Damzhung

Damzhung lies north of Lhasa on the high Tibetan plateau, between the Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains and broad river valleys. Thin air, short summers and strong winds limit farming, while grassland stretches toward the northern Changtang. Snowmelt feeds streams and marshy pastures, and elevation determines which sites remain habitable through winter.

The name means “select pasture,” reflecting a country organized around yaks, sheep, goats and horses. Nomadic families moved between seasonal pastures and traded wool, hides, salt and dairy goods with farming villages and monasteries. The fifth Dalai Lama granted the Damxung steppe to Güshi Khan, whose Mongol soldiers later settled there. After Güshi Khan died in 1679, the land came under Sera Monastery’s Ngakpa College.

From 1715 the Qing Amban in Lhasa administered the district, linking local pasture to imperial authority. Monasteries collected offerings, controlled estates and sponsored festivals, while herders supplied transport for pilgrims and officials. Damzhung’s identity comes from this high pasture country, where mobility, monastic landholding and routes toward Lhasa and the northern plateau intersected.