BEIJING, Aug. 3 -- The ruins of Guge are in what is
today Zhada County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. Guge is said to be the highest of
ancient kingdom located on the ridge of the Roof of the World, as Tibet is
called. Marching westwards to Guge from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, is a long
and hard journey that crosses a vast uninhabited desert.
Legend has it that in the first half of 20th century
the Tibetan government sent a soldier to Guge to collect taxes. However, a
couple of days later the soldier was back, frightened. All he could see there
was a world of sand. The government dropped the taxation plan.
However barren, desolate and inaccessible the land
might seem, the powerful Guge kingdom ruled over it for over 700 years from the
9th to 17th century. Altogether 16 kings ruled Guge. Yet, historical records
reveal little about its rise and sudden demise. It was instead from some letters
by western missionaries that people got to know more about the lost empire.
Ruins, the only visible legacy
Records show that Guge once made great religious and
economic achievements. However, its glory was reduced to pieces when the mighty
kingdom was involved in a fatal war in the 17th century. The invasion of the
neighboring state Ldakah, coupled with the domestic rebellion of Guge monks,
brought the kingdom to its knees.
The ruins are the only visible legacy Guge has left
behind.The ruins extend from the mid-ridge of a hill 300 meters high at its peak
and cover an area of 720,000 square meter. It is the second largest ruin in
Tibet, after the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Archaeologists have unearthed 445
earthen and wooden structures, 879 caves, 58 blockhouses (a kind of
fortification building), four secret tunnels, 28 stupas (traditional
pagoda-shaped Buddhist monuments), granaries and weaponry storehouses.
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