|
|
|
LABRANG: A Tibetan Buddhist Monastery at the Crossroads of Four Civilizationsby Paul Kocot Nietupski, photos from the Griebenow Archives, 1921-1949Labrang Monastery, located in northeast Tibet at the strategic intersection of four major Asian civilizations--Tibetan, Mongolian, Chinese, and Muslim--was one of the largest Buddhist monastic universities. In the early twentieth century, it housed several thousand monks. Labrang was also a gathering point for numerous annual religious festivals, supported an active regional marketplace where Chinese artisans rubbed shoulders with Hui merchants and nomadic Tibetan highlanders, 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. Paul Nietupski draws on the photographs and memoirs of Marion and Blance Griebenow, Christian missionaries resident for nearly twenty-seven years, as well as the memoirs of Apa Alo, a prominent leader, to detail Labrang's unique and colorful border culture. "Nietupski's publication of the Griebenow photographs, together with his excellent documentation of them, provides a wonderful introduction to this exquisite monastery, as well as to its people and environs."--Glenn H. Mullin for The Quest "... it is a very interesting book to read, with fascinating images and insightful comments."--The Tibet Journal 1559390905 | |
-
COMPLETE CATALOG
- What's New
- Other Items