ASIAN ALPINE E-NEWS
Issue No. 40 November 2018

Nangchen, Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai Province

Contents“Peaks and Monasteries” in Nangchen and Yushu, Qinghai
Province-Journey October 2018-1

Tom Nakamura

Page 2 ～37

TAMOTSU (TOM) NAKAMURA

Peaks and Monasteries
Nangchen Kingdom and veiled mountains in Yushu Prefecture
After the Mt. Siguniang Second International Mountains and Outdoor Forum that washeld in October 1 8 – 20, Mr. Tsuyoshi Nagai and I, elderly pair, flew to Yushu of Qinghai
Province on October 22. Although a period of stay was as short as only one week, wecould gain positive yields. Nangchen is said to be a kingdom of Tibetan religion having
more than 90 monasteries in the county and has countless rock peaks of 5,000m which
inspires visitors particularly climbers.
In succession to searching peaks andmonasteries in Nangchen, we headed
to north of Yushu to find veiled leastknown mountains “Mt. Gadojuewu
5470m” massif (Chinese name: Mt.
Katojowo).
Air flight from Chengdu to Yushu
takes one and half hours.

12Mt. Gadojuewu 5470m is shown on the above map.
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As the place is reaching Yushu airport 3860m, outstanding peaks 5,000 to5700m are appearing to north.
We arrived at Yushu airport at 09:30 and stayed in Yushu Sun Lake Hotel. View of Jeku
historical monastery (below) and light-up of the town (next page) attract tourists.

4Beautiful Light-up of Yushu town

Nangchen- Kingdom of Tibetan Buddhism
On October 23 we drove
from Yushu town toNangchen.first having
crossed a high pass andthen went through agorge with rock peaks
withamonasteryshown in the left.
Nangchen

Countyisthe birthplace of Yushu
andhasbeen

thepolitical, economic, andculturalcenterofYushu in its history formore than 600 years.
In Han Dynasty~early
Tang Dynasty, county
belonged to the Sumba
Kingdom of Women.
Upper Mekong River“Zachu” flows throughNangchen town.
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Upper Mekong River “Zachu” (Lancang Jiang) flows through Nangchen town.

Golden Buddha Statue and 108 Stupas in Nangchen town
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Geography and Potentials of Nangchen
Nangchen Count is located in the southeast of Yushu Prefecture, its south and southeast
are adjacent to Tingchen, Chamdo, Riwoche consists of the Tibet Autonomous Region(TAR), and its west and northwest connects with Dzato (Zadoi) County, north andnortheast with Yushu County. The Nangchen County has nine townships and one townwith a total population of 105,800.
The county seat Shamda Town is located in the river valley of Upper Mekong area,agriculture is its major economy with supplements of animal husbandry. The average
elevation is 3644m above sea level and average temperature is 3.8°C.
With a warm and moist Climate Nangchen is very rich in natural resources:
The county has available pastures of 442,413 ha or 86% of total area of the county, andarable land of 7,333 ha. In addition to abundant precipitation, there is abundant surface
water, all belonging to the Mekong River water system. Zachu, Zichu, Palchu. Rechu andJichu rivers flow in parallel from northwest to southeast throughout the county, and they
reserve 142.59kw hydrological energy in theory. The County provides 65,500 cubic
meters of water for per person, which is 7.4 times of the world’s average per capita wateramount and 24 times of that for China.

The 1st Round6–Travel thru Nangchen Kingdom October 23~25
Our objectives in Nangchen are A. to view rock peaks and veiled mountains B. to visit
monasteries. On October 23, we moved from Yushu to Nangchen as aforementioned. We
crossed a high pass of 4493m, a tributary of the Mekong, Rechu, two passes of 4118m
and 4324m. We visited Golden Buddha Statue and 108 Stupas in the afternoon

High pass 4493m
7Rechu, a tributary of Mekong RiverOn October 24, we searched for prominently
towering rock peaks en-route of the new road west
to Zadoi County. To our bad fortune however theweather was getting worse and it started to snow
when we passed through a breathtaking deep
gorge and then crossed a high pass of 4700m.
Nevertheless, we managed to take pictures as
below on the way and return. These are below(Water fall & gorge en-route to Zadoi County)

5000m peak en-route to Zadoi
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(above two pictures) 5000m peaks en-route to Zadoi

9After coming back from tracing the new road to Zadoi, we went to “Khar Grand Canyon
Scenic Spot. We stood in awe of shining Khar Monastery at 4230m hanging on the cliff.

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On the way to the Khar Grand Canyon Scenic Spot an alluring 5000m peak was viewedas below.

On the way back to Nangchen town, we stopped at Baizha Ancient Salt fields as below.

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Combination of Peak and Monastery shown below

The earliest monastery in the Kham area, parallel to the Yumbulagang
Palace in Tsetang, South Tibet. This temple was built in 1069.

