Cultural centre · Historic city · Qinghai
Tongren (Rebgong)
同仁
Rebgong, the valley of thangka painters
Tongren, known in Tibetan as Rebgong, is a county-level city and the seat of the Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in eastern Qinghai. Its villages of monk and lay painters and sculptors are the home of the Regong arts, inscribed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2009, and its Rongwo Monastery is one of the major Gelug monasteries of Amdo.
Key facts
- Province
- Qinghai
- Administrative level
- County-level city (seat of Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture)
- Elevation (town)
- about 2,500 m
- UNESCO intangible heritage
- Regong arts (2009)[2]
Overview
The Rebgong valley of the Longwu River lies at about 2,500 m, a green farming valley between grassy mountains. Its population is mainly Tibetan, with Tu, Hui and Han communities. In villages such as Wutun, painters produce thangkas, murals and sculpture for monasteries throughout Tibet, Mongolia and beyond, a tradition handed down within families and monasteries for centuries.
The town grew around Rongwo Monastery. Tongren county became a county-level city in 2013; the name Tongren is shared with a prefecture-level city in Guizhou.
Names and nicknames
热贡
“Rebgong”
The Tibetan name of the valley, often explained as “golden valley” or “valley where dreams come true”.
藏族艺术之乡
“home of Tibetan art”
For its tradition of painting and sculpture for monasteries across the Tibetan world.
History
Rongwo Monastery was founded in the fourteenth century and became Gelug in the seventeenth, when the lineage of the Shar Kalden Gyatso lamas made it the religious centre of the valley. Rebgong painting developed alongside the monasteries of Amdo from at least the fifteenth century. The scholar Gendün Chöphel was born here in 1903.
14th century
Rongwo Monastery founded
Became the principal monastery of the valley and of the later Huangnan region.
17th century
Shar Kalden Gyatso
The lama who expanded Rongwo as a Gelug monastery; his reincarnation line remains its head.
1903
Birth of Gendün Chöphel
The modern Tibetan scholar and artist was born in Rebgong.
2009
Regong arts on UNESCO list
The painting, embroidery and sculpture traditions were inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
2013
County-level city
Tongren county was converted into a city.
Landmarks
Temple or shrine
Rongwo Monastery
隆务寺
The large Gelug monastery at the heart of the town, with assembly halls and a pilgrims' circuit.
Temple or shrine
Wutun monasteries
吾屯寺
The Upper and Lower monasteries of Wutun, the best-known painters' village.
Temple or shrine
Gomar Monastery
郭麻日寺
Village monastery north of the town with a large, multi-storeyed stupa.
Neighbourhoods
Longwu
隆务镇
The town centre around the monastery and market.
Wutun
吾屯
Painters' village north of the town, with workshops and studios.
Food
Butter tea
酥油茶
Tea churned with yak butter and salt.
Tsampa
糌粑
Roasted barley flour mixed with tea and butter.
Culture
Painting is the defining craft: thangka artists train for years in iconometry and pigments, and their workshops are open to interested visitors. In the sixth lunar month the villages hold the Lurol festival for the mountain and territorial deities, with dances, offerings and trance mediums; the festival is also on China's national intangible heritage list.
Getting around
- Tongren lies on the expressway from Xining; the nearest railway stations are in Xining and Haidong.
- A road leads east over the mountains to Xiahe and Labrang Monastery in Gansu.
Day trips
Kanbula
坎布拉
Red Danxia cliffs above the Lijiaxia reservoir on the Yellow River, with hermitages.
Labrang Monastery
夏河拉卜楞寺
The great Gelug monastery at Xiahe across the provincial border in Gansu.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture People's Government — Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Intangible Cultural Heritage: China — UNESCO (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Qinghai — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)