Turning Nepalese

Eighty-one paintings about Nepalese architect Araniko are on show in the White Pagoda Temple to celebrate its 730th anniversary, and the nation's 60th birthday.

Araniko designed the pagoda 370 years ago to commemorate the Buddhist relics of Sakyamuni and to symbolize the magical powers of the deity, as well as the emperor.

"It is my great honor to create such large paintings for Araniko," says Yang Jingtai, a noted artist from Tianjin. "It was the young Nepalese who brought the first Tibetan-style Dagoba (a container specially used to preserve the relics of Sakyamuni) in the Central Plains."