Yangbajing Hot Springs 羊八井温泉

About Yangbajing Hot Springs

Yangbajing Hot Springs is the Yangbajing geothermal field in Damxung County, Tibet — named for Yangbajing Monastery, Tibetan for 'a broad place' — site of mainland China's first megawatt-class geothermal power station, and a Tang-dynasty text describes the area's erupting hot springs.

Yangbajing's flat geothermal field lies at 4,300 m elevation in a basin the Zangbuqu river flows through, on the site of a former post station on the ancient salt-caravan route out of northern Tibet. A Tang-dynasty text, 'Fayuan Zhulin, Wang Xuance Xingzhuan', is quoted describing a spring erupting from flat ground southwest of Tubo, water shooting up five or six chi, hot enough to cook meat, with vapour rising like mist — identified by the source as a description of the site's erupting hot-water wells. In 1974 the state designated geothermal development at Yangbajing a key science-and-technology priority, and in 1976 mainland China's first megawatt-class geothermal power generating unit began operating there. The 'Blue Paradise' geothermal tourism project, covering about 600 mu, was built to reuse waste heat and steam left over from power generation, with open-air soaking pools, surf pools and an artificial hot-spring river.

What to look for

• the erupting hot-water wells and steam vents across the geothermal field
• the 'Blue Paradise' project's pools, built to reuse waste heat from the power station

Location & getting there

Getting to Yangbajing Hot Springs

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