Rutog Rock Art Site 日土岩画开放展示点

About Rutog Rock Art Site

The department's account has the rock art taking animals as its vehicle and reflecting the production and life of nomads. The sites lie at elevations between 4,300 and 4,800 metres, mostly on valley sides, on slopes, on alluvial fans at the mouths of gullies and on lakeside piedmont belts, on open ground near water. Man-made chipped stone tools and stone-mound burials at the sites hint at the date of the carvings, which the department says may go back as far as prehistoric times. Its early subjects are mainly animals, human figures, plants, deities and the sun and moon, while later ones include stupas and the six-syllable mantra. The department names the Rurilangka, Takangba and Renmudong groups in Rutog County as very rich in content, with tigers, yaks, hunters, the sun, knives and swords and plants among the figures; it prints the third name as 仁姆栋, a spelling that differs from 任姆栋 used elsewhere.

Individual panels are being brought under local protection. In March 2026 the Rutog County Culture and Tourism Bureau put out for public comment a proposed third batch of 88 county-level protected cultural relics units drawn up after a survey, open to objection over seven working days from 10 to 17 March. The proposed list begins with two rock art entries, the Chaliejibu rock art at Aru village and the Bandanreou rock art at Dongru village, both in Dongru Township, both categorised as cave temples and stone carvings and both dated to the Xia, Shang and Zhou including the Spring and Autumn period. The remaining entries are on the notice but are not quoted here, and the notice is a proposal open to objection rather than a completed listing.

The catalogue calls this record an open display point for the Rutog rock art. No cited source designates one, names one, or says which panels may be visited or how; the notice and the resources page each state a protection or research interest and neither addresses display. Nothing about access or opening is claimed here.

What to look for

• The Rurilangka, Takangba and Renmudong groups, which the department names as the richest in content among Rutog's rock art
• The figures the department lists in them: tigers, yaks, hunters, the sun, knives and swords, and plants
• The later carvings, in which stupas and the six-syllable mantra appear alongside the earlier animal and human figures
• The settings in which the panels are found — valley sides, slopes, alluvial fans at gully mouths and lakeside piedmont belts, between 4,300 and 4,800 metres
• The chipped stone tools and stone-mound burials at the sites, which the department treats as a hint to the carvings' date

Location & getting there

Getting to Rutog Rock Art Site

Check which interiors and courtyards are accessible. Active places of worship and protected monuments may have different visitor rules.

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