It is located 0.5km west of Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan AutonomousPrefecture. Its original name is Gadan Xiazhu bodaji suqibeilang, or zaxiqitemple for short. It is one of the six major temples of Gelug Sect (Huangjiao)of Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism) in China, and is generally called Labrang temple.Master Song Zhe was founded in 1709, the 48th year of Emperor Kangxi of QingDynasty. In the 53rd year of Kangxi reign (1714), the "lazhang" (JiamuyangBuddhist Palace) was established. The sound of "lazhang" changed to "Labrang",which means the highest living Buddha residence in the temple.
The temple is located in the north and south, covering a total area of866000 square meters, with a construction area of more than 400000 squaremeters. There are more than 90 main temples, including six colleges, 16 Buddhisttemples, 18 angqian (Great Living Buddha Palace), monk's house and lecturingaltar, Fayuan, Yinjing temple, pagoda, etc., forming a group of magnificentbuildings with Tibetan characteristics, with no less than 10000 houses.
The religious system of Labrang monastery is mainly composed of sixcolleges: Wensi, medicine, Shilun, Jigang, shangxubu and xiaxubu. Among themonasteries in the whole Mongolian and Tibetan areas, the system is the mostperfect. Wensi college is its center, also known as Dajing hall. It has hundredsof houses including front hall building, front courtyard, main hall and backhall, covering an area of more than 10 mu. It is a mixed structure of Tibetanstyle and ancient palace style, with gilt copper tiles, copper goats, Falun,Fanzhuang, Baoping and other decorations on the top. It focuses on the study ofthe five great theories written by Indian Buddhists (the theory ofinterpretation, the theory of Prajna, the theory of middle view, the theory ofgiving up and the theory of discipline).
All the Buddhist temples in the temple use local stone, wood, earth andfennel as building materials, and rarely use metal. The whole building is wideat the bottom and narrow at the top, which is similar to trapezoid shape. Thereis a saying that "no wood outside, no stone inside". According to theirdifferent functions and grades, the temples are painted with red, yellow, whiteand other soil pigments, the balcony eaves are hung with colored cloth curtain,and the top and wall of large and medium-sized buildings are covered with bronzegilded Falun, yin and Yang beast, Aquarius, Fanzhuang, Jinding and Xiongshi.Some of the halls also integrated and absorbed the architectural achievements ofthe Han people, adding palace style roofs, covered with gilt copper tiles orgreen glazed tiles.
There are more than 10000 national cultural relics and Buddhist works ofart in Labrang temple. In each hall, there are 16 giant Buddhas with bronze giltor sandalwood carvings more than 8 meters high. There are many kinds of mediumand small Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, pagodas, and Dharma implements. The temple alsohas the clothing and other daily necessities of Jiamuyang masters, as well asthe imperial edicts, seals, letters, large plaques, thousand Buddha tree, PearlTower, yuruyi, meteorite, haihaiya, etc.