Tholing
Tholing
མཐོ་ལིང་གྲོང་བརྡལ 托林镇 Zanda | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates: 31°29′03″N 79°48′02″E / 31.48417°N 79.80056°E | |
| Country | China |
| Region | Tibet Autonomous Region |
| Prefecture | Ngari |
| County | Zanda |
| Area | |
• Total | 0.3 km2 (0.1 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 3,723 m (12,215 ft) |
| Population | |
• Total | 600 |
| • Density | 2,000/km2 (5,000/sq mi) |
| • Major Nationalities | Tibetan |
| • Regional dialect | Tibetan language |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard) |
| Postal code | 859600 |
| Area code | 0897 |
Tholing (Tibetan: མཐོ་ལྡིང་, Wylie: mtho lding, literally "high place";Chinese: 托林; pinyin: Tuōlín), also called Zanda (Tibetan: རྩ་མདའ, Wylie: rtsa mda, THL: tsa da), is a town and the seat of Zanda County, Ngari Prefecture, in the west of Tibet Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. The town was the former capital of Guge Kingdom in western Tibet. Now it is an isolated military town. It has a well laid out new street, a post office, and telecommunication facilities. The Tholing Monastery, established in 997 AD, is in the suburbs of the town, in the Grand canyon of the Langchen Tsangpo. Historically, it was an important monastery; the second dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet emanated from it.