Kumbum Monastery (Taer Monastery) in Xining is one of the six monasteries Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. According to the Qinghai Tourism Bureau, the Kumbum Monastery scenic spot had totally received 1.61 million person-times, achieving a comprehensive tourism income of 269 million yuan (about $43 million) in 2012. As one of the famous supreme historical sites and key cultural relics unit under state protection, the Kumbum Monastery in Xining becomes a top scenic spot in Tibetan Area.
Compared to 2011, the annual tourist reception had increased 11.9 percent, while annual comprehensive tourism income had increased 20.4 percent. Therefore, the Kumbum Monastery becomes the leading scenic spot in Qinghai Province, west of China.
Currently, the Huangzhong County has invested 120 million yuan (about $19 million) into the tourism infrastructure, public services facilities projects and comprehensive improvement of the whole scenic spot, such as tourist service centers, and the water and electricity maintenance.
If tourists make an Amdo Tibet tour, do pay a visit to the Kumbum Monastery. The Kumbum Monastery is located about 26 km southwest of Xining. Tourists can take a bus to visit it.
There are a number of highlights however that should make it easier for you to select where to see. The most interesting are listed below, but of the others, worth a visit include the Propitious Pagoda (Ruyi baota), the Peace Pagoda (Taiping tai) and the Buddha Pagoda (Puti ta). A quick detour will take you to the Kitchens (Chu fang), where 3 huge bronze cauldrons are kept to feed the temple masses (now the resident monks number around 600). The area around the monastery is also worth spending a bit of time in, a valley of fields, withmountains in the distance, that is nice for hiking. From here you can view the pilgrims who devoutly circle the monastery with plodding.
1. The Great Hall of the Golden Roof (Da jinwa si) is a large building containing a number of murals depicting scenes from Buddha's life, and a silver stuppa within which is contained a statue of Tsong Khappa.
2. The Lesser Hall of the Golden Roof (Xiao jinwa si) is a temple for lovers of taxidermy, containing within its walls some well-preserved stuffed specimens of bulls, antelopes, bears and monkeys, and a white horse, which is said to have taken the ninth Panchen Lama from Tibet to Qinghai within one day.
3. The Great Hall of Meditation (Da xingtang) is a large, dark prayer hall that contains dozens of hanging silk tapestries and thickly carpeted pillars.
4. The Hall of Butter Sculptures (Suyou hua tang) contains many of the famous yak butter sculptures. This art has existed for many hundreds of years, originally coming from Tibet to Kumbum in the sixteenth century. The better of the sculptures are put on display during the Lantern Festival (Yak Butter Lamp Festival, see below).
5. The First Two Halls contain many imposing statues, carvings (on their huge supporting poles), silk embroidery works and gold-, silver- and copper-ware.
.jpg "Tibetan Local Travel Agency")
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