Gyantse Travel Guide

In eastern Shigatse region, Gyantse means "winning a battle at the summit and the heavenly king resides here" in Tibetan. The county's history traces back to 1,400 years ago when the father of Songtsen Gampo, who was the first emperor of the Tubo Empire, had made Supi surrendered and the place became a land of the noble family in old Tibet. The modern county-town was established about 600 years ago, slightly earlier than the beginning of the Shigatse's town. Gyantse County's area has a relatively good climate with fertile soil, therefore, since old times, it has been an excellent business city of southern Tibet also a transportation hub to Bhutan and Sikkim.

 

 

 

Gyantse County is just 254 kilometers distance to the Tibetan regional capital Lhasa. Here, you see yellowish earth covers the flagging paths, shops that run by local Tibetans and Han Chinese are mix positioned together on the streets and lanes, the Tibetan people often in prayer but there are also several small cinemas that show the worldly Hong Kong made movie video tapes or discs. These have made the downtown of Gyantse a quite modernized small town in Tibet.

 

 

 

However, the thing that has actually made Gyantse County famous is its heroic history. In the early 20th century, the resistance to the colonial British invasion to Tibet, is being documented in the memorial castle built on the mountaintop in the county's center. Also, today we can see the Gyantse Zongshan Heroes Memorial Stele that stands in the square in front of the Zongshan Mountain.

 

 

The Kumbum Monastery (白居寺) is collected the essences of Skyha, Gedang and Gulug (Yellow Hat) Sects in Buddhism. It includes their religious statues and architectural styles, which had influenced to one another with their best parts. The Bodhi Pagoda, also known as the "Hundred-thousand Buddha Images Pagoda", is the symbol of the Kumbum Monastery.