Litang

Litang stands in the high grasslands of eastern Tibet, among the valleys and wooded mountains of Kham. One of the principal routes between Tibet and China crosses the district, bringing travellers through a country of pastoral communities and high passes. Its great monastery, Ganden Thubchen Chökhorling, became a leading centre of the Gelug school.

In 1580 the Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso, founded the monastery on his return from Mongolia, after Litang's ruler shifted his allegiance from Kagyu to Gelug. Its influence reached well beyond the surrounding pastures. The Seventh Dalai Lama was later born in Litang, and in 1728 the Qing recognised the local governor as a hereditary chief. Monastery and chieftaincy thus stood at the meeting of religious and political networks that linked Kham with Tibet and the Qing realm.