Australians can enjoy Tibetan traditional paintings and performing arts as the first of three China Tibet Culture Weeks opens in Melbourne tomorrow.

The event will also feature a photo exhibition and five documentary and two feature films about Tibetans and Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

The photo exhibition, with more than 600 photos and Tangkha art, recounts the history of the region and documents changes there in the 50 years since the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

The photos also demonstrate the evolution of Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan medicine and special Tibetan customs.

The two feature films are "Red River Valley" and "Yishi Droma." "Red River Valley" tells of the local Tibetans' heroic battles against British invaders in the early 20th century, while "Yishi Droma" narrates the lives of one woman and three men over the past half-century.

Twenty Tibetan performing artists from Lhasa Ethnic Art Troupe of China's Tibet will present a rich repertoire of traditional and modern Tibetan songs and dances.

Two other China's Tibet Culture Weeks will be staged Down Under after the one in Melbourne. The same programmes are scheduled for Sydney from November 27 to December 1 and then in Auckland, New Zealand, from December 2 to 8.