Garzê Town

Garzê
Township
Tibetan transcription(s)
Chinese transcription(s)
 • Traditional 甘孜
 • Pinyin Gānzī

Location of the county
Garzê

Location in Sichuan

Coordinates: 31°38′4″N 99°59′7″E / 31.63444°N 99.98528°E / 31.63444; 99.98528Coordinates: 31°38′4″N 99°59′7″E / 31.63444°N 99.98528°E / 31.63444; 99.98528
Country China
Province Sichuan
Prefecture Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
County Garzê County
Population (2008)
 • Total 9,000
Time zone CST (UTC+8)

Garzê or Gānzī (Tibetan: Kandze),[1] is a town of about 9,000 (2008) in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan Province, China.

It is an ethnic Tibetan township and is located in the historical Tibetan region of Kham, 385 kilometres northwest of the city of Kangding. It contains the 15th century Kandze Monastery, home to over 500 Gelugpa monks.[2]

Geography

Garzê lies in the large Ganzi valley at 3390 metres above sea level and is surrounded by rocky terrain and mountains.[3] The Yalong River's tributary Rongcha River passes through the town from norh to south. The area was once known in old Tibet as Dajianlu and its lake Paoma was renowned.[4]

Landmarks

The suspension bridge across the Yalong River
Garzê Monastery

The traditional Tibetan customs of Garzê still remain despite now being part of Sichuan and the town and county contains many Tibetan villages and monasteries (gompas). The largest monastery is Garzê Monastery, an imposing monastery 540 years old as of 2008 which looms over the town from the north, and contains over 500 monks belonging to the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism.[4] The monastery was once partly destroyed by the Chinese during the Cultural Revolution but was rebuilt in the Han-Chinese-style and today displays a fusion of old Tibetan and Chinese architecture.[4] It is located in the western Tibetan quarter of the town. Also of note is Den Monastery, which is much smaller but more traditional to the south of the town and Dontok Monastery, located some kilometres outside the town over a suspended bridge over the Yalong River.[4] Dontok is a recent building under construction but displays notable white, grey and crimson stripes on the walls. Dingkhor Chorten is also located in the eastern suburbs of Garzê on a small hill which also contains a temple housing a Buddhist library.[4]

The main street is Chuanzang Road. Small shops downtown provide typical Tibetan clothing and jewellery and accessories needed by the herdmen frequenting the town.A number of stores sell antiques, monk's garments and religious artefacts and traditional Tibetan hand-carved furniture. Supermarkets on the main street sell food and toiletries and bottles of beer and Chinese wine.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Dorje (1999), p. 496.
  2. ↑ Mayhew and Kohn (2005), p. 254.
  3. ↑ "Ganzi". Chinadiscover.net. Retrieved December 11, 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Garze". Chinatrekking.com. Retrieved December 11, 2009.

References

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