Men laden with tea

Western Szechuan. Men laden with "Brick Tea" for Thibet. One man's load weighs 317 lbs. Avoird. the other's 298 lbs. Avoird.!! Men carry this Tea as far as Tachien-lu accomplishing about 6 miles per day over vile roads. Altitude 5,000 ft. [Information from label in photograph album.]
By Wilson, Ernest Henry, 1908-07-30.

Tachien lu

Tachien-lu and site of ancient town demolished by landslide about 100 years ago. Altitude 8400 ft.
1908-07-27， by Wilson, Ernest Henry.
Darchiendo in Tibetan, Tachien-lu (Da-jian-lu, 打箭炉） in Chinese in the past， and now Kang-ding(康定）.



Tachien lu from the south
1908-07-23， by Wilson, Ernest Henry.

East gate, Hao Tien

East gate, Hao Tien
"Do not divide Moslems and Chinese"

Labrang stupa

1925-1926, by Joseph Rock.
Lamasery buildings, stupa-style pagoda, and partial view of bridge over the Sang River at Labrang.

Labrang Monastery(拉卜楞寺, བླ་བྲང་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འཁྱིལ་, also as Labrang Tashikyil), located in Xiahe County in Gansu province (used to be the Amdo), is one of the six great Geluk (Yellow Hat) monasteries. This region sees the interaction among four great cultures/civilizations: Tibetan, Chinese, Mongolian, and Muslim. Labrang plays a very important role for Tibetan Buddhism reaching Mongols. It is Tibetan Buddhism's most important monastery outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

"Labrang" means the residence of a great Lama. Labrang was founded in 1710 by the First Jamyang-zhaypa. The line of his reincarnations, the Jamyang-zhaypa Rinpoches, have been the traditional heads of the Labrang Monastery.

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Rain on the mountains near Paotow

1936, by Pickens Jr., Rev. Claude L.
Eastern Suiyuan (绥远）. Rain on the mountains near Paotow （包头）.

In his diary dated June 22nd, Monday (1