Indigenous Tibetan culture and art are being showcased at the Shanghai World Expo, as "Tibet Week" kicks off on Wednesday. With the theme "Heaven in Tibet," the festival will include performances of traditional songs and dances, featuring 400 singers and dancers.

There will also be performances of Tibetan Opera, and presentations of perhaps the world's longest oral epic of singing and storytelling, "King Gesar," which is listed as a UNESCO Intangible Culture Heritage item. Exhibitions of intangible Tibetan culture and street shows are also in the spotlight including Thangka, a Tibetan painting style using silk with embroidery depicting Buddhist deities and other Buddhist scenes.