Guoguotang Great Bend 果果塘大拐弯

About Guoguotang Great Bend

The Motuo county government places the Guoguotang scenic area in Dexing township and states that in December 2023 it was successfully created as a national 4A-grade tourist scenic area. Its own news report dates that decision to an announcement of 24 December by the regional Department of Tourism Development, under which nine scenic areas in the region were formally rated national 4A-grade, the assessment having been made by the Tibet Autonomous Region Committee for Quality Assessment of Tourism Planning and Resource Development after preliminary assessment and recommendation by prefecture and city tourism departments, and applying the national standards for grading tourist attractions. A People's Daily Online photograph of 28 July 2025, credited to Zhang Yuanming, locates the bend more precisely at Dexing village in Dexing township.

The setting is the canyon. In a 2023 feature credited to the Motuo County Bureau of Culture and Tourism and carried by the Nyingchi municipal tourism development bureau, the Yarlung Zangbo cuts through the Himalaya at Motuo to form the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, which the bureau calls the deepest and most mysterious canyon in the world; warm moist air from the Indian Ocean travels up it, which the bureau gives as what makes Motuo the lowest, mildest, wettest and most ecologically intact place on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Motuo itself it describes as tropical jungle set into the snowbound plateau. A photograph caption on the same page identifies the Guoguotang bend as formed by the Yarlung Zangbo here.

The bend had a burst of attention in 2025. When Tibet appeared as a branch venue of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala for the first time, with a 90-second promotional film covering its seven cities and prefectures, the county records that Guoguotang — which it calls the only tropical evergreen broadleaf forest scenic area in Tibet — stood for Nyingchi's theme colour green and was the only Nyingchi location filmed. It reports that on 30 January alone 2,323 visitors entered Motuo by the Zhamo highway and that several hotels in the county town were full that day. No cited institutional source explains the name 果果塘, gives the bend's radius or length, or describes a named viewpoint over it; the popular explanations of the name circulate only on commercial travel sites, which this record does not use.

What to look for

• The 180-degree turn of the Yarlung Zangbo itself, which the county government says is what makes the place nationally known
• The forest of the scenic area, which the Motuo county government calls the only tropical evergreen broadleaf forest scenic area in Tibet
• The canyon setting — at Motuo, in the county culture and tourism bureau's account, the Yarlung Zangbo cuts through the Himalaya to form the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon

Location & getting there

Getting to Guoguotang Great Bend

Confirm the visitor entrance and which boat or walking routes operate on your date. Rainfall, water levels and weather can change access.

• Search for 果果塘大拐弯 with 林芝市 and 墨脱县.