Facing such a huge wealth of artistic relics, people never stopped wondering how such a powerful state came to its demise almost overnight. What happened to her? Was it a sudden accident, or an inevitable event? You can get a glimpse of Guge through your Tibet tour.
Some believe the Guge had something in common with the Maya in ancient Mexico and Guatemala and Pompeii in ancient Italy, all highly developed civilizations that inexplicably fell.
While religious enthusiasm prompted the birth and growth of Guge, religious strife brought it down. Conflict between the last Guge king and the upper-class monks, headed by the king's brother, arose and became hot when the latter grew powerful. It was said that Buddhist followers could be seen everywhere in Guge at that time. The last Guge king was worried that his kingship would be threatened if the monks grew more powerful. The idea came to him that Buddhism must be degraded.
So when, in 1624, P. Antonio de Andrade, a Portuguese missionary, reached Zhaburang, capital of the Guge, via northern India, the king took advantage of the opportunity and tried to establish Catholicism as a new religious weapon against the Buddhist monks. A church was built, and the king himself converted. He took the offensive, forcing lots of monks to be secularized and even exiled. There was a devastating insurgence from the monks. The neighboring rival state Ldakah saw an opportunity and collaborated with the monks to overthrow the rule of the Guge king. It turned out to be a long and bloody war.
The fortifications of Guge were carefully designed and distributed. Besides tactically located forts and walls, there was a network of secret underground tunnels that had been of great help in resisting previous invasions.
A story was passed down from generation to generation that tells how Guge was defeated by the allied forces of rebellious monks and Ldakah invaders. At the beginning of the war, the invaders captured some Guge citizens. But because the Guge castle was so heavily fortified and kept the attackers from moving up to the top where the royal family lived, the Ldakah invaders came up with an idea. They drove the captured Guge people to the front of the war, and had them build a huge, stone wall from the foot of the hill to the top. They could move upward under the protection of the wall, and those working on the wall would serve as a human shield. The Guge king was confronted with a dilemma: if he ordered an attack, his people would be killed. If not, the wall would reach the hilltop and the royal family would be captured, indicating the fall of the kingdom.
In the end, the king agreed to surrender on the condition that the enemy should spare his people. However when the Guge soldiers unarmed themselves the Ldakah army slaughtered them. Today, there's a cave crammed with skeletons near the Guge castle. It's believed to be a testament to the brutality of the war. It's strange that no skulls have been found there, but there was some braided hair. Some bodies were wrapped with robes. However, it is also thought to be a special funeral because some skeletons of young females were found in the cave. These skeletons make tourist think what happen to them if they join China vacation packages.
Where are the Guge descendants?
Was it possible that nobody from Guge survived the war? Where have the descendants of the Guge gone? There are only a few houses near the Guge ruins, and the people there are not descendants of the Guge.
It is rumored that over 200 Guge were lucky enough to successfully flee through a secret tunnel within the Guge castle to escape the war, settling in today's Qulong town, waiting for a time to get revenge. It was said that a ceremony was held on the road to Qulong. Each of the survivors threw a stone towards a set place, in memory of their lost home and wishing for good luck in the future.
Tips for Tourists
Location: The ruins of the Guge Kingdom are in Zanda County in southern Ngari Prefecture, which borders India to its south. Zanda is 1,500 kilometers from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, 200 kilometers from Shiquanhe Town in the prefecture capital Gar County, and 1,200 kilometers from Yecheng in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Transportation: There are two routes to Guge city. One is from Yecheng in Xinjiang to Zanda via Shiquanhe Town. The other is from Lhasa to Xigaze, then to Zanda. Taxis from Lhasa to Ngari charge RMB 4/5 per kilometer, and hiring a vehicle and driver costs RMB 12,000 to 14,000 plus the driver's accommodation. A chartered vehicle is needed for the trip from the Zanda County seat to the Guge ruins 18 kilometers west.
Frontier Visitor's Permit: A visitor's permit is required for travel to Zanda. Prospective visitors fill in the appropriate forms at the local police station, and receive the permit, free of charge, the same day.
If you want to get more information about Guge and its ruins, you can contact with local China tour operator.
No comments:
Post a Comment