Rebkong in Amdo Tibet | Tongren county in Qinghai Province

Rebkong (Tib: རེབ་གོང / Cn: Tongren county) is located180km south of Xining city in Qinghai Province, located in the Golden Valley of the Rongwu Guchu River in Malho or Huangnan Tibetan Prefecture. The name of Malho meaning the place of south yellow river, therefore, you will travel along the yellow river before reaching Rebkong / Tongren.  

The big valley where Rebkong / Tongren is located  is at about 2600m (8500 feet) above sea-level, extends from the north to south, and is surrounded by several red and yellow clay mountains. There are many traditional villages and monasteries scattering in this valley.

Rebkong / Tongren is considered as  cradle of amdo Tibet’s civilization. Therefore, it holds as the heart of both Tibetan culture and traditional Tibetan arts. It is also the most influential Tibetan town in Amdo. 

 As the heart of traditional Tibetan arts, Rebkong is famous for its Tibetan traditional arts and cultural preservation. Those monasteries and villages around the Rongwu town which are home to hundreds  of traditional artists. The most well known villages and monasteries are Rongwo Gonchen, Senggeshung Yago and Sanggeshung Mago (upper and lower Wutun Si), Gomar Gompa, Nyamtok village, etc..

 If you are interested in learning Tibetan culture and Tibetan traditional arts, Rebkong is  one of the most recommended region in Amdo. Almost every house is turned into an artists studio.  These unofficial school of art are inherited from 18^th century. Many of the Tibetan arts you have seen in Amdo are produced by the masters of Rebkong region.

Besides Rebkong Arts, the other highlights of Rebkong / Tongren are the monasteries stretch both side of the valley. There are Sanggeshung Yago (Upper Wutun), Sanggeshung Mago (Lower Wutun), Gomar Gompa, Nyantok Monastery, Yershong Gon, Tokya Tashi Chopenling, Yarma Tashikyil Gompa, Gartse Gompa. Most of them are the branch monasteries of Rongwu Gonchen. There are also several arts gallery and studios both sides of the road. Some of them are as big as an art museum. You are freely walk into these studios to see how the Thangka (traditional painting of Buddhist figures) is done.

Rongwu Monastery རོང་བོ་དགོན་ཆེན the largest monastery in Rebkong located at the south end of the town. The monastery is built in 1301 by Lama Samten Renchen. The monastery consists of  several important temples and colleges. The main temples and buildings are The Great Sutra Hall, Main Assembly Hall, The Manjushri  Hall and a few others. Originally Rongwu Monastery was a Sakya monastery built in 12^th century but later became a  Gelug monastery. The monastery housed over 1500 monks at the power of its peak. However, there are around 400 monks in the monastery in the present days.

For those who like to wandering around the town, there is a theater located north side of the town (direction towards Xining) open to public after 6pm very day where you can freely go inside to watch traditional Tibetan opera. This is also activity which Tibetans who live in this town come here after dinner to watch the opera together with their friends and families.  

No matter summer or winter, there is always some sort of cultural events carry out in this town. The most important cultural festival in Tongren / Rebkong are : Shaman Festival, Monlam Great Prayer Festival, Wutu Festival, Archery competation in Gyantsa, Rongwo Gomchen monastery’s monks Mask Dance.etc.

Shaman Festival: Rebkong is one of the few places in Tibet where shamanic practice is preserved. Every summer, several villages in Rebkong perform Shaman rituals. The date of Shaman festival falls in summer either July or August.

Great Prayer Monlam Festival: This is the largest religious festival in Tibet. Monasteries in Rebkong including Rongwo Monastery, Sanggayshung / Wutun Si, Nyantok monastery, Gomar Monastery.etc. are performing rituals including Monks Cham Mask Dance, Prayer Festival, Buddhist Philosophical debating, Torma ritual, Shambalingkor / Maitreya circumambulation.etc. This festival holds right after new year.

Wutu Festival: It is an ancient Tibetan religious ritual of ransom offering, probably Bon religion of Tibet, and it only exists in Nyantok Village of Rebkong. It refers to obstruction of misfortune or ransom ritual. It celebrates on the 20^th of 10^th month of Chinese calendar every year.  

Rebkong or Huangnan Tibetan Prefecture is one the major Tibetan town in Amdo both economically and politically.  Rebkong has a diverse population of  Tibetans, Chinese and Hui. Among these ethnic groups, Tibetan population takes about 70% of whole region. The distance from Rebkong to Tsekog (nomadic region) is around 100km, to Gyantsa county is 65km, to Zogdzong Mongolian Tibetan town is 150km, to Labrang is 110km.

From Xining to Rebkong / Tongren, there is hourly bus run in the Bayi Bus Station（八一汽车站）. There are also private taxi at the Huangan Binguan Hotel 黄南宾馆 which cost 60Y per person.