How much is the ticket to Zao’s Tomb? Introduction to Shannan Zao’s Tomb

The Tomb of the King of Tibet, a Muleng with a long history, buries many figures in Tibetan history. The building gives people an aura of a king from the inside to the outside, making people feel majestic. , how many stories and years are buried here, it is touching.

So, next, the editor will introduce to you some things to do when visiting this Zao Tomb! Friends who need it should quickly collect it and find time to visit here and experience some of Tibetan history and culture.

Ticket price: 40 yuan/person

Introduction to Zao Tomb

Qiongjie Treasure Land

Follow Zeyu from Changzhu Town The line goes south and reaches Qiongjie in about an hour. What comes into view are large tracts of lush highland barley fields, with yellow rapeseed flowers in between. Qiongjie is located in the valley of the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra River. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and faces water on one side. There are mountains, water, fertile soil and grass.

Many tourists come here to see the tomb of the King of Tibet and to look for the imprint of Tibet’s historical development.

The Tomb of the Tibetan King is located in the southwest of Qiongjiezong Mountain. It is a group of tombs of Tubo Zampu from the 7th to 9th centuries AD. The entire tomb group covers an area of ??about 10,000 square meters and is about 10 meters above the ground. left and right; the top of the tomb is flat-topped, which is obviously different from the steamed bun-shaped sealing in the mainland; the sealing soil is rammed tightly, with clear ramming layers, and the thickness of each layer is about 20-40 cm.

The Tibetan King’s Tomb is the largest tomb group discovered so far that is relatively complete, well-preserved, and accurately recorded in historical books. In 1961, the Tomb of King Zao was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit.

The tombs of kings in my impression exude the aura of kings from the inside out, while the tombs of Tibetan kings in Qiongjie, Shannan look more like several "mounds".

But these "mounds" are not simple. When choosing a cemetery, the ancients paid attention to the "photography in front and support in the back" and chose a "treasure land" with mountains and water. In Qiongjie, the Yalong River, which gave birth to Tibetan civilization, flows slowly, while Pire Mountain, which means "mountain of growth", silently guards behind it.

Looking from a distance, the tall mounds are neatly arranged on the plain, and the surrounding mountains and rivers are integrated with these tombs.

The Tomb of the Tibetan Kings

Historical records show that more than a dozen Tibetan kings rested here. They told the story of the Tubo Dynasty through thousands of years of vicissitudes of life.

AD

In 629 AD, the 33rd generation Zampo Songtsen Gampo unified Tibet. Tubo, this Shannan tribe that emerged from the Yalong River Valley, truly became the ruler of the entire Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. who. Zanpu, the title of the Tubo king meaning a strong man, represented the unique monarch in Tibet at that time.

Songtsen Gampo’s hometown is Qiongjie. After his death, he chose to return here and rest here.

Because of the baptism of time and historical reasons, it is impossible to know the owner of each tomb more accurately, and the number is also difficult to determine. There are eight or nine tombs that can be seen. The large tomb near the river is said to be that of Songtsan. The tomb of Ganbu is adjacent to the tomb of Trisong Dezan. There is a huge merit monument next to the tomb.

Songtsen Gampo’s tomb is located at the entrance of Qinpu Gorge, facing Qiongjie County. There is a small temple on the tomb. According to historical records, there are five shrines in the tomb, and Songtsen Gampo is enshrined in the temple. , statues of Sakyamuni and Guanyin, as well as a large number of gold, silver, pearls, agate and other funerary objects.

Buried on the left side of the tomb is the gold armor he wore when he went on an expedition, and 2.5 grams of pearls buried at his feet (a gram is the Tibetan unit of weight, about 28 kilograms). Buried on the right side of the tomb are knights and war horses made of pure gold, as attendants of Songtsen Gampo after his death.

In front of the tomb of Songtsen Gampo, there are a pair of stone lions and two stone tablets. Among them, the Trisong Dezan Stele was excavated in 1984. It is 7.18 meters high. There are relief patterns on the surface of the stele such as clouds, dragons, four snakes, flying sky, sun and moon, and 59 lines of ancient Tibetan inscriptions praising Trisong Dezan. The carving technique is from the Tang Dynasty. The style, the shape is concise and vivid.

The Tomb of the King of Tibet not only reflects the funeral system of Tibet more than a thousand years ago, but is also of great value to the study of the rise and decline of the Tubo Dynasty and the exchanges between Tubo culture and Tang culture

Looking at the tombs of Tibetan kings in the distance, the tombs are tall and made of earth. The upper mound is oval in shape, with a flat top, and is about 130 meters long from east to west; the lower mound is a rectangular earth platform with uneven edges. A square mound is simple and peaceful among the mountains and rivers. After thousands of years of baptism, only legends are left to be passed down to future generations.

The Tomb of the King of Tibet represents the rise and fall of the Tubo Dynasty and the historical development of the Tibetan people. The people lying under these huge mounds are the ones who truly established a nation and a culture. people. Thousands of years have passed, and these "mounds" allow us to trace the Tibetan culture and Tibetan history.

The former capital of Tubo

Qiongjie is home to outstanding people and numerous cultural relics and historic sites, including the tombs of the Tibetan kings, the Trisong Dezan monument and foundation monument, and the stone lions in the Tibetan king's tombs

This was once the capital of Tubo. From the ninth generation of Tubo Zampu Bude Gongjie to the fourteenth generation of Zampui Xiaolie, Datse, Guizi, Yangzi Chizi and Zimu Qiongjie were built in Qiongjie. , Chize collapsed six palaces in the capital, becoming the second Tubo palace after the first palace, Yongbulakang.

After Songtsen Gampo unified the Tibetan Plateau, the political center moved from Shannan to Lhasa, but the old royal family still lived in the Qiongjie area, and the Zampos who moved to Lhasa commemorated their ancestors’ entrepreneurial achievements and Don't forget the Yalong River Valley that nurtured your ancestors. They often come back to live there.

In order to never forget the roots, all Tibetan dynasties Zampu came here to be buried after their death. According to historical records, the 29th generation to the 40th generation (last generation) Zampu of the Tubo Dynasty were buried here.

Historically, the Tomb of Zao has suffered major trauma. What can be seen today may be just the tomb of clothes. However, people who have respect for history are willing to use scientific methods to restore history bit by bit.

It is said that when Tubo was strong and powerful, it established its rule in the Hexi Corridor for nearly a hundred years, and even thousands of volumes of Tibetan documents survived among the Dunhuang documents excavated later; some Tibetan remnants were found in the quicksand of the Western Regions. simple.

These discoveries provide more details about the social appearance of that era, and the achievements established by the kings under their feudal lands can be slowly restored.

In this place of origin of Tibetan culture, the Tibetan kings watch the ever-growing Yalong River in front of them and tell the people coming and going about the glory of the golden age.

The distant history is slowly approaching us. In this ancient land, people are creating new lives. Next to the tomb of Zao King that has lasted for thousands of years, beautiful villages are showing vitality.

Travel Tips

The Tomb of King Zao is located in Qiongjie County, Shannan, about 30 kilometers away from Shannan City and about an hour's drive from Zedang Town.

There are two ways to get to the Tomb of Zao from Shannan. One is to take the shuttle bus to Qiongjie at the bus station and then walk to the Tomb of Zao. The second is to charter a car from Shannan directly to the Tomb of the King of Tibet (the specific price can be negotiated with the driver)

Beautiful Tibet has never lacked beauty, and the Tomb of the King of Tibet here adds a strong touch to the beauty of Tibet.