GANSU Spiritual Stopover

XINJIANG

INNER MONGOLIA
Dunhuang

NINGXIA

QINGHAI

Xiahe Lanzhou
Hezuo
Langmusi

SICHUAN

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 Sharing a border with six other western provinces
but not Tibet, it is surprising that Gansu is home to
China’s second-largest Tibetan population.
Hemmed by a vast expanse of sand, the tree-
trimmed oasis of Dunhuang in Gansu’s northern
Hexi corridor, once an important outpost on the Silk
Road, is today famed for its mountain-sized sand
dunes and ancient Buddhist grotto art.
In the southern end of the province, the
mountainous terrain of the Gannan Tibetan
Autonomous Prefecture provides a cool, quiet
respite from the scalding sands of the north.
Sharing borders with Sichuan in southernmost
Gansu, Langmusi is perhaps the province’s most
stunning locale. Nestled between rolling, snow-
dusted mountains, the slat-wood settlement
abounds with crimson-robed lamas and natively
dressed Amdos chanting mantras while prostrating
themselves on their pilgrimage to the holy land.
In between making the spiritual rounds,
the resplendently ornamented nomads rest
beneath stupas to chat, knead tsampa dough
and sip yak-butter tea, a perfect portrait of
Gansu’s Tibetan culture.

Gleaming mosques give way to sun-bleached

stupas and white-capped Hui Muslims relinquish the
landscape to prismatic Tibetan Buddhists spinning
prayer wheels beneath the surreal blue sky, giving
Gansu the sobriquet “Little Lhasa”.

Beyond the verdant Ganjia grasslands and

undulating hills of the Qinghai Plateau is the
impressive Labrang monastery at Xiahe. Pressed up
against the mountainside, the centuries-old estate is
the mainland’s largest Tibetan lamasery.

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 HEXI
From the mountain-sized sand dunes of
Dunhuang down to the province’s capital
Lanzhou on the Yellow River, the Hexi
Corridor is part of the ancient Silk Road
trading route which threads through
northern Gansu.
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SANGKE
Farmers at harvest in the Ganjia Tibetans hitching a ride across the Sangke
grasslands. grasslands towards the Qinghai-Tibetan
plateau. Opposite page.

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XIAHE
Tibetan pilgrims making their koras
(spiritual walking circuit) around
a Buddhist dagoba. Xiahe is a
slat-wood settlement surrounding
18th-century Labrang, one of China’s
largest Tibetan lamaseries.

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 XIAHE
Prostrating beneath 1,200 prayer wheels.

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HEZUO
Daughters of Buddhist pilgrims
returning from Langmusi.

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 LANGMUSI
Located on the Sichuan border at
3,000 meters, the Gansu side of
Langmusi was constructed around
the impressive Geerdeng Monastery.

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 LANGMUSI
Hip Tibetan youth.

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 LANGMUSI
The Gansu side of Langmusi includes
a primary school with both Tibetan
Buddhist and Hui Muslim pupils.

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 LANGMUSI
Some local children opt to stay home from Tibetan pilgrims making koras around
school and instead help their parents with Geerdeng Monastery. Opposite page.
household chores. This young girl and her
mother are washing laundry in a stream
that runs through town.

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 510 LANGMUSI
Teenage lamas on the front steps of
Geerdeng Monastery.

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