Introduction

Lhasa is not only the capital city of the Tibet Autonomous Region, but also the center of Tibetan politics, economy, culture and religion. It is located on the North Band of the Lhasa River, which is a tributary of the Yarlong Tsangpo, and stands at 3760 meters above sea level. In Tibetan, Lhasa means "The land of the Gods", or "Holy Place". It was founded in 633 A.D. under the leadership of King Songtsan Gampo.

Lhasa enjoys delightful weather, throughout all seasons. It has 3000 hours of sunshine annually - hence its popular name "The Sunshine City". The temperatures vary greatly between night and day, but remain fairly uniform during the year. Winters are neither severely  cold, nor Summers unbearably hot. The average annual rainfall is only 230--570 mm, and at least 2/3rds of the year are frost-free. The best time to visit  Lhasa is from March to October. Lhasa is becoming a thriving and prosperous town, and many successful new business enterprises have been established. These include a hydro- electric power station, leather fanning plants, thermal power stations, cement works, an agricultural machinery plant, machine repair plant, food industry, a film dubbing studio, building industries, vehicle repair shops, grain and oil processing factories, hotels and guest houses for tourists and so on.

Cultural, educational and modern sanitation services and facilities are also being developed. As well as the Tibet University, Polytechnic schools, Hospitals, and cultural organizations have also opened. Lhasa is expanding and developing rapidly -- not least in terms of tourism. In the following chapters we will look at the most popular tourist attractions.                           

The Potala Palace

The world famous Potala Palace is located on "Red Hill", to the west of old Lhasa. It was originally built in the 640's, during the reign of King Songtsan Gampo. The 13-story palace stands 117 meters high and has over 1000 rooms. It covers an area of 130,000 square meters. The entire building is made of stone and wood, with walls averaging 3 meters thick.

The Red Palace contains various chapels and mausoleums for previous Dalai Lamas. The 5th Dalai Lama's mausoleum is in the west part of the palace and is 5-storeys high. His enormous Chorten is gold-covered and inlaid with diamonds, pearls, turquoise, agate and coral. The whole structure stands 14 meters high.

The White Palace contains the living quarters of successive Dalai Lamas and their tutors. The offices of the old Tibetan government and their assembly halls are also located here. The original Potala was destroyed in the 9th century, during the breakdown of the Tubo Kingship era. It was rebuilt during the reign of the 5th Dalai Lama and completed in the late 17th century. It became known as the "Winter Palace" by the 1750's, when the 7th Dalai Lama built the Norbulingka Park, as his summer residence.

The Potala is full of elaborate art work and frescos that tell many stories. They portray religious subjects as well as the customs and traditions of Tibet. The frescos in the west hall depict the life story of the 5th Dalai Lama. One picture describes an important meeting between the 5th Dalai Lama and the Chinese Emperor Shun Zhi n 1652. It was after this meeting that the title "Dalai Lama" was bestowed on him and successive leaders of Tibet. The Potala contains many precious works of art, including ornately decorated statues, sculptures and Tibetan painting.

The topmost hall in the Potala is called "Sasong Langjie". It contains a portrait of the Qing Emperor "Qianlong" bearing the words "A LONG, LONG LIFE TO THE PRESENT EMPEROR" written in Han, Manchu, Mongol and Tibetan. Dalai Lamas came to pay homage to this portrait on each Tibetan New Year's Day.

The Potala has been a sacred place for hundreds of years. Thousands of pilgrims from Tibet, other parts of China and abroad come every year to pay homage. Their devotion is shown by the difficult journeys they have to make to reach their "Holy city."  After 1956 when Tibet was liberated, the Potala was listed as a cultural relic under the special protection of the state. Architecturally, it is considered to be one of the wonders of the world.     

Sera Monastery

Sera means "Hailstone" in Tibetan, and legend tells that it hailed during the foundation of this famous monastery. Sear was the last of the three principal Yellow Sect monasteries to be built in Lhasa. Unlike Drepung and Gandan, it was not built in a mountainside, but at the foot of the "Wudu Hill" to the North of Lhasa city. It was completed in 1419, under the supervision of Shaka Yeshe was an important teacher who traveled to Beijing and as far as Mongolia to preach Buddhism. He was given the title "The Tutor of the Empire", by the Ming Emperor, Xuan De.

Many precious gifts were set to sera by the Chinese Emperors of the time, many of which are well preserved and can be seen at Sera to this day. Sera comprises a great sutra chanting hall, a college and 32 sections. It once housed nearly 10000 monks and is proud of its glorious history during the Ming Dynasty. Sera has been listed as one of the China's national cultural relic since 1982.                          

