2025 Yushu Horse Racing Festival

Description

2025 Yushu Horse Racing Festival will be held every year in the sixth month of the lunar calendar. The Yushu Prefecture in Qinghai hosts the annual horse racing festival. This event, with its deep roots, combines the unique cultural traditions of the Tibetan people with equestrian skills, attracting numerous visitors to witness and participate. As a highly regional sporting event, the Horse Racing Festival is not only a source of local pride but also a significant window showcasing the charm of China’s western ethnic cultures.

The origin of the Yushu Horse Racing Festival can be traced back to ancient times. To the Tibetan people, horses are not only vital means of transportation but also an indispensable part of life. For a long time, the Tibetans have been passionate about horse racing, showcasing their equestrian skills. With changing times, this traditional custom evolved into organized racing events, becoming an important medium for the local people to pass down their culture and enhance exchanges. The hosting of the Yushu Horse Racing Festival not only preserves the Tibetan horse culture passed down through generations but also injects new vitality into the local cultural life.

The Yushu Horse Racing Festival features a rich and colorful array of activities. In addition to the main horse racing competitions, the event venue also hosts various cultural performances. Tibetans in vibrant traditional costumes race across the field, displaying their remarkable equestrian skills to the audience. Meanwhile, traditional Tibetan song and dance performances unique to northern Tibet captivate the audience, with skilled dancers swaying colorful scarves to melodious tunes, interpreting the lives and emotions of the Tibetan people. Additionally, there are diverse cultural activities such as specialty food exhibitions, ethnic handicraft displays, allowing participants to fully experience the unique Tibetan charm. The entire Horse Racing Festival resembles a vivid Tibetan cultural painting, leaving participants captivated.

The Yushu Horse Racing Festival is not only a local cultural exchange event but also an important platform integrated into the national scene. During the event, equestrian enthusiasts and cultural artists from various regions engage in extensive cultural exchanges with the locals. Through this cross-regional cultural exchange, not only does it enhance mutual understanding between different regions but also contributes significantly to promoting the dissemination and development of Chinese Tibetan culture. Furthermore, the influence of the Horse Racing Festival extends far beyond the domestic borders, attracting a large number of overseas visitors to witness and participate. This not only injects new energy into the local economic development but also allows the world to better understand and appreciate the unique charm of China’s western ethnic minorities.

The Yushu Horse Racing Festival embodies the Tibetan people’s long-standing horse culture tradition, blending a diverse range of cultural performances. It is not only a cultural event that locals take pride in but also an essential platform for western Chinese ethnic cultures to reach the world. Through this event, we not only experience an intense sports event but also an excellent opportunity to personally encounter the unique Tibetan culture. This festival enriches the spiritual life of the Tibetan people and showcases the unique charm of this magical plateau to the outside world.

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Itinerary

D1 Arrive in Yushu city

Arrive in Yushu, Upon arrival, meet with the guide who welcomes you at the airport and return to Yushu City by vehicle. In the afternoon, visit the Jyegu Dondrub Ling on the Jyegu Mountain in Yushu Town and the Xinzhai Mani Pile. Xinzhai Mani Pile is said to have been founded by the first Jamyang Rinpoche Dorde Sangjyab Palwang of Tibetan Buddhism. It has evolved into a magnificent city-like Mani Pile with a length of 300 meters from east to west, a width of 80 meters from south to north, a height of 4 meters, covering an area of 24,000 square meters, and containing 2.5 billion Mani stones.

Overnight: Local 3 star standard hotel — Include | Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner — Not Include

D2 Yushu City – attending the festival

Yushu, After breakfast, head to visit the Princess Wencheng Temple, located in Bena valley, 25 kilometers southeast of Yushu County. This is a grand canyon, with endless mountain ranges on both sides, standing under the blue sky of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The temple, with Tibetan-style architecture, clings to a hundred-meter cliff, surrounded by tranquil scenery. The glittering golden roof shines brightly. All cliffs and large rocks around the temple are engraved with countless Tibetan scriptures. In the afternoon, we will return to Yushu City to attend the “Stylish Khampa People” Yushu Intangible Cultural Heritage Touring Performance.

Overnight: Local 3 star standard hotel — Include | Breakfast — Include | Lunch and Dinner — Not Include

D3 Yushu City – attending the festival

Before 9:00 in the morning, we will arrive at the Yushu Horse Racecourse to prepare for the opening ceremony of the Yushu Horse Racing Festival at 9:00. This ceremony may last 3 hours, then we will take a moment for rest. In the afternoon at 14:00, we will participate in and explore the “Most Beautiful Tent” selection event at the Yushu Horse Racing Festival, which will last for about an hour. Following that, we will enjoy the “Yak Racing” event before the horse racing, and then appreciate the literary Art performance of “Mountain Ancestral Waters, Beautiful Qinghai, River Source Yushu.”

Overnight: Local 3 star standard hotel — Include | Breakfast — Include | Lunch and Dinner — Not Include

D4 Yushu City – attending the festival

After breakfast, we will arrive early at the horse racing venue. The grand horse racing event will officially begin at 9:00 AM. We will enjoy the “King Gesar Cup” horse race in its entirety. In the afternoon around 2:00 PM, the first “Khampa Man” Cup National Equestrian Grand Prix will take place. Following the equestrian competition, there will be the 2nd part of the performance of “Mountain Ancestral Waters, Beautiful Qinghai, River Source Yushu.”

Overnight: Local 3 star standard hotel — Include | Breakfast — Include | Lunch and Dinner — Not Include

D5 Yushu City to Nangqian County

Today, the Yushu Horse Racing Festival will come to an end. This morning, we will participate in the “King Gesar Cup” horse racing competition at 9:00 am. After lunch, we will depart for Nangqian County, enjoying the picturesque plateau scenery along the way. Upon arrival, we will visit the Goche Monastery of the Kagyu pa of Tibetan Buddhism.

Overnight: Local 3 star standard hotel — Include | Breakfast — Include | Lunch and Dinner — Not Include

D6 Nangqian County return to Yushu

Today we will return to Yushu City, along the way we will visit “ Surmang Monastery (Zurmang Namgyaltse Gonpa)“, also known as Great Zurmang Monastery, a Karma Kagyu sect monastery established in 1414 by Drangmasai Lodro Renchen, with magnificent architecture situated halfway up the mountain; then we will explore Gading Gonpa, admire its unique scenery, and then return to Yushu, check into the hotel, and rest.

Overnight: Local 3 star standard hotel | Breakfast — Include | Lunch and Dinner — Not Include

D7 Yushu departure

Today your Yushu itinerary is coming to an end, and we will transfer you to Yushu Airport to catch your return flight and depart.

Overnight — Not include | Breakfast — Include | Lunch and Dinner — Not Include