Starting off from Lanzhou and going west along the Hexi Corridor, one first reaches Wuwei, a famous historical and cultural city in Gansu Province. Wuwei, called Liangzhou in ancient times, occupies an important position on the Silk Road. In fact, it is the important political, economic and cultural center in Northwest China. Some 1,600 years ago the state power of four dynasties once made it their capital. Even today, it remains a city with many well-known historical sites and abundant cultural relics.

In Liangzhou, there are grottoes of Buddha that originated from Tianti Mountain, and other unique relics such as the Western Xia Monument, King Gaochang Monument, Tomb of Princess Honghua... Among all these numerous historical remains, however, the fanciest is the recently consecrated White Dagoba Monastery.

This was a Tibetan Buddhism monastery constructed in the Yuan Dynasty. It was also known as Huanhua Monastery, and is located at Liujiatai of Wunan Town 20 km away southeast of Liangzhou.

Legend has it that there were once 99 small towers surrounding a large tower, so it was also called the 100-Dagoba Monastery. Some 700 years ago, it was here that Mongol Prince Gotan and Sapan Gonggar Gyaincain from Tibet met and negotiated the conditions for Tibet to pledge allegiance to the Mongol Kharnate. Gonggar Gyaincain also sent out to Tibetan monks and lamas the well-known Sapan¡¯s Letter to the Tubo People advising them to be loyal to the Yuan Dynasty. It was from this time that Tibet became united with the Central Government and thus part of China.

Historical Meeting

In the 9th century, after the collapse of the Tubo Kingdom, Tibet entered a separatist period. Local feudal powers were connected with various newly grown religious sects and dominated specific areas that they defended in endless battles with each other. At that time, the military chief of the Mongol Kharnate, Timozin, also known as Genghis Khan, was starting to unite China by force.

Early in the 13th century, he conquered Western Xia and thus came to dominate the Tsaidam region in Qinghai.


In 1229, Genghis Khan's third son Wogotan succeeded became the Khan, and placed the Tibetan-Inhabited areas of Western Xia, Gansu and Qinghai under the administration of his second son Gotan. Gotan did not succeed to the crown as Khan, but he did effectively guard Liangzhou and became the captain of the Mongolian Western Road Army, being given the title of Prince of Xiliang. In order to unite the border areas in southwest, he ordered his senior general, Dota Napo, to lead his troops into Tibet as far as the Razheng Monastery.

Along the way, Dota Napo did not hurt Tibetan monks or the common people who submitted voluntarily, and let their leaders continue to manage their areas as before. He also ascertained the social and religious situations in the Tibetan-inhabited areas, and tried to find eminent monks with sufficient knowledge to spread and develop Buddhism in the Mongol Kharnate's vast domain. When he found that, in Tibet, local religious and secular powers had set up separatist regimes, he reported to Gotan saying: In the U-Tsang district, the Gedain Sect has the most monasteries; the Dalung Gagyu Sect's Prince of Dharma has the best moral character; the Zhigung Gagyu Sect's Master Chinwo has the strongest supernatural powers; the Sagya Sect, originating from the Xigaze area, has the highest fame and knowledge. Gotan accepted Dota Napo's advice and decided to invite the powerful Sagya Sect's master Gonggar Gyaincain to Liangzhou to teach Buddhism and negotiate the arrangements for Tibet's submission.

Gonggar Gyaincain (1182-1251) had profound knowledge and an outstanding reputation. In the U-Tsang, all common people addressed him respectfully Sagya Pandit (Sapan for short), with the meaning of "great scholar" in the Sagya Sect. After receiving the invitation from Gotan via a special envoy, Sapan decided to go to Liangzhou personally to meet the Prince of the Mongol Kharnate. In August 1244, Sapan sent Pagba, then aged 10, and Chana Dorje, aged six, to start off at first, and he then started off from Lhasa after consulting with all the local powers regarding the act of submission to the Mongol Kharnate.

Sapan was 63 years old at that time. After a difficult journey lasting two years, he arrived at Liangzhou in August 1246. At that time, Prince Gotan was attending an important ceremony elsewhere and could not meet with him. Sapan made use of the spare time to spread Buddhism and took the initiative to send medicines and treat the common people of various ethnic groups, becoming well known in the process. It was good for him to meet and consult with Gotan.


In 1247, Gotan returned to Liangzhou and invited Sapan to the White Dagoba Monastery to discuss the conditions for Tibet to submit to the Mongol Kharnate, including the payment of tribute and taxes and the arrangements for appointing officers and running the administration, etc. Sapan thought that, if Tibet went over to the Mongol Kharnate like the Western Xia, Weiwur and various tribes in Gansu and Qinghai had done, it would bring about benefits and long-lasting happiness to the monks and common people in Tibet. So, he wrote an open letter to all the monks and common people in Tibet, telling them that Tibet had become a possession of the Mongol Kharnate, and Prince Gotan had assigned the Sagya Sect and its envoys to exercise joint management over Tibet. Anyone willing to pledge allegiance could remain in his former position; but, anyone who declined to pledge allegiance would be the target when the Mongol troops arrived. All schemes designed by the Kharnate for Tibet including assigning officers and paying taxes were explained in this letter. These schemes laid a foundation for the central government of the Yuan Dynasty to manage Tibet in the days to come.

