Kneeling, hands clasped in prayer, he received blessings from monks who sang Buddhist mantras and scattered flower petals.

Longquan temple says it has developed a robot monk that can chant Buddhist mantras, move via voice command, and hold a simple conversation.

At a foothill under the main monastery of Gyegu, monks had gathered to chant Tibetan Buddhist mantras in front of piles of dead.

'Armbands were popular in the 1990s: Buddhist mantras, twisted ivy, roses and thorns- alotof clubbers had them, and this is a big clubbing area.'