Huzhu County

Huzhu County is home for Tu ethnic group, Gonlung Monastery or Youningsi and Huzhu Beishan Forest Park

Huzhu Tu Autonomous County lies 45km east of Xining in Qinghai province. The majority population of this county is ethnic group called Tu. Huzhu county is the only Tu Autonomous County in entire China.

Tu Ethnic Group

There are small populations of Tu minority in other provinces like Gnasu, but mainly settles in Qinghai. And they are well known for its traditional arts, folk festivals and colorful dresses. Each minority has their symbol that represents their identity like traditional custom and dress, so does Tu. Tu people speak their own Tu language, though it is a non-literate language. Tu people wear a traditional Tu dress which is made of clothes of five different colors - red, yellow, blue, green and white. Therefore, Huzhu is also called the Land of Rainbow. Huzhu is also famous for producing liquor which is made of local barley and it has history of 300 years or more.

Huzhu Beishan National Forest

Huzhu Beishan Park lies in northeast of Huzhu county in Qinghai Province with neighboring with Tianzhu county in Gansu Province with 1127 square kilometer in the area, 64.3% covered by forest.

There is no bus direct from Xining to Huzhu Beishan park, you need to hire a car in Xining. Xining to Huzhu Beishan Park is about 140km with 3 hours driving time. It’s an ideal place for nature and hiking lovers. Once you arrive at the park, there are numerous routes which can get you the natural beauty including Water, Forests, mountains, small rivers and streams. There is a nice wooden made guest house inside the park. So if you want to explore the park whole day, this is a ideal place for spend the night.

Gonlung Jampaling Monastery

Gonlung Jampaling Monastery, also called You Ning Si in Chinese, was founded in 1604, it’s a Tibetan Buddhist monastery of Gelug tradition. lies against rocky mountain about 23km southeast of Huzhu county and 65km northeast of Xining city. This beautiful Tibetan Buddhist monastery is revered as a place where the 3^rd and 4^th Dalai Lamas stopped over on their way to Lhasa. However, it was rarely known to tourists.

There are several famous Meditation caves in this place including Indian Master Atisha, Karmapa as well as some other famous divs in Tibetan Buddhism. The highest cave has some bless water dropping from the cave cliffs which considered the nectar of this mediation cave. Local people even collect it in the bottles to bring home. If you are looking for a authentic monastery in Amdo, Gunlong Monastery could be one of them.