Get to know Danba County
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- Administrative area
- County · 县
- Part of
- Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
- Chinese name
- 丹巴县
- Local areas
- County guide
Area & population
- Area in the source
- 4,656.00 km²
- Population · 2020
- 49,872
- Administrative seat
- Chaggo
Source: cited geographic source, as of the dates shown.
Setting and landscape
The county town stands at about 1,800 m. People's Daily Sichuan notes Danba's nicknames, the "first town on the Dadu River" (大渡河第一城) and the "Valley of Beauties" (美人谷), and describes rural roads winding from the foot of the mountains to the upper slopes.
What to see
Chinese Wikipedia describes Danba as having the densest concentration of old stone watchtowers in China; it is called the "ancient kingdom of a thousand towers" (千碉古国). There are 562 surviving towers, built of stone and timber, narrowing towards the top, with windows narrow outside and wide inside for defence. The best-known clusters are at Suopo (梭坡, 84 towers), Zhonglu (中路, 21) and Pujiaoding (浦角顶, 29). As the Danba ancient watchtower group (丹巴古碉群), dated from the Yuan to the Qing and covering 119 recorded sites including towers at Jiaju village and remains at Dangling village, they became a national key heritage site in 2006.
People's Daily Sichuan calls the Jiarong Tibetan villages of Jiaju (甲居) and Zhonglu destinations popular with visitors; a 40 km loop road runs around Jiaju. Dangling (党岭) and Mosika (莫斯卡) are key scenic areas in mixed farming and herding country far from the county town, now linked to it by 143 km of paved road.
History
At Han'eyi village (罕额依村) in Zhonglu, a Neolithic cultural site and a Han-dynasty cemetery of stone-slab coffin burials were listed together as a national key heritage site in 2013, after provincial listing in 1996.
Getting oriented
National roads 248 and 350 pass through the county.
Highlights
- Suopo watchtowers 梭坡古碉楼群: 84 towers, one of Danba's three best-known watchtower clusters.
- Jiaju Tibetan Village 甲居藏寨: Jiarong Tibetan village with a 40 km loop road; its towers are part of the national heritage listing.
- Zhonglu Tibetan Village 中路藏寨: Jiarong Tibetan village with 21 old watchtowers and the Han'eyi prehistoric site.
- Dangling 党岭: Key scenic area in mixed farming and herding country far from the county town.
- Han'eyi site and Han stone-coffin tombs 罕额依新石器时代文化遗址和汉代石棺葬墓群: National key heritage site since 2013.
Sources for this guide
丹巴县 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
丹巴县古碉群 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
四川藏区丹巴县：高山峡谷间遍布“希望天梯” · People's Daily Online (Sichuan)
罕额依新石器时代文化遗址和汉代石棺葬墓群 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-25.
Explore Danba County
Core places to explore, with English and Chinese names.
Places to explore around Danba County
Zhonglu Tibetan Village amid farmland and forested mountains in Danba County, Garzê Prefecture · 四川甘孜州丹巴县中路藏寨田野与山峦 Source-recorded photograph date: 19 October 2025 (according to Exif data).Zhonglu Tibetan Village中路藏寨
Zhonglu’s appeal is the pattern of terraced fields, clustered Tibetan houses and older watchtowers beneath the Muerduo mountain landscape. The buildings occupy different heights on the slope, so a village-lane view and a wider…
Read the place guide →
Suopo Watchtowers · 梭坡碉楼Suopo Watchtowers梭坡碉楼
The Suopo watchtowers are a concentration of Jiarong Tibetan stone towers in Suopo, on the left bank of the Dadu river in Danba County, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, and they belong to the Danba Ancient Watchtower Group listed in 2006 in the sixth batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level.
Read the place guide →
Tibetan stone watchtower houses of Jiaju Tibetan Village on a forested hillside, Danba County · 丹巴县甲居藏寨，山坡林间的藏式碉楼民居 Source-recorded photograph date: 4 June 2010 (original upload date).Jiaju Tibetan Village甲居藏寨
Jiaju is a Jiarong Tibetan village in Jiaju villages one, two and three, in Jiaju town, Danba County, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, about 8 km from the county town, whose houses rise in tiers from the Dajinchuan valley to the foot of the Kapama peaks.
Read the place guide →
Dangling Scenic Area · 党岭Dangling Scenic Area党岭
Dangling is a snow-mountain area about 68 km north-west of the Danba county town, in Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, lying across the boundary between Danba and Daofu counties, with Dangling village at its foot in Dandong town.
Read the place guide →Plan your visit
Getting there
Danba County is about 100 km in a straight line from central Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Search for 丹巴县 in a map app to find stations and your accommodation.
Where to stay →Build your route
Zhonglu Tibetan Village and Suopo Watchtowers are both listed here. The linked place guides have entrance and visit details.
Continue with Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture →More in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Sources & geographic information
Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.
Some facts checked against 丹巴县 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Some facts checked against 丹巴县古碉群 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Some facts checked against 罕额依新石器时代文化遗址和汉代石棺葬墓群 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: Zhonglu Tibetan Village · Marym1718 · CC BY 4.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
Photo: Suopo Watchtowers · Source photographer · License not provided. EXIF orientation normalized; resized without changing aspect ratio; converted to WebP. No subject edits.
Photo: Jiaju Tibetan Village · 爵士鼓手 · CC BY 3.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
Photo: Dangling Scenic Area · rduta on Flickr · CC BY 2.0. EXIF orientation normalized; resized without changing aspect ratio; converted to WebP. No subject edits.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins mark approximate centres, not entrances or boundaries.