretical basis of the school.
Nine, thirty-two and a hundred and fifty-eight hues
Taking white, red, yellow, blue and green as mother colours, the school mixes nine main, thirty-two middle and a hundred and fifty-eight minor hues, the basis of its special pigment technique.
Jewel lines
The school commands a whole technique of gold — grinding, laying, burnishing, outlining, engraving and dyeing — grading gold into many warm and cool tones and pressing lines into broad gilding with a pen of nine-eyed agate, the so-called jewel lines.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Qujiu was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Tibetan Thangka, with Ganzizangzuzizhi, Sichuan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Tibetan Thangka in Ganzizangzuzizhi, Sichuan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Ganzizangzuzizhi, Sichuan as its declared area, and Luhuo County Cultural Center (Luhuo County Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center) as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
The Karma Gadri school is one of the three great schools of Tibetan thangka painting (the Mentang school, the Khyenle school, and the Karma Gadri school). It is popular in eastern Tibet, centered on Dege in Garze, Sichuan, and Chamdo in Tibet. According to tradition, it was founded in the 16th century by the living Buddha Namkha Tashi and takes its name from the great dharma assembly of the Karmapa; it is also rendered as the 'Karma Gachi' school and is often abbreviated to the Gazi school.
05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage
National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Danbaraodan | Tibet | 01-0063 | Other regional school |
| Gesangcidan | Tibet | 01-0064 | Other regional school |
| Yandengzeren | Ganzizangzuzizhi, Sichuan | 04-1748 | Same declared area |
| Luobusida | Tibet | 04-1749 | Other regional school |
| Xirebu | Xiahe, Gansu | 04-1750 | Other regional school |
| Jiumai | Xiahe, Gansu | 04-1751 | Other regional school |
| Lameng | Ganzizangzuzizhi, Sichuan | 05-2581 | Same declared area |
| Cirenluobu | Tibet | 05-2582 | Other regional school |
| Zhaxi | Tibet | 05-2583 | Other regional school |
| Gade | Changdushikaruo, Tibet | 05-2584 | Other regional school |
| Mimaciren | Mozhugongka, Tibet | 05-2585 | Other regional school |
| Jiaobajiabu | Xiahe, Gansu | 05-2586 | Other regional school |
| Qujiu | Ganzizangzuzizhi, Sichuan | — | This page |
| Gesang | Changdou, Tibet | — | Other regional school |
| Nima | Yushuzangzuzizhi, Qinghai | — | Other regional school |
| Tudengweise | Guoluozangzuzizhizhoubanma, Qinghai | — | Other regional school |
| Gamadanzeng | Tibet | — | Other regional school |
| Luozhubasong | Changdou, Tibet | — | Other regional school |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。