Lamasery  Printing House & Tibetan Medical Hospital in Dege

Dege, or Derge, in Ganzi TAP in western Sichuan, located on the upper reached of the Jinshajiang and Yalongjiang Rivers. Dege, mean in Tibetan as "land of benevolence", is derived from "ten benevolences of the 4orders" of Tibetan Buddhism, named after the Dege clan, the Dege clan and toponym of Dege both began to appear in the early period of the Yuan Dynasty. As a county, it established in 1913.
In history, Dege was one of 3 centers in Tibetan Culture, and other are Xiahe in Gansu, Lhasa in TAR. 5 main sects of Tibetan Buddhism such as Nyingmapa (Red), Saturdaykyapa (Variegated), Kagyupa (White), Gelukpa (Yellow) and Benbo were treated equally by the Dege clan, and conflicts amoung these schools of thought were rare in Dege.
Gengqing town, is now the county seat of Dege, it is a holy site in Tibetan Buddhism because of the printing house for turning out scriptures with unique paper, and as well as the Epic of King Gesar..
And, in Gengqing town, there are Tibetan Medical Hospital, Gengqing monastery, Tongtong monastery etc. Around Dege area are Yilhun Lhatso, Axu grassland, Palpungl monastery and Pewer monastery etc.
Dege hotel is the best hotel in Dege, 3 stars.

Gesar was the ruler of the Ling Kingdom in eastern Tibet in 11th centry. Gesar is known as greatest hero in Khampa area by Tibetan and Mongolian.The greatest literatural workd epic "King of Gesar", 20times the length of the Homer's epics the Ilia. It is sperad widely in China such as Tibetan, Mongolian, Tu, Naxi, and Yugur area. The Potala Palace has a statue of Gesar for pilgrimage every day. 
The Axu (Ngaxu) grassland is believed to be the birthplace of Gesar and the Epic. The grassland covers 800sq km, surrounded by wooded hills, watering the Yalong river in it's heart. In 1790, headman Ling Cong financed the construction of the temple of King Gesar ar this grassland, later named it as Memorial Hall of King Gesar, in the hall is a huge statue of Gesar riding a horse.
In Khampa area, speical in Ganzi area, stories, songs and dances about Gesar vwey active and alive, there are more than 100 professonal singers and storytellers in Qinghai, TAR, Gansu and Sichuan Yunnan.

Yilhun Lhatso (Xinluhai lake or Yulong Lake), located beside the Manigange town about 11km, Derge county (100km to Gengqing town), made by effects of glanciation, altitude over 4500M, with Que'er ranges surrounding, the deepest is 15M, covers an area of 2.72 sq km.
Quer mountains, Tsola in Tibetan, meaning "a mountain neighboring a lake", there 5peaks over 5000 meters and a lot of lakes, grass meadows. Now it has been built in 1995 as a national nature reserve over 190sq km for white lips deer, about 180 species of animals living inside.
And in Que'er Mountains, it's glacier has 38 ice rivers, covers of 75000sq M. The peak 6168M, and the road of Sichuan-Tibet pass here about 5050M. 
Manigange, also named Yulong, 3760M, is a town just beside of the Yihun lake, very important traffic hub in Ganze area for 3 roads pass through: Yushu in Qinghai to the north, Derge and Tibet to the west, Kangding and Inland China to the east.  

Derge Sutra Printing Academy, simple as Derge Scripture Printing House, is the treasury of Tibetan culture and arts, founded in 1729, of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty by Queji Dengbazeren, the 12th headman and the 6th dharma-raja of Derge, and construction took about 21years, located in Gengqing monastery, covers an area of 5000 sq M, on the east back of Jinshajiang River, Gengqing town, Derge, Sichuan. The main building is a 4-story complex with more than 30 rooms, the 1st floor consists of several sutra halls where Buddha and the ancestors of the Dege clan are worshipped. The 2nd & 3rd floors have rooms for proofresding, engraving blocks, printing and binding, and it's managing office. The 4th floor for fresh the printed pages.
There kept more than 290000 engraved blocks of religious including classics from different sects of Tibetan Buddhism, historical, literature and art, medical, technology and science, language, astronomical and calender-arithmatical book editions in Tibetan, all together containing over 500 million characters., and the Derge block edition of The Great Scriptures cut in the Qing Dynasty is expecially well-known.
Derge academy is the largest of three big Sutra-printing academies in the Tibetan regions of China (Lhasa Sutra-printing Academy in Tibet, Lhapolung Academy in Gansu), it is estimated that materials stored at Degemake up to 70% of Tibet's literary Heritage, and Derge play important role in protecting and lasting Tibetan culture.
The special paper for printing contains Strellera chamae jasme, a medicinal herb with a light toxicity. The paper repels mice and moths, and keeps them from damaging the books.

A 3 stories building Tibetan medical hospital, houses a large collection of herbs and animal parts collected from far reaches of the Tibetan Plateau.

Ruin of King Gesar's Capital Sunzhoudazezong , lies at Ezhi (Oqi) village, Dege. Construction covers 41143sq m.

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