Tholing Monastery

Meaning "to fly and never fall", Tholing is famous through Ngari, founded by Yeshi-O, an outstanding king of Guge Kingdom at the beginning of 10th century. Yeshi-O was a devout Buddhist, who ever sent 21 youths to learn Tantric Buddhism in Kashmir. Only Rinchen Zangpo and another survived and returned. Rinchen Zangpo, a greatest Buddhist adepter and translator, started to translate Buddhist sutras and develop Buddhism at Tholing, which was set up by Yeshi-O for that purpose. Later Yeshi-O was defeated and captured in an ambitious aggression he launched in order to plunder enough gold to invite Atisa to his Guge Kingdom to push forward Buddhism. He sacrificed his life to send his ransom to Atisa. After his arrival, the monastery gained higher reputation and once became a religious center in Tibet under the royal patron of the Guge Kingdom. Although it faded after the collapse of the Guge Kingdom, Tholing still maintains an important place in Tibet after 900 years in consideration of its significance in the second transmission of Buddhism into Tibet.

Ruins of the Guge Kingdom

The Guge Kingdom is a wonder of Nagri. In the mid - nine century, the Tubo imperial court came to an end. The offspring of the King Namdam established their own kingdoms and Gyede Nyinmagong became the king of Ngari. The second son of his three sons occupied Zarang and established the Guge Kingdom.

In the main ruins of the Guge Kingdom in Zarang, the destroyed citywalls and the natural earthen forests exist harmoniously. More than 400 houses and 800 caves scatter on the 300 - meter - high mountain slope. As the capital of the Guge Kingdom, the Zarang Ruins cover an area of 720,000 square meters. It is the second largest building comples in Tibet next to the Potala Palace.

The main buildings include the Red Temple, White Temple and Mandala Hall. More than 1,000 square meter murals on the walls of the Samsara Hall are most precious. In addition to the images of Buddha, murals demonstrate such seldom images as other living things and the snakes with a human head. The caves around the temples still house some weaponry and hamlets used by the ancient soldiers.

Tourists should buy tickets in advance from the Zanda County Cultural Bureau for the visit to Ruins of the Guge Kingdom.

Rutog Cliff Carvings

Cliff carvings are discovered in several places along the road from Shiquanhe to Rutog. Renmudong cliff carvings on the side of the road are of the animals and figures. Simple and rough, they are full of vitality. Qiniaopu cliff carvings are rare to find and are 70 kilometers from Rutog. Carved on a precipitous cliff, they depict all kinds of animals and figures. The carvings are vivid and are of a high artistic value.

Zanda Earthen Forests

The orogenic movement of the Himalaya has made the bottom of the lake ascend. And the undulating earthen forest of dozens of kilometers were formed by the flushing of water subsidence and long years of wethering . Walking in these narrow earthen forests as if a walk in the ruins of an ancient kingdom, desolate but magnificient.

Zhada, which means in Tibetan "the place where there are grass in the lower reaches of river", is a County under the administration of Nagri Prefecture. Famous Tuolin Monastery and relic Guge Kingdom stand there. Entering into Zhada County, the clay forest standing on both sides of Elephant Spring River wind over more than five kilometers. Some clay are like the warrior defending the mountain top, some like thousands of horses galloping, and some like devout followers of a religion cultivating themselves, standing there quietly. From different view, you can get different wonderful scenery.

The clay forest is called in Geology "the Level Terrane Physiognomy", which is formed by erosion of water. It is the sediment stratum of lakes and rivers, mainly composed by sandstone and clay. Because the Level Terrane is easy to develop its upright quality and the sandstone like flour is qualified with uprightness, the valley is deep. Even a canaliculus can reach 100 to 200 meters.

The orogenic movement of the Himalaya has made the bottom of the lake ascend. And the undulating earthen forest of dozens of kilometers were formed by the flushing of water subsidence and long years of wethering . Walking in these narrow earthen forests as if a walk in the ruins of an ancient kingdom, desolate but magnificient.

This peculiar and mystic physiognomy densely cover the whole Zhada County. During the Xiangxiong and Guge Kingdom, people made caves to live using this kind of natural resource. Now, more than 400 caves made by Tibetan forebears are found in the clay forest, which forms the the old building group.