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Shigatse Overview
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- Sep 18, 2009;
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Tibet’s second city Shigatse has had an important place in Tibetan history. Mount Everest’s North Base Camp is located in Tingri County, Shigatse Prefecture at an altitude of 5200 meters.
Located in the alluvial plain at the confluence of the Brahmaputra and the Nianchu River, Shigatse is 273 kilometers west of Lhasa. At an elevation of 3,800 meters, with an area of 3,875 square kilometers and population of 820,000, it is the second biggest city in Tibet. It is an ancient city with a history of 600 years. It is named Shigatse in Tibetan and Rigaze in Chinese, originally meaning ‘a manor of the most fertile soil’.
In the middle of the 13th Century AD, the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) set up 130,000 households in Tibet and the region which now constitutes Shigatse came under the jurisdiction of the Lord of Xialu. In the early 14th Century, Great Situ (minister of education in ancient china), built the Pazhu Dynasty to replace the Sajia Dynasty, moving the political center in the lower reaches of the Nianchu River from Xialu to Shigatse.
Shantarakshita, a famous monk from India, went to Tibet to build Samye Monastery in Shannan Prefecture at the invitation of the King Trisong Detsen of Tibet in about 775 AD. He passed through Shigatse where he preached and spread Buddhism. The monk predicted the centers of power in Tibet would be set up in Lhasa and Shigatse. In the middle of the 15th century, Gendun Drup, the first Dalai Lama, directed the building of Tashilhunpo Monastery at the foothills of Nima Mountain, laying a solid foundation for the future development of the city. Tashilhunpo Monastery is the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas. The ancient buildings of the monastery maintain the Tibetan style and have also absorbed some Han architectural features.
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