Zogang Monastery in Zogang County, Chamdo

Chinese Name: 左贡寺
English Name: Zogang Monastery in Zogang County, Chamdo
Location: Located in Zogang County, Chamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region
Admission Fee: Free
Opening Hours: All Day

About Zogang Monastery

Zogang Monastery(左贡寺), the biggest monastery in Tiantuo Town(田妥镇), Zogang County(左贡县), Chamdo Prefecture(昌都市), Tibet Autonomous Region is now under maintenance and protection work for protection of cultural relics. Founded in A.D.830 as a monastery of Nyingma Sect(宁玛派), Zogang Monastery changed into Gelug Sect(格鲁派) in A.D. 1450. Presently, Zogong Monastery is a county-level historical and cultural site under protection.

The Maintenance Work of Zogang Monastery

According to the principal of the monastery, with the special fund from cultural relics sectors of Tibet, the maintenance work started from this September, which mainly covers construction of the cultural relic’s exhibition room, reinforcement and maintenance of the monastery and the whole project is expected to be finished by end of October.

Zogang Monastery Relics

During the third national survey on cultural relics, 678 sites of cultural relics were registered in Chamdo with 549 newly-discovered ones. Among all these cultural relics’ sites, two of them are national-level historical and cultural site under protection, 33 ones at regional-level and 83 ones at county-level.

Gudeng Festival of Zogang Monastery

Gudeng Festival(古登节)is a traditional year-end Buddhist activity of Gelug monasteries(格鲁派寺院) in Tibet, and is an intangible cultural heritage of Zogang Monastery, which has a strong religious color and local characteristics. The specific activity contents are based on the secret dharma of the ancient circling festival.

Attraction Transportation

Tourist can travel to Lhasa by air or train firstly and then transfer to Zogang by long-distance bus, which is the major choice. And you can transfer from Qamdo to Zogang County. There is no need for you to worry about the transportation.

Attraction Travel Tips

  1. Traveling Hours: 2 to 3 hours
  2. Traveling Seasons: March to October.
  3. High Altitude Sickness Avoiding: Better take some medicines for relief and keep warm all the time.
  4. 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.
  5. Owing to the long distance and circuitous route, it is better to head for the attraction in the early morning.