Temple of Princess Wencheng

Princess Wencheng Temple, also called Shaka/ Saga Temple or Vairocana Temple, is located in Benagou Valley about 25 km to the southeast of Jiegu Zhen Town, Yushu County of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the southeast of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, the "Source of Three Rivers" in China, and about 838 km away fromXining, the provincial capital city. It was founded in the period of Tang Dynasty with a long history of over 1, 300 years, and is listed as a national cultural relics. Benagou Valley is wide with a clear stream running and the mountain ranges on both sides are endless with thick pine and cypress trees. The Tibetan-style Temple of Princess Wencheng stands against the cliff with golden roof shining in the quiet and peaceful valley, with inscriptions in Tibetan on the big rocks nearby. There is a monumental stele beside the gate, on which recorded the building history of Princess Wencheng Temple which has three tiers with 9.6 meters in height and more than 600 square meters including the courtyard in area. If you open the door of the Temple, you could see 9 carved Buddha images, among which the middle sitting relief of Vairocana Buddha on the lotus throne is as high as 8 meters with 4 vivid small reliefs standing on each side, as high as 3 meters each, in two levels. In addition, there are two large murals on both sidewalls, which described the touching scene that Princess Wencheng was warmly welcomed by Tibetan headsmen and masses when she passed by Benagou Valley, and other paintings as bamboo shoots, pomegranate, cotton, mirror and steamed bun on the opposite wall of the 9 reliefs, which represented Princess Wencheng imparting the skills of farming and weaving to local Tibetan people. The temple has both the artistic style of Tang Dynasty and Tibetan style featuring flat top structure.