Tibetan monk Gyatso carefully painted gold powder on a statue of Buddha Maitrya at the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa, making last-minute preparations for a grand Buddhist service scheduled for Monday.
From time to time, he dubbed his painting brush into a bowl full of gold powder donated by Buddhists.
"The Tibetans are better-off these days and more people make donations to the monastery," he said. "Now we have far more gold than what's necessary to keep Buddha Maityra, the Buddha of the future, brilliant."
At least 60 Tibetans were tamping the floor of the Coqen Hall, the centerpiece structure that is undergoing repairs.
They sang as they worked, improvising new lyrics to describe the scenes and matching the rhythm with their actions.
Repairs of the Drepung Monastery, about 5 km from Lhasa's city center, began in June 2009 and are expected to last for a year. The central government has earmarked 65 million yuan for the project, which covers the Coqen Hall, four sutra study halls and their frescos.
Sunday is the 29th day of the Tibetan New Year, not a particular date for mass pilgrimages -- which happen on the eighth, 15th and 30th days of every month.
But pilgrims are constantly seen at Lhasa's major monasteries, including the Drepung, Sera and Jokhang. Many are local residents who make their pilgrimage every day, while others have traveled to the holy city from other Tibetan communities in Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan provinces.
In the square outside the 1,350-year-old Jokhang Temple, Pasang, 45, crawled on the ground and kowtowed to make long prayers.
Pasang, a Tibetan woman from Garze, a Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Sichuan, said she made at least 1,000 long prayers every day to express her gratitude for every happiness in life.
For more than a decade, Pasang and her husband have been running a curio business in Lhasa and made a fortune. They have three daughters, aged from eight to 18.
"My eldest daughter studies in Chengdu and will enter college this fall," she said. "She's a straight-A student."
Exactly two years after the deadly riots, with charred shops refurbished and a new travel peak a few weeks away, many people say they cherish the peaceful life the holy city has regained.
The police officers and People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers who are standing guard on every downtown street are probably the only reminder of the violence.
A spokesman of Tibet's regional public security bureau said last week they had sent extra police force to patrol Lhasa's streets ahead of the riot anniversary to "prevent crime and maintain social stability."
On Porgor and several other busy streets, the officers on duty have set up booths providing tea and newspapers to the pedestrians for free.
Sixty-year-old Tashi said he did not mind the tightened security.
"When you are getting on in years, you'd feel safe to see policemen around," Tashi said as he sat down for tea and snacks at a Tibetan eatery on Porgor Street, Lhasa's major commercial street, after a three-hour pilgrimage Sunday morning.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
About half of the stores on Porgor Street opened before 10 a.m.
"Business is good," said Phurjung, a woman from Gyangze County in Xigaze who sells tsampa, Tibetans' major staple food. Her turnover averages 3,000 to 4,000 yuan a day even on the quiet days. "In the buying spree before the Tibetan New Year in mid February, it hit 10,000 yuan a day."
Business is not as good, however, for Drugyal Khara from the Tibetan Xiahe County in the northwestern Gansu Province, who sells souvenirs such as prayer beads allegedly made of yak bone.
"The local people never buy these," he said in Tibetan dialect as he tapped the cash he just earned on his commodity, a silent prayer for more business. "I have to wait for the next tourist rush."
Like many other businesspeople in Tibet, Drugyal Khara is expecting the regional economy to recover soon.
"We're still recovering from the riots and the international financial crisis," said Peng Xiangjun, president of Lhasa's biggest craftwork retailer that reportedly suffered 80 million yuan of economic losses in 2008.
"Last year, our business revenue was only 40 percent of the 2007 figure," he said. "And we were forced to cut jobs by nearly half."
Most of the 50 employees at Peng's store are Tibetans. "We used to hire nearly 100 people," he said.
Tibet's GDP grew by 12 percent to 43.7 billion yuan (6.4 billion U.S. dollars) last year. It would again target 12-percent GDP growth this year.
While tourism and trade are gradually recovering, the regional government's plan to step up exploitation of mineral resources in the coming decade, which goes in line with Beijing's aim of building a "strategic reserve of natural resources in Tibet", will be a major boost to the local economy.
According to the plan, announced by the regional government last week, mineral resources will contribute at least 30 percent to the regional GDP in the next decade as China intensifies efforts to build a strategic natural resources reserve in the plateau region.
"It's a good thing that many people will get jobs," said Thubten, a peasant in Nanggarze County of Shannan Prefecture. "I hope these mining companies will help build roads and other infrastructure, too."
His fellow villager, Pempa Dondrup, said these companies should respect the local people's customs and religious beliefs. "For example, they must not excavate into our holy mountains."
CULTURAL BOOM
At 30, Kelsang Rigzin is a versatile businessman good at singing, dancing and cooking Tibetan cuisine.
His "Tibetan home visit", a 700-square-meter restaurant in Shangrila County of southwestern Yunnan Province yielded at least 200,000 yuan of net income last year.
The restaurant, featuring Tibetan-style food and art, received more than 300 diners Sunday night alone.
"Tibetan food and culture are popular these days among tourists from the inland regions," he said. "In a few years, I'll build a bigger place and expand the business."
The beautiful landscape of Tibetan communities and their romantic nomadic life have triggered a nationwide passion in the recent two decades: young urbanites dream of backpacking tours, Tibetan bars, restaurants and souvenir shops are mushrooming in all the big and medium-sized cities, and books about Tibet are among the bestsellers every year.
He Yunchun, a tour guide of the Naxi ethnic group in Shangrila County, said she had accompanied eight tour groups with a total of 200 people to the county's tourist attractions in the past four weeks.
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