Enjoying a high prestige and a long history, Norbulingka has long been hailed as the summer palace in Tibet.

Long Standing History of Norbulingka Park
Summer Palace in Tibet

Norbulingka is often held as the garden of treasures by the Tibetan people. Every summer Dala Lamas would go to Norbulingka to handle official business, therefore it got its name as "the Summer Palace of Lhasa". The construction of the garden originally begun in 1740. It took about hundred years to complete and now it has boasts as the largest artificial garden in China. The garden houses a large number of historical and cultural treasures.

The Seventh Dalai Lama used to study Buddhist sutras at Drepung Monastery, so he spent most of his time there. For this reason, an imperial official of Qing Dynasty ordered to build an official residence for the seventh Dalai Lama. In 1751 the seventh Dalai Lama added a 3-storey palace named after him at the east of the garden, and it consists of Buddha hall, reading room, god temple, assembly hall, bedroom, etc. After the completion in 1755, this newly-built palace was used as the major place for the Dalai Lama to deal with official affairs across Tibet. The Eighth Dalai Lama also added some changes to the palace: the pool was turned into a lake, on which the Dragon King Temple, the Lake Heart Palace and Han-style pavilion were built. In 1922 and 1954, two enlargements were ordered respectively by the Thirteenth and the Fourteenth Dalai Lamas, which finalized the layout of Norbulingka in general.

Architecture Style in Norbulingka Park
Architecture Style in Norbulingka Park

Norbulingka is made up of the Kelsang Phodron Palace, the Kashak Cabinet offices and the Dadengmingjiu Palace. The New Palace houses a large number of murals which display the biography of Songtsen Gampo and Chisong Dezain. Kelsang Phodron Palace is typical Tibetan style architecture. The first floor is used for holding ceremonies and receiving guests, while the second and the third were the private space of the Dalai Lama, with bedroom and sutra room decorated with murals. Kashak Cabinet was built for the Thirteenth Dalai Lama by a rich man named Kashak in 1922. Gesang Deji is a small building housing portraits and sculptures of Sakyamuni, Avalokitesvara and other Buddhas. Lake Heart Palace is hailed as the most beautiful attraction in Norbulingka.

All in all, Norbulingka is as attractive as it could be and worth exploring during Tibet travel.

Starting from the southern slope of Shennongjia, which is hailed as "the No.1 peak in Central China", Shennong Stream flows among remote mountains throughout the year and meets the Yangtze River at the southern end of Longchang Gorge. Meandering for 60 km, the stream is accompanied by layers of peaks and knolls, which create the Shennong Gorge, Parrot Gorge and Longchang Gorge, which are all very peculiar, exquisite and precipitous. Along the stream are dotted with various cultural landscapes such as ancient hanging coffins, plank roads built along the cliff, primitive small boats and the customs of Tujia ethnic minority.

Biological Resource along Shennong Stream
Yangtze Cruise along Shennong Stream

Situated in the subtropical zone with a monsoon climate, Shennong Stream features varied climates subject to the change of elevation, with the temperature ranking from -21 to 38.5 degree Celsius in different seasons. The variety of the climate makes it a natural gallery with rich biological resources. In the primeval forest at the headstream of Shennong Stream, there still live many rare animals like white snakes and white snub-nosed monkeys. Among all plants, Davidia or dove trees are most arresting. According to interrelated data, this kind of trees died out in most places on the earth after the Ice Age.

Boat Tracker Culture along Shennong Stream
Boat Tracker along Shennong Stream

Boat Tracker Culture refers to the old tradition in the Three Gorges area that trackers tow a boat in the water by holding the towropes on their shoulders. Today, this tradition has almost been extinct, but that in Shennong Stream is still persisted and becomes a living fossil of the local boat tracker culture.

Ancient Ba Culture along Shennong Stream
Ba People is not one of the 56 ethnic groups of China but an ancient tribe moved to this area in ancient China. The ancient Ba people settled down here and created the astonishing ancient plank roads on cliff and hanging coffins by hands. Today, their offspring still live by Shennong Stream and is known to the outside world as Tujia ethnic minority. Inheriting their forefathers’ characters of being frank and good at singing and dancing, Tujia people still keep that prevail until today. Crying singing on wedding is another unique folk custom of Tujia people to show brides’ sorrow at leaving their own parents and family. It was seen as a skill and a girl who could sing a touching crying song was considered to be a good bride.

Located in the old area of Lhasa City, Tibet, Barkhor Street is a very ancient round street surrounding the Jokhang Temple and the local are always proud of it. As a symbol of Lhasa, it is also a must-see place for visitors.

History of Barkhor Street

According to the Chinese history book, the first Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo built the Jokhang Temple. Due to its magnificence, it quickly attracted thousands of Buddhist pilgrims. As a result, a trodden path appeared. That is the origin of Barkhor Street. Today even still many pilgrims hold the prayer wheels to walk clockwise there from dawn to dark. Also, you can see some pilgrims waking or progressing body-lengths by body-lengths along the street. Even some of them are teenagers or have experienced thousands of mile’s walk to reach this sacred place. The way they express their piety could make you understand the holiness of religion.

Prayer Wheel about Barkhor Street
Prayer Wheels, called Chokhor in Tibetan, are very common religious objects in Tibet. A hand held prayer wheel is a hollow wooden or metal cylinder attracted to a handle. Om Mani Padme Hung mantras are printed or etched weight with a chain, which facilities the rotation. Tibetans use prayer wheels to spread spiritual blessings to all sentient beings and invoke good karma in their next life. They believe that every rotation of a prayer wheel equals one utterance of the mantra, thus the religious practice will in return help them accumulate merits, replace negative effects with positive ones, and hence bring them good karma. The religious exercise is part of Tibetan life. People turn the wheel day and night while walking murmuring the same mantra. Buddhists turn the wheel clockwise. Bon followers turn the wheel counter clockwise.

Famous Shopping of Barkhor Street

Barkhor Street, often called the ‘Window of Tibet’ is famous for its shopping. Barkhor Street gives visitors a great insight into traditional Tibetan culture by selling it to them. The shops and booths along the street are filled with all sorts of items unique to Tibet. There is a large variety of Tibetan Buddhist articles including: Thangkas, Buddhist statues, prayer wheels, butter lamps, payer flags, sutras, beads and incense. There are also shops that sell house wares, but Tibetan house wares are also unique, and often beautiful: cushions, aprons, leather bags and dried meats. There are also an abundance of souvenirs available on Barkhor Street.