The Ruins of Guge in Tibet

The Ruins of Guge Kingdom is located on a mountain in Zhabran Village,18km west of the county town of Zhada, 310km south of Shiquanhe Town.
The Guge Kingdom was founded in about the 10th century by a descendant of King Glang Darma, who fled from Lhasa after the collapse of the Tupo Kingdom. The kingdom played an important role in the second renascence in Tibet and survived for about 700 years before disappearing mysteriously in the 17th century.

"Guge" is a miracle. For years it strongly attracted numerous explorers, scholars, artists and journalists who traveled from afar to investigate and search for treasures. According to historical records, after the last king of the Tubo Dynasty, Lang Darma, died, the royal family began to fight for the throne. Gyide Nyimagun, Long Darma's descendent, lost the war and ran away to Ngari, where he established a small kingdom. Later, Gyide Nyimagun divided Ngari into three parts and gave them to his three sons. The Guge Kingdom was ruled by Dezogun, Gyide Nyimagun's third son. His regime ran for more than 700 years before being destroyed in a war. According to the Annals of Kings and Officials in Tibet, a total of 16 kings ruled the Guge Kingdom, and Guge Castle was accomplished through constant construction between the 10th and 16th century. Guge has a very significant position in the history of economic and cultural development of Tibet. Many significant Buddhist doctrines of ancient India were passed on to hinterland Tibet via Guge.Guge was also one of the important commercial ports linking ancient Tibet with the outside world.After the Tubo Dynasty died out,Tibet entered a 400-some year period of isolation. Guge was always a large and powerful kingdom. Even the dust of time cannot hide its prosperity and past glory.

The ruins lie at a hilltop near a river, covering 180,000 square meters. Houses, cave dwellings, monasteries and stupas are distributed on the hill and surrounding area. Palaces sat on the summit while monasteries on mountainside, cave dwellings for common people at the foot of the hill. The kingdom was enclosed in tunnels and walls with fortifications. Some structures survive time and remain in good condition in this untraversed region though many of them were reduced into dust. A 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) long water tunnel built with stones, in ruins, still dives from the summit into the river below, which used to be water supply of Guge people.

Zhada stand the famous Tuolin Monastery and relic Guge Kingdom

Covering an area of 2,464 square kilometers, located in the Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, Zanda Clay Forest,aka Zanda Clay Forest is the largest clay forest that was formed over one million years ago.

 
Zhada, whose Tibetan meaning is "the place where there are grass in the lower reaches of river", is a County under the govern of Nagri Prefecture. In this county stand the famous Tuolin Monastery and relic Guge Kingdom. As soon as you step into Zhada County, you can see the clay forest towering along both sides of five-kilometer-Elephant Spring River. These clay forest are of different shapes. Some like warriors defending the mountain, some like galloping horses, while others like devoted followers standing there quietly.
The best interpretation of the beauty of the scenery of Zanda, forest soil ditch.

Into the forest soil trenches, the people will be the eye as a vast sea forest soil the world shock and awe: the towering forest soil in the hot sun resembles a castles and towers, with one of the vast scene scorch .100 million years ago Zhada forest is more than 500 km wide and the Great Lakes Himalayan orogeny make the surface of the water to sink, the original lake basin in the Loess over many years by the wind and rain erosion and scour, eventually forming a sculpture of this magnificent natural forest soil. forest soil today under intensive folds and ravines, as long as the next torrential rains, it stretches over 30 kilometers of forest soil ditch immediately turned into a 'river' Zada county 'moat'.