Daofu County 道孚县

Setting and landscape

The county sits on the northern part of the Daxue Mountains (大雪山), which split its rivers in two: the Shachong (沙冲河) and Yuqu (玉曲河) run north-east to the Dadu River (大渡河), while the Xianshui (鲜水河) and others flow south-east into the Yalong (雅砻江). The highest point is Haizi Shan (海子山), better known as the sacred mountain Yala (垭拉神山), at 5,820 metres; the lowest valley floor in the south is at 2,670 metres.

In the north, the Yuke grassland (玉科大草原) covers 1,846 square kilometres of flat and sloping pasture broken by forest. Herders take their animals to high pastures in summer; the valley meadows are for winter. The county government lists four hot springs in the area, with water between 29 and 80 °C.

History

The old name Daowu (道坞) means "foal" in Tibetan. A Daowu county was set up in 1912 and renamed Daofu in 1913. In 1936 the Red Army passed through on the Long March and set up a Bopa (博巴) government here. The county joined Sichuan's Garzê prefecture in 1955, and an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 struck on 24 January 1981.

After the Dzungars invaded Tibet in 1729, the Qing court paid 400,000 taels of silver to build Huiyuan Temple (惠远寺) as a safe residence for the Seventh Dalai Lama, Kelsang Gyatso (格桑嘉措), who moved in in 1730. Emperor Yongzheng named it and wrote its board, and the Dalai Lama returned to Tibet after the Dzungars sued for peace in 1734.

What to see

Huiyuan Temple stands at 3,600 metres in a small mountain basin 8 kilometres from Bamei (八美) on the road towards Danba (丹巴). Stone tablets of 1735 and 1865 beside the halls record its building, and the Dugang building (都纲楼), put up in 1733 as the Dalai Lama's quarters after repeated earthquakes, sits in a garden to the west of the main hall.

Moshi Park (墨石公园), a 4A scenic area near Bamei, covers 5 square kilometres at about 3,500 metres. Its dark rock formations run along the Xianshui River fault zone. Chinese Wikipedia describes the Bamei stone forest (八美石林) in the same town as a rare mylonite stone forest of dark, pointed outcrops, unlike the karst stone forests of southern China. The county also lists Yala mountain and Muya Gada (木雅噶达) among its 4A scenic areas.

Daofu houses are large timber buildings of the "bengke" (崩科) type. The county government notes that they are known as "the first Tibetan house of Kham" and credits their design with earthquake resistance.

Highlights

• Huiyuan Temple 惠远寺: Built with Qing court funds after 1729 as the residence of the Seventh Dalai Lama.
• Moshi Park 墨石公园: 4A scenic area of dark rock formations along the Xianshui River fault zone near Bamei.
• Yuke grassland 玉科大草原: A 1,846-square-kilometre grassland in the north of the county, with hot springs.
• Yala sacred mountain 垭拉神山: The county's highest peak at 5,820 metres; a 4A scenic area.