Brief Introduction to Lhasa-Holy City
Lhasa, located on the north bank of Lhasa River, the sub branch of Yarlung Tsangpu River, is the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region of P.R.C. The average altitude is 3648 meters, and the average yearly temperature is 8.5℃ with 3021 hours of sunshine because of which it is named Sunshine City. Since as early as in 7 century, one of Tibetan Kings named Songtsan Ganpu in "Tobo" Dynasty switched his capital here, Lhasa has ever served as  the center of  Tibet politics, economy, culture, traffic andreligion.  There are 120 thousand inhabitants covering an areas of 441 square km in the city and 7 adjunctive counties. In1982 Lhasa was listed as one of the first historical famous cities By the Nation. At present, roads from Lhasa stretch to every directions and flights, too.  Now there are domestic flights to Beijing, Chengdu, Xian, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Kunming, Chongqing,Xining, and international flights to Kathmandu Nepal. The roads leads to Xinjiang Autonomous Region in northwest, and to such provinces as Qinghai in the north, Sichuan in the east, Yunnan in southwest,  and to Kathmandu Nepal in the west.  The road condition is getting better and better. Have railways from Beijing , shanghai , chongqing to Lhasa.l those All makes Lhasa as a hot place for tourists both from mainland China and abroad.
HISTORY
Tibetan history can be traced thousands of years back. However, the written history only dates back to the 7th century when Songtsan Gampo, the 33rd Tibetan king, sent his minister Sambhota to India to study Sanskrit who on his return invented the present Tibetan script.
based on Sanskrit.
1. the Tsanpo’s(King) period.
This period stars from Nyatri Tsanpo, the firist of the Tsanpos, in 127B.C and ends in 842A.D. at the death of Lang Dharma, the last of Tsanpos, who was assassinated by a Buddhist monk owing to Lang Dharma’s ruthless persecution of Buddhism. During this period some 42 Tsanpos had ruled over Tibet among which Songtsan Gampo’s rule was considered as the zenith, Songtsan Gamoi was an outstanding ruler, he unified Tibet, changed his capital to Lhasa, sent Sambhota to India to study Sanskrit and promulaged a script for the Tibetan on the latter’s arrival to Tibet, married Princess Wencheng of the tang Court and Princess Bhrikuti Debi of Nepal, built the Potala and the temple and the temple of Jokhang.
2. The Period of Decentralization
This period began in 842A.D.the year of Lang Dharma’s assassination, and ended in about 1260A.D,when Pagpa, the Abbot of Sakya Monastery, became a vassal of Kublai Khan, the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. During this period a little is known in history except that Tibet became decentralized into a number of petty principalities.
3. The period of Sakaya, Pagdu, and Karmapa’s rule.
The year began with Sakya’s rule over Tibet, followed first by Pagdu’s rule in Lhaoka and then by Karmara’s rule in the Tsang region. The Sakya period was the time when Tibet officially became and inseparable part of China.
4. The period of Ganden Podrang’s Administration
This period is the period in which the Dalai Lama ruled Tibet. It started in 1642A.D.when the 5th Dalai Lama overtook the ruling power from the Tsang ruler. It basically ended in 1951 when Tibet was liberated and came to a complete end in 1959 when rebellion led by the Dalai Lama was pacified and the People’s Government of the Tibet, Autonomous Region was set up.
RELIGION
No other religion apart from Buddhism has been able to take root in Tibet. Only small population of about 2000 throughout Tibet have faith in Islam, while there is no trace of Christianity at all. The Bon, the aborigine religion of Tibet, a sect of Shamanism which chiefly worshipped idols and the Nature and practiced driving off of evil spirits, had at one time prevailed in Tibet but lost round with the penetration of Buddhism.Thus, Buddhism can as well be said to be the sole religion of Tibet, and the faith has taken so deep oin root that it means almost everything to the Tibetans as already mentioned. Well-to-do families even built in their compound their private chapels of prayer-rooms. To begin with, the first Buddhist scripture printed in Sanskrit was said to have been descended from Heaven in the 5th century during the regin of 28th Tsanpo Tho-Tho-Ri Nyantsan. It was translated into Tibet, in the 7th century in Songtsun Gampo’s reign. Since the translation, Buddhism got propagated into Tibet, and later in the India Master Padmasambhava, the spread of Buddhism got accelerated and religious sect started taking shape. In the 11th century the visit of the Bengali Master, Atisha, to Tibet greatly encouraged the study of Buddhism into Tibet and sowed the seed for Gelugpa, the greatest sect that was to come. Finally, in the 15th century, Tsongkapa, the great reformer of Tibetan Buddhism, came to Tibet from Qinghai and founded the Gelupga sect, the order of Excellence, and hereagter Buddhism went all-out spreading like a wild fire into Tibet and the absolute ruler both of church and the state is another decisive victory for Buddhism to rise to its paramountury as the religion of the entire Tibetan nationality.
CULTURE
The Tibet peole have a splendid unique traditional culture. Each of its palaces and monasteries can well be taken as a complex work of architecture, carving, painting, sculptures from Sanskrit and so on. In one word, each is a comprehensive work of art. The most noteworthy relics in them are the following.
1. wonderful stone works of architecture in Potala palace in Lhasa, the Kunbum Pagoda in Gyantse, and the great Assembly Halls in monasteries.
2. Walls and walls of paintings in the Kokhang Temple in Lhasa depicting the complete life-story of the Lord Buddha or his miraculous triumph over the six non-Buddhist masters, breathtaking murals of mandalas painted on the walls of Sakya Monastery, or the “art gallery” in the Potala narrating the stories of the Potala under construction.
3. Innumerable works on sculpture such as images of gods, historical figures, and tomb stupas on display among which the giant bronze Maitreya of Tashilunpo Monastery in Shigatse, which stands 26meters in height and said to be its biggest bronze image in the world.
4. The great translation work done on Kagyur, Translation of the Commentaries preserved almost in every monastery, amazing wall of scriptures composed of some 40.000 sutras in Sakya. This is even referred to by the folk-saying that Though the outer walls built of stone may collapse, but the inner walls built of scriptures can withstand in the stead.All these splendid cultural relics and attractions take us far back into the wonder of antiquity and give us some idea of real richness of the Tibetan culture.