Gaocheng Town (; ), also known as Litang (Lithang, ), is the administrative centre of Litang County in the southwest of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

Province of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The county in 2001 had a population of 47,500, the vast majority of which is ethnically Tibetan. Several famous

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

figures were born here, including the 7th Dalai Lama,

10th Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobzang Jampel Tsultrim Gyatso (ngag dbang blo bzang 'jam dpal tshul khrims rgya mtsho) or Tsultrim Gyatso (29 March 1816 – 30 September 1837) was the 10th Dalai Lama of Tibet, and born in Chamdo. He was fully ordained in the Gelug sc ...

, four of the Pakpalhas (), and has strong connections with the eponymous hero of the '' Epic of King Gesar'',Mayhew, Bradley and Kohn, Michael. (2005). ''Tibet''. 6th Edition, p. 257. Lonely Planet. . as well as the 5th

Jamyang Shêpa The Jamyang Zhepas () are a lineage of tulkus of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. They have traditionally been the most prestigious teachers at Labrang Monastery in Amdo, Tibet (modern Gansu, China).

Labrang Monastery Labrang Monastery (; Chinese: Lāboléng Sì, 拉卜楞寺) is one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Its formal name is ''Genden Shédrup Dargyé Trashi Gyésu khyilwé Ling'' (). Labrang is located in Xiah ...

Litang Town is located at an altitude of 4,014 metres (13,169 ft) among open grasslands and surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Its actual altitude is about 400 metres higher than

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...

, making it one of the highest towns in the world. The town itself is centred just to the south of the Ganden Thubchen Choekhorling or Litang Chöde Monastery. The monastery was built by the

3rd Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso (; 1543–1588) was the first to be named Dalai Lama, although the title was retrospectively given to his two predecessors. He was born near Lhasa in 1543 and was recognised as the reincarnation of Gendun Gyatso and subsequently en ...

(1543–1588) in 1580 after the king of Lithang, who ruled the region as de facto independent ruler, switched allegiance from the

Kagyu The ''Kagyu'' school, also transliterated as ''Kagyü'', or ''Kagyud'' (), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools (''chos lugs'') of Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. The Kagyu lineag ...

to the

Gelug file:DalaiLama0054 tiny.jpg, 240px, 14th Dalai Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya, Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous ...

. During the 1950s the region around Litang was one of the main areas of Tibetan armed resistance to the PLA occupation. A resistance group called " Four Rivers, Six Ranges" was active in the area. In 1956 the monastery was bombed by the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

There are hot springs just 4 km from the centre of town on the western outskirts. In August, 2007, a horse-racing festival at Litang was the scene of an impromptu anti-government political speech by

Runggye Adak Runggye Adak (also Rongye Adak, Runggye Adrak, etc.) is a Tibetan people, Tibetan man who was arrested and charged with state subversion against the People's Republic of China after making a series of public political statements at a festival in ...

, which was followed by protests calling for his release including 200 people who went to the police station but were allowed to leave unharmed. A crackdown officially described as "patriotic education campaign" followed in autumn of 2007, including several politically motivated arrests and attempts to force local Tibetans to denounce the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

."Crackdown in eastern Tibet."
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Footnotes

External links

* {{authority control Populated places in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Tibetan Buddhist places Towns in Sichuan

Footnotes

Further reading

External links