King Gesar returns to enlighten Olympic visitors

"Love for The Epic of King Gesar is deeply rooted in my heart," says Genqiu.

Through his teenage years, Genqiu traveled on his own, visiting and learning from painting masters in various villages and monasteries. At a ripe 21 years, he assumed the position of chief art tutor for monk students at the world-famous Derge Sutra Printing Institute.

In the years following, he joined all major conservation efforts for damaged murals and ancient Thangkas in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in Sichuan, Tibet and western China. During his journeys, the artist was struck by the beauty seen in the scared art collections of several monasteries that held ancient Thangka masterpieces about King Gesar.

"One day, I suddenly hit upon an idea: Can I paint a series of Thangkas by myself to tell the whole story of King Gesar? " recalls Genqiu.

He also wanted to project to bring attention to the vanishing Thangka presence.

"It will help more people who do not speak Tibetan access the fantastic stories of King Gesar. The Epic is more than folk tales. It is like an oral encyclopedia about Tibetan culture and history," he says.