Ngawa City, also Ngawa or Aba City , is the main city in Ngawa (Aba) County

Ngawa County

Ngawa County , or Aba or Ngaba, is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. It is located in the remote northwestern part of the prefecture, on the border with Qinghai and Gansu...

, within the Ngawa (Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture

Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture

The Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in Sichuan, whose capital is Barkam town . It has an area of 83,201 km²....

 in northwestern Sichuan

Sichuan

' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. It is located on the Tibetan plateau

Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan Plateau , also known as the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai, in addition to smaller portions of western Sichuan, southwestern Gansu, and northern Yunnan in Western China and Ladakh in...

 at an elevation of 3,200 metres. The city is about 75 km from Jigdril, 254 km from Barkham (Ma'erkang) and 157 km from Mewa (Hongyuan

Hongyuan County

Hongyuan County is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture....

).

Ngawa (Aba) County has 70,000 inhabitants, about 8,000 of them Tibetan

Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...

 monk

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

s. The city has about 20,000 people. There are 37 monasteries in the area, two of the largest in Aba City itself. There are mainly grasslands and forested valleys in the south.

Culture

Aba County is mainly inhabited by Tibetans. The major festivals are:

• Great Prayer Festival: January 8 to January 15 according to the Tibetan calendar
• Six-Four Festival: June 11 to June 17 according to the Tibetan calendar
• Zachong Festival: September 15 to September 17 according to the lunar calendar
• Horse Race Festival: Middle of July according to the lunar calendar

Monasteries

• Kirti Gompa
  Kirti Gompa
  Kirti Gompa , is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery founded in 1472 and located in China's Sichuan Province. As of March 2011, the gompa was said to house 2,500 monks. However, reports indicate its poplation has declined substantially as a result of a crackdown by authorities.-History:Kirti Gompa was...
  
  , (sometimes referred to as Gerdeng Monastery), properly known as Kirti Kalari Gon Tashi Lhundrub, is a Gelugpa monastery on the northwestern edge of the town. It was founded in 1472 by Rongpa Chenakpa, a disciple of Tsongkhapa, and now houses about 2,500 monks.
• Nangzhik Gompa and Topgyel are both Bon
  Bon
  BON, Bon, or bon may refer to:Places:* Cap Bon, a peninsula in Tunisia* Flamingo International Airport, Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles...
  
   monasteries are just northeast of the town. There are between 800 and 1000 affiliated monks.
• Setenling Gompa
  Setenling Gompa
  Setenling Gompa, Ser Gompa, is a Jonangpa monastery about a kilometre from the eastern edge of Aba or Ngawa City , the main city in Ngawa County, within the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern Sichuan, China...
  
   is a Buddhist monastery of the Jonangpa tradition about a kilometre from the eastern end of the town. It was founded by Namnang Dorje in the 13th-14th centuries, and reconstituted in the late 19th century by Dro-ge Yonten Gyatso. There are about 800 or 1000 affiliated monks.

"There are many monasteries scattered around the town, and they are all worth visiting."

Transport

Aba County is well connected to many provincial towns and cities. Aba is the biggest transport hub within the prefecture. There are long haul buses heading for Aba from Chengdu City, Mianyang City, Songpan County, Ma'er Kang County, Jinchuan County, Wenchuan County, Hongyuan County, Heishui County and Xiangtang County daily.

Attractions

• Jiuzhaigou Valley - National Park
• Huanglong Valley - scenic spot very close by
• Wolong Nature Reserve - China's largest natural habitat for giant pandas
• Miyaluo - scenic spot

External links

• Jiuzhai Valley National Park (Jiuzhaigou)