Shannan 山南Shānnán

About Shannan

Shannan, Lhoka in Tibetan, covers the Yarlung Valley south-east of Lhasa, often regarded as the birthplace of Tibetan civilisation. Near Tsetang, Yumbulagang is held by tradition to be Tibet's first building and Tradruk Temple one of its earliest temples, and the imperial kings lie in the mounds of the Valley of the Kings, Chonggye. Upriver, Samye Monastery, founded in the 8th century, was Tibet's first Buddhist monastery, and to the west the turquoise Yamdrok Lake winds between snow mountains.

Featured places in Shannan

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  Yamdrok Lake 羊卓雍措

  A turquoise, snow-ringed sacred lake revealed from the Kamba La pass

  Best time: May–Oct · Time needed: Half a day · 4A scenic area

Listed sites in Shannan

18 sites in Shannan are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.

• Samye Monastery 桑耶寺 4A scenic area · National heritage site
  Tibet's first Buddhist monastery, built in the 8th century under King Trisong Detsen with the Indian masters Shantarakshita and Padmasambhava, and the place where the first Tibetan monks were ordained.
• Tradruk Temple 昌珠寺 4A scenic area · National heritage site
  One of the earliest Buddhist temples in Tibet, founded in the 7th century under King Songtsen Gampo in the Yarlung valley and enlarged in the 14th century; its main assembly hall is laid out like that of the Jokhang in Lhasa.
• Yumai, Lhünzê 玉麦 4A scenic area · on the map
  Yumai is a small township in a deep valley of Lhünzê County, among fir forest and snow peaks, where rain and snow fall for much of the year.
• Yumbulagang 雍布拉康 4A scenic area
  Yumbulagang, a tower-like palace on a ridge above the Yarlung valley, is held by tradition to be the first building in Tibet, the palace of the legendary first king Nyatri Tsenpo.
• Dajielin Monastery (Chödegong) 达杰林寺 National heritage site · on the map
  A Gelug monastery in Chödegong village in the Yartö valley, which began as the 11th-century residence of the translator Ra Lotsawa and reached its present size under the 13th Dalai Lama.
• Dratang Monastery 扎塘寺 National heritage site
  A monastery founded in 1081 by the scholar and physician Drapa Ngönshé and finished in 1093, built as a mandala with three rings of walls; it passed to the Sakya school in the 13th century.
• Gongkar Chö Monastery 贡嘎曲德寺 National heritage site · on the map
  A Sakya monastery founded in 1464 by Dorje Denpa Kunga Namgyal as the seat of the Dzongpa (Gongkar) branch of the Sakya school.
• Jiedunzhu Dzong Ruins 杰顿珠宗遗址 National heritage site · on the map
  The ruins of a Yuan–Ming period dzong, or fortress, stand on a cliff at about 3,300 metres south-west of Jiemai village in Painba township.
• Keru Lhakhang 吉如拉康 National heritage site · on the map
  A small temple in Keru village, Gyêrba township, founded under King Tride Tsugtsen; its main Shakyamuni chapel dates from the first half of the 8th century.
• Lhagyari Palace Ruins 拉加里王宫遗址 National heritage site · on the map
  The palace of the Lhagyari kings, a line descended from the Tibetan imperial family who kept their title through the Sakya and Phagmodrupa periods, stands on the south side of Qusum town.
• Lhalung Monastery, Lhozhag 拉隆寺 National heritage site
  A monastery on a terrace above the north bank of the Lhozhag Nub Chu, founded as a Karma Kagyu seat in 1155 by Düsum Khyenpa and laid out as a mandala in the 16th century by Pawo Tsuglag Trengwa; the 5th Dalai Lama later made it Gelug.
• Mindrolling Monastery 敏珠林寺 National heritage site
  One of the principal monasteries of the Nyingma school, founded in its present form in 1676 by Terdak Lingpa on the site of an earlier temple, and rebuilt after damage by Dzungar troops in 1718.
• Namseling Manor 朗色林庄园 National heritage site · on the map
  The seven-storey earth-and-stone tower house of the Namseling family, aristocrats who held land in Dranang, built in the Ming period on the south bank of the Yarlung Tsangpo opposite Samye.
• Quxi Watchtowers, Lhozhag 曲西碉楼群 National heritage site · on the map
  A group of stone watchtowers and walls on the hillside at Quxi village in Se township, built between the Northern Song and Ming periods.
• Sekhar Guthok Monastery 色喀古托寺 National heritage site
  Tradition says the nine-storey stone tower at the heart of this monastery was built in the 11th century by the yogi Milarepa as a trial set by his teacher Marpa; the top two floors were rebuilt in 1985.
• Songkar Stone Stupas 松卡石塔 National heritage site · on the map
  Five stone stupas of different sizes, each carved from a single block, stand at the foot of a rocky hill beside the Yarlung Tsangpo west of Samye.
• Valley of the Kings, Chonggye 藏王墓 National heritage site · on the map
  The burial ground of the kings of the Tibetan Empire from the 7th to 9th centuries, a group of large flat-topped mounds of rammed earth and stone on and below Mura Hill at Chonggye.
• Zhongga Qude Monastery 仲嘎曲德寺 National heritage site · on the map
  A Gelug monastery in Ritang town that began as a Bön temple in the imperial period, became a Kadam house in the 11th–13th centuries and turned Gelug after the 15th century.

On the map

Open Shannan on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Official website
• Wikipedia (Chinese)