As a part of the 2010 Lhasa Shoton Festival, the horse racing festival "Dam Ji Ren" kicked off on Aug. 16 on the Damxung grassland in northern Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

On Monday morning, local farmers and herdsmen from all over the region dressed up to attend the grand festival.

Tents were set up outside the racecourse for tourists and local people to have a rest.

The festival attracted athletes from seven counties and one district of Lhasa, capital city of TAR, to compete with each other, presenting a wonderful performance of horsemanship, the breathtakingly difficult movement winning applause from the audience.

Apart from the horsemanship performance, many other activities are expected to be held during the festival, such as the traditional Tibetan sports like weight lifting and stone carrying, art performance, Gorchom circle dance, trade fair and so on.