Labrang Monastery

Located some 280 kilometers south of Lanzhou, the Labrang Monastery in Xiahe is one of the six maior monasteries belonging to the Gelugpa Sect or the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Erected in 1709, it has structures built in Tibetan and Chinese palace styles as well as structures incorporating elements of both. All the walls of its temple halls are covered with murals depicting Buddhist stories.

The monastery is not only a religious center for Tibetans but also the largest institute of higher learning of Tibetan Buddhism. It boasts collection of more than 60,000 Buddhist scriptures,the largest collection of its kind found among Buddhist temples in China. In addition it also contains a larger number of books on Tibetan grammar, history, medicine, mathematics, calendar, music, and arts and more than 70,000 woodblocks carved with Buddhist scriptures. The monastery has a great number of Buddhist statues. The tallest one stands at 12 meters and is housed in the Shou'an Temple of the monastery. In its Red Palace are 262 gilded bronze Buddhist statues. They are all 1.7 meters high and rank among the best of their kind in China. Buddhist statues less than 1.7 meters in height number more than 29,000. Murals, embossed embroideries, and Tibetan thangkas (religious scrolls) are numerous.