Blessing!
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On October 25 we crossed a high pass 4645m sharing the Mekong main stream andRechu, a tributary, while snowing. Purpose of the visit was to see famous monasteries
and Tibetan mastiff breeding house.

Awang (left) Driver (right) - On the pass 4645m - Tom Nakamura

Tibetan mastiffs in breeding house13Breeding house of Tibetan mastiffs
On the way we heard from our capable Tibetan guide Awang (since 2009) about current
situation in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) / Qinghai Province and related information.
1. Tibetan are unable to obtain a passport. Even a permit to visit Hong Kong is difficult
for Tibetan in TAR.
2. Controls in TAR are getting tighter and tighter. Even Chinese are unable to entersacred place near Miling (foreigners were prohibited).
3. Being compared with TAR where Dalai Lama 14th influence is prevailing, Qinghai
Province is under influence of Panchen Lama, now a high official of the Beijing
Administration. This means that control by the government is less tight in Qinghai
Province than in TAR. Therefore, many monasteries are being constructed inQinghai Province.
4. 50% of Yaks in west China live in Qinghai Province.
5. Chinese from Sichuan is not many in Qinghai Province while 90% of Chinese in TARare from Sichuan.
6. Price of catapillar fungus is still going up.
7. Foreigners may pass through Chamdo city only when they get a special permit fromauthorities in Shanghai or Beijing, but they cannot stay in Chamdo.
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We visited famous Gadin monastery in Rechu bend at 3600m. Then we drove up thebeautiful stream of Rechu to north for returning to Yushu. On the way back, we cameacross snow-capped 5000m peaks north of Yushu. Pictures follow.

Gadin monastery in Rechu bend (above) Rechu (below)

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5000m peak west face east of Rechu north of Yushu (1)5000m peak west face east of Rechu north of Yushu (2)16NunneryGolden buddha

Yushu Batang Airport 3860m

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Now we came back to Yushu from Nangchen. Finally, we visited the Un Shin Kong Jo
memorial place.
The first round of thistrip was over. And westarted

thesecondround to search for theleast-known mountains
north of Yushu town.
The right picture is amemorial place of Un
ShinKongJo

whomarried with Tibetan
King in the 7th century.

On the pass sharing Mekong main stream and Rechu18

The 2nd Round–Searching for Unknown Mountains – October 26
Our objective was to approach the least-known and veiled mountains “Mt. Gadojuewu
5470m” massif. We requested Awang and driver to gather as much information as
possible on the said mountain massif. We first checked the location by iPhone as below.

The massif is located west of Zodoi and Gado towns some 140km NNW of Yushu town.
On October 26 we left
Yushu town for Mt.
Gdojuewu. We soon
entered the highway
Yushu~Xinning(800km). The roadonce crosses the TongTien

He(UpperYangtze River wherea monument of thethree rivers sources:
Mekong,Yangtze,

and Yellow rivers.
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The highway runs to NEE through grasslands in an altitude of 4200~4700m. Yaks often
cross the road in spite there are fences. We left the highway at Qingshuihe junction.

High pass 4600m on a road from the highway to Gado / Zadoi town in the west
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Winter is coming in Qinghai Plateau 4200~4700m in late October (1)Winter is coming in Qinghai Plateau 4200~4700m in late October (2)21View to west from the high pass 4600m – Mt. Gadojuewu massif east face

Mt. Gadojuewu 5470m main peak east face seen from the high pass 4600m

22Sangkong monastery at 4100m close to Mt. Gadojuewu masssif

Mt. Gadojuewu 5470m (right), Sister peak (left)

23Mt. Gadojuewu 5470m

Mt. Gadojuewu 5470m
24Sister peak ca. 5400m of Mt. Gadojuewu 5470m

Tibetan mastiff rock25

We returned to Yushu.

Monastery in Yushu

Light-up in Yushu town
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Aerial views are enjoyed in a flight from Yushu to Chengdu.

Gangga massif 5000~5600m east of Chola Shan

5000~5700m massif east of Chola Shan
27

Gangga massif 5000~5600m rock peaks

Minya Konka (Gongga Shan) 7556m (right) and satellite peaks
28Supplements
1. Summer July 2018 – Yushu to Nangchen

Flying from Chengdu to Yushu airport – peak (right) Sejong 5716m

Peak ca. 5600m north of Yushu airport29

5000~5700m peaks north of Yushu airport

5725m north of Yushu airport30

Rechu, a tributary of the Mekong River (Za Qu)

Upper Mekong River (Za Qu) flowing through Nangchen Kingdom

31

Nangchen townFlowers are abundant in summer (at 4600m) in Nangchen
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Blue poppies at 4600m in Nangchen

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2. From a photo book “Scenic of Nangchen” published in Nangchen, 2013

Ruins of Nangchen King’s Palace north of Nangchen town

Horse race in Nangchen
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King Gesar opera in Tana Monastery

Tibetan opera
35

3. Statue of legendary King Gesar in Yushu town

36