Longwu Monastery

Chinese name: 隆务寺 (Long Wu Si)
Location: Longwu Town, Tongren County,Qinghai Province.
Ticket: Entrance ticket CNY60.00
Estimated tour time: 1-2 hours
Recommended time to visit: May to Oct and Feb to see the Monlam Festival
Nearby attractions: Wutun Monastery, Regong Art Gallery, Guomary Monastery, Kanbula National Park, etc.

Longwu Monastery is the largest Gelug monastery and one of the ancient temples in Qinghai Province, The monastery was established in 1301 and greatly expanded during the Ming Dynasty, already has a history that stretches back more than 700 years with several halls.

Longwu Monastery, as the important cultural and religious capital of Huangnan Prefecture with four colleges of popular Clan, closed clan, astronomy and medical science is the place, where religious activities are held on lecturing, praying and examination. The buildings are mainly mixture of Tibetan and Han styles.

The monastery is filled with rare and valuable artifacts, as well as several imperial artifacts including seals used by the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The buildings of classical halls and Buddhism monasteries are grand, magnificent and elegant with rich relics and literature. In middle of the monastery is the Grand Hall with built-in 18 big pillars and 146 short pillars that hosts en Buddha of Sykaymuni, Zongkaba and other masters in fine figures. Furthermore, the figure of founder Zonglaba is eleven meters high. The monastery has organically grown over its long history, what started as a prayer hall expanded to know include a scripture hall, an astronomy room, several courtyards as well as beautiful grounds. The largest prayer room within the temple is over 1700 square meters.

The fortress like Hall of Bodhisattva Manjusri is said to hold a Avalokiteshvara from 1644 that survived the 1960s destruction, and some of the halls and their resident Buddhas have been rebuilt multiple times.

Longwu Monastery is the birthplace of Anduo Tibetan plays, monks always perform public Tibetan plays, which renders the villages near Longwu town with large rich and diversified cultural and entertainment activities throughout the year. Visitors coming here may fully enjoy the flavor and scent of “Ideal land of western region”.