Rebkong /Tongren རེབ་ཀོང་།

Tongren known to Tibetans as Rebkong in the historic region of Amdo, is the capital and second smallest administrative subdivision by area within Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai province western China. Rebkong is the cultural heart of northern Amdo. The city has a number of Tibetan Buddhist temples and monasteries, including the large and significant Rongwo Monastery of the Gelug school. The region has a long history of strength in higher education, which started with the introduction of the Sakya traditions here in the thirteenth century, and continued with the transformation of the main monastery of Rongwo into a Gelukpa seat of higher learning. It is known as a center of thangka painting. Regkong have specialized for centuries in a vibrant thanka painting tradition that has been passed down within households to the present day.

The Tibetan inhabitants of this region are the descendants of generals and their armies who were sent from central Tibet during the imperial period. One of the communities in Rebkong called Gartse, claims they are descendants of Gar, minister of the king Songtsen Gampo. After the demise of the Tibetan empire, Rebkong was not under a single ruler until the centralized ruling institution called the Rongwo Nangso was established in the early 14th century.

Rongwo Monastery

Rongwo Tosam Namgyel Ling or also called Rongwo Gonchen monastery is the principal monastery of Rebkong, The original temple was founded in 1301 by the Sakya master Samten Rinchen who was the eldest son of Dodebum, the ruler of Rebkong. Originally a Sakya monastery, it was converted to the Geluk tradition in 1630 by Shar Kelden Gyatso. The complex currently has nine temples and around 600 monks headed by the important incarnated Lamas of Rongwo, The principal tulku is the eighth Rebkong Kyabgon. There are 35 branch monasteries, most of them are in Rebkong county. Rongwo Gonchen has four major colleges, including a meditation hermitage called Drundra Nechok Tashi Kyil. And the others were dialectical colleges known as Dratsang Tosam Namgyeling, which was founded by Shar Kalden Gyatsoin 1630, the tantric college known as Gyudra Sangchen Chokyi Bangzo, which was founded by the second Shartsang Ngawang Trinley Gyatso, and the Kalachakra college known as Dudra Sangak Dargyeling, which was founded in 1773 by the third Shartsang Gendun Trinley Rangye. Among the recently renovated buildings at Rongwo Gonchen, the great assembly hall is close to the main road just behind the Haryagriva hall. There two other significant temples near the assembly hall are Mipham Chokyi Podrang dedicated to Maitriya and the Dolma Lhakhang to green Tara. The monastic college is situated further to their right. To the south and slightly uphill from the great assembly hall is the Khardong Chapel, containing the reliquary stupa of the seventh Rongwo Kyabgon Shartsang. The renovated Kalachakra college lies behind it. Far to the right of the Kalachakra college is the Jampeyang Lhakhang with its distinctive roof, it contains an exquisitely fashioned clay image of Manjughosa, which exhibits all the best hallmarks of Rebkong clay sculpture. Above this temple is the Podrang or the residence of the present eighth Rongwo Kyabgon.