The Jokhang Temple

The Jokhang Temple, situated in the center of old Lhasa, was originally built in 647 A.D. It is said the site was chosen personally by the wife of King Songtsan Gampo, the Tang Princess Wen Cheng. It was built by craftsmen from Tibet, China and Nepal and thus features different architectural styles.

The Jokhang is the spiritual center of Tibet and the holiest destination for all Tibetan Buddhist pilgrims. In the central hall is the Jokhang's oldest and most precious object - a sitting statue of Sakyamuni when he was 12 years old. This was carried to Tibet by Princess Wen Cheng from her home in Chang'an in 700 A.D. It is a gilded statue adorned with many jewels, in an elaborate setting. Pilgrims have prostrated themselves in front of this statue for centuries. In front of the Jokhang stands an old and withered willow tree said to be planted by Princess Wen Cheng. In front of the willow is a 3-meter high pillar, which is a treaty stone recording the alliance between the King of Tibet and the Emperor of China in 823 A.D. The three-levels roof of the Jokhang offers splendid views of the Barlchor Streets across to the Potala Palace. The golden roofs are superbly crafted with many birds, beasts, bells ad other intricate figures.

Every Tibetan New Year, which falls some time between January to March, according to the Tibetan Calendar, the Jokhang hosts the "Great Prayer Festival". This festival was first celebrated in 1409 under the leadership of Tsong Khapa, and has been held annually since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama. During the festivals, thousands of monks come to perform colorful religious activities in and around the Jokhang, and there is much celebration throughout Lhasa.                               

Local Culture

Legends spread far and wide among the Klo-pas and Tingpas in the southeast part of Tibet that all Tibetan peoples descended from the same mother since the creation of the world. Actually, forefathers of these nationalities - the Zang (Tibetan), the Monpas, the Klopas, the Tingpas and the Sharpas - were the earliest pioneers of the Tibetan plateau. Later, the Mongolian, the Han and the Hui nationalities joined in and set up a very close relationship with them. But, owing to the most inaccessible living conditions to the outside, they have developed a series of colorful customs and rituals quite distinct from those of other people.

The most conspicuous feature of all the customs is their  different ways of dressing. In Lhasa, you can see the typical Zhang clothes. Men wear collarless gowns with a long sleeve to match on the right shoulder, and women wear long-sleeves dresses gracefully with rainbow-like "pang-gdan" (apron). And you can also see, in the street of Lhasa, women of Gongpo and Dapu wear sleeveless jackets trimmed with golden corner decorations and long waistcoats with opens down the front gaily colored striped woolens on either side, and with caps hemmed around with golden lace.

The Tibetan also have their own ideas about food. A most favorite staple food of Tibetans is rtsampa--the parched "qinke" barley ground into meal, which is usually sopped in buttered tea into paste balls. The Tibetan ancestors took pain in cultivation "qinke" barley, crops suited to frigid area, and in domesticating highland animal husbandry yak called as "nor" (cowry) by native Tibetans. Qinke, rtsampa, butter and milk curds are the essentials of life out of which various kinds of nutritious food can be made. Therefore these food are regarded as symbols of happiness for Tibetans. On  birthday or marriage ceremonies, people often put a pinch of buttered rtsampa on women's and children's foreheads as a cup when people joyfully celebrate their festival, they would offer "gro-gso-phyemar" - a rectangled wooden dipper filling in buttered rtsampas and parched barley with ears of qinke, cockscombs and livestock models made of butter inserting in it --as auspicious, lucky and happy omens.

Inspite of this, the Tibetan has many other festivals celebrating their festival. They have Hong-sKor Festival in anticipating of good harvest , Horse-Race Festival when summer is changing into autumn and all sheep and cattle are strong and stout, and "Zhoston festival" for drinking curdled milk. All the above mention embodies the Zhang character of yearning for happiness.

According to the ancient custom, a hunter's prey should be shared with his neighbors or even with all the villagers except beasts' head, skin, musk and bear's bile. Hunters usually hang up beast skull on the porch to show masculinity. Klopa and Tingpas have no integrated calendar of their own and have no festival. For them, young men's contests including arrow-shooting and sword-dancing has well been the great tribal occasions. Besides, some wealthy Klopa families hold ceremony called "Sou-bai-pa" after autumn harvest, sacrificing big cattle to memorialize the dead.

"Mellow wine is offered to the guests just arrived." Hospitality is of a commendable Tibetan quality, just as famous as Tibetan barley beer. Though they may have wild herbs themselves, they would never entertain guest without offering the best wine they process.

In Metog county, if you are a guest in a Monpa house. The hostess will keep on urging you to drink water-wine until you have drunk up all. What's more, drinking is accompanied with pleasant songs and so formed a special literary form -- drinking songs, extempore compositions of beautiful words to stimulate the guests appetite to drink more. What follows is one of the drinking songs quoted to conclude our introduction of Tibet, a heroic place of China!