Gotan admired Sapan's foresight and wide views, as well as his way of taking the interests of all into account, and received him with superior courtesy and admiration. With the great help of Gotan and officers, monks and common people in Liangzhou, Sapan made a careful plan according to the Buddhist creation theory on earth and heaven, and rebuilt and enlarged four Buddhist monasteries surrounding Luoshi, Qingying and Dayun monasteries as the center symbolizing Mt. Sumeru in Liangzhou. The four monasteries included the Huanhua Monastery in the east, the Lotus Monastery in the west, the Guanding Monastery in the south and the Haizang Monastery in the north. Among them, the Huanhua Monastery (that is the White Dagoba Monastery) is the largest.

Resplendence of White Dagoba Monastery

Every day, pious men and women came to the White Dagoba Monastery to worship Buddha endlessly. According to archaeological finds and field surveys in recent years, this monastery became a very grand Buddhist city in the region after being expanded and rebuilt by Sapan. It occupies an area of 184,800 square meters. On the four sides, there are wide and deep wall four meters wide and eight meters high. There are four city gates in the wall as well as eight beacon towers. The monastery is located in the west of the city facing south. In the hall, the eaves are colorful and richly ornamented. There are many figures of Buddha in various postures that are most vivid. The surrounding wall inside the hall is covered with wonderful mural pictures extolling nature. In the city, there are official mansions, monks lodging houses, shops, opera towers and other attached buildings. Before the monastery are some pine trees and 108 towers surrounded by small towers in various shapes. Sapan lived there surrounded by the numerous white towers. At the time Sapan died and Pagba presided over the monastery, there were more than 10,000 monks in residence.

After staying for more than five years at the White Dagoba Monastery, Sapan died in the early morning of the 14th day of the 11th lunar month in 1251 at the age of 70. Prince Gotan deeply regretted the death of this master and held grand mourning activities for him. They used purple and white sandalwood to cremate his body, and built a white tower house the bones and soul. The tower has seven stories and is 49 meters high with a circumference of 63 meters. Most of his bones and Buddhist relics are preserved there, although some were sent to the Xigaze area as an offering to the Sagya Sect. After the construction of Holy Stupa, the 5th Master of Sagya Pagba conducted the Buddhist ceremony by himself.


The Holy Stupa is a symbol to recall the memory of Sapan. People of Liangzhou do not forget to respect this grand man and often come to worship. Pagba inherited Sapan¡¯s legacy and continued to preside over the monastery. It is said that he lived in Liangzhou for nine more years.

The White Dagoba Monastery passed the splendid period of the Yuan Dynasty and was destroyed during fighting at the end of the dynasty. It was rebuilt twice: in 1430, during the Ming Dynasty, and in 1675, during the Qing Dynasty. In 1927, an earthquake of 7.75 magnitude occurred in Liangzhou and the White Dagoba Monastery experienced another major destruction. On the deserted spot only the foundations seven meters high of the Holy Stupa and a monument of ¡°On Rebuilding White Dagoba¡± set up in the 21st year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty survived.

In recent years, a group of valuable cultural relics have been unearthed from the site. They include copper stoves, copper mirrors and copper tortoises produced in the Ming Dynasty, deity figures made of black pottery, small earth towers and Buddha figures, and a great deal of paper money from the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. Among these numerous cultural relics, a remarkable thing is finding and confirming of a figure of Sapan with a copper head and iron body; it is 122 cm high and 60 cm wide on the shoulders. The figure wore Buddhist cap and robe and sat with folded legs, thus depicting the situation when Sapan sat in mediation and taught Buddhism in Liangzhou. According to research, this figure was made not long after the death of Sapan. From the ruins of Sapan Holy Stupa, two monuments of the Ming Dynasty were unearthed. On one monument there are Chinese words on one side and Tibetan words on the other. The head is round and it is 50 cm high, 29 cm wide and 10 cm deep. The other monument is 42.5 cm high, 29 wide and 10 cm deep. The words on the two monuments are rare materials for researching the history of the White Dagoba Monastery and are protected carefully by the local government. Their duplicates have been sent to the exhibition hall of the ruins of the White Dagoba Monastery.

New Face of White Dagoba Monastery


After the great changes over 750 years, the White Dagoba Monastery has undergone a new and favorable turn. A great number of people urged the government to rebuild the White Dagoba Monastery and repair the Sapan Holy Stupa. The voice of common people aroused the attention from leaders of the Central Government and some relevant departments. With their help, since the 1990s, governments of all levels in Liangzhou district have organized manpower to explore the precise location and scope of the dagoba and prepared relevant information. In 2000, the repairing project became a project for protecting an important national cultural relic. After four years of work, 100 newly built white towers stand up and the distribution of the towers is in accordance with Tibetan Tantric art style. At points 30 meters away from the four corners of the foundations of the Sapan Holy Stupa, four Sagya masters¡¯ Buddha towers were built at height of some 19 meters. Other small towers surround it at heights of 5 meters, 7 meters, 9 meters, and 11 meters respectively. There are five 5-meter high towers, and thirty 7-meter, 9-meter and 11-meter high towers respectively. They constitute a forest of white towers.

On August 24, 2004 the ceremony for celebrating the conclusion of the first repair project of the ruins of the White Dagoba Monastery was held in Liangzhou. There was a deafening sound of the beating of gongs and drums and many colorful flags fluttered in the air. Guests and people of various ethnic groups from all directions came to attend this ceremony. They celebrated joyfully, and visited and looked with reverence at the sights. People saw many exquisite cultural relics in the exhibition hall of the ruins, and appreciated the changing history of the White Dagoba Monastery as well as the courageous and resolute action of Gotan and Sapan, the two historical personages, working for the unity of the motherland.

China's Tibet Magazine
Soi Wenqen