"Sunning of the Buddha" ceremony held in NW China

LANZHOU, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- A "sunning of the Buddha" ceremony was held on Thursday morning at Labrang Monastery in the northwestern province of Gansu.

Around 9 a.m., Buddhists and tourists gathered in the square in front of the monastery's scripture hall.

At 10 a.m., a huge thangka scroll bearing the image of the Buddha was carried out of the hall by lamas and unrolled around on the side of a hill.

After sunbathing for around an hour the portrait was rolled up again and carried back into the monastery.

The ceremony is held each year on the 13th day of the first lunar month.

Built in 1709, the monastery in Xiahe County in the autonomous prefecture of Gannan, is one of the six great temples of the Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.