Tangxia Monastery in Gonjo County, Chamdo
Chinese Name: 唐夏寺
English Name: Tangxia Monastery in Gonjo County, Chamdo
Location: Located in Gonjo County, Chamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region
Admission Fee: Free
Opening Hours: All Day
About Tangxia Monastery
Tangxia Monastery（唐夏寺）is an early monastery in 30 kilometers away from Gonjo County（贡觉县）, Chamdo Prefecture（昌都市）, Tibet Autonomous Region, which belongs to Sakya sect（萨迦派）. According to historical records, Tangxia Monastery was founded in 1096 by the emperor Gadun Pubuwa（噶顿普布瓦）during Houhong period（后弘期）. He successively visited the Tibet and Indian to study Buddhism. He was once a student of Master Adixia. Then he came back to Ngari Prefecture（阿里地区）to teach and spread Tibetan Buddhism. When he was 53, he returned to his hometown to create Tangxia Monastery.
The monastery is themed with the Lhasa hall, principle hall and the meditation hall together with the ancillary buildings. The total area is of nearly 1000 square meters. The entire building is mainly built with Tibetan style, with the top of Han type, and the Buddha murals of Indian style, etc. At present, Tangxia Monastery reserves the three main halls, respectively at Puba Lakang（普巴拉康）, Lasang Lakang（拉桑拉康）and Dajing hall（大经殿）, which are all approved to be built in the Northern Song Dynasty（北宋年间）according to the ancient architecture expert.
At the beginning, Tangxia Monastery was soon converted from Gagyu sect（噶举派）to sakya. It is said that Basiba（八思巴）once went through Tnagxia Monastery and made capital contribution to the maintenance of the Madui Hall（玛堆殿）of Princess Wencheng（文成公主）. Today the monastery treasures a long time precious cultural relics. There are Buddha statues that Basiba gifted, the religious equipment of Yongle years Ming Dynasty, Tangka（唐卡）which were woven from wool and the sword used by the King Gesar（格萨尔王）. Tangxia Monastery is a monastery with unique religious culture.
Attraction Transportation
Air
Located in the Bangda Grassland, the Chamdo Bangda Airport is the world’s highest airport and has the longest runway. It is 136 kilometers (84.5 miles) from Chamdo County. As the first lateral airport in Tibet, Chamdo Bangda Airport started to be built in 1993 and finished in October, 1994. At present, it has air routes to/from domestic cities including Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Lhasa, Tianjin, Xian, and Xining; meanwhile, flights to/from Nepal are also operated at this airport.
Passengers can take airport shuttle bus to Gonjo County from the airport.
The airport inquiry number is +86 0895-4821004.
Bus
The Prefecture is over 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) from Chengdu and over 1,100 kilometers (684 miles) from Lhasa. Every week at least three buses travel between Qamdo and the two cities. Apart from regular buses, the tourist bureau sometimes sends special buses to Lhasa for visitors. They do not drive at night, so the whole journey may take five or six days. For individual tourists, hiring passing cars, mostly freight cars, is the best choice. These cars usually pick up passengers at the bus station in Gonjo County, and visitors can negotiate the details with the drivers.
Attraction Travel Tips
- Traveling Hours: 1 to 2 hours
- Traveling Seasons: May and September.
- High Altitude Sickness Avoiding: Better take some medicines for relief and keep warm all the time.
- As there is a large temperature gap between daytime and night, it is highly recommended to take along some pieces of thermal clothing, hat, and gloves and so on.
- Please try your best to respect the religious belief and local customs.
- As well as the Tibet Entry Permit, you also need to apply for Border Permit for traveling as this destination lies near the Chinese territory boundary.
- There are inns and restaurant, where you can have a rest and a bite to eat. You can also take a picnic if you like.
