Labuleng, China

History

The monastery was founded in 1709 by the first Jamyang Zhépa, Ngawang Tsöndrü. It is one of Tibetan Buddhism's most important monastery towns outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Labrang Monastery is situated at the strategic intersection of two major Asian cultures—Tibetan and Mongolian — and was one of the largest Buddhist monastic universities. In the early 20th century, it housed several thousand monks. Labrang was also a gathering point for numerous annual religious festivals and was the seat of a Tibetan power base that strove to maintain regional autonomy through the shifting alliances and bloody conflicts that took place between 1700 and 1950.

In April 1985 the Assembly Hall burned down. It was replaced and the new building was consecrated in 1990.

In October 2025, Chinese authorities carried out a four-day raid focusing on the Monastery and surrounding Tibetan villages. The operation included door-to-door searches and the seizure of numerous Dalai Lama photographs, which were considered illegal under local and central regulations. Residents were pressured to hand over these images, and communications were cut off from October 19, restricting information about the raid's consequences.

From the History section of Labrang Monastery on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.