Originating in the Longwuhe River (lóng wù hé 隆务河) Valley of Qinghai Province which belongs to Tongren County (tóng rén xiàn 同仁县) of the Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (huáng nán zàng zú zì zhì zhōu 黄南藏族自治州), Regong art (rè gòng yì shù 热贡艺术) is a successful mix of religious art by Tibetan and Tu ethnic minorities and local folk arts. To better protect the art, it was included in the second phase of the National Folk Culture Protection Project in April 2004. As an important genre in Tibetan Buddhism, the art has a history of more than 700 years. It is called “the flower on the Tibetan Plateau” and “a magnificent pearl of Chinese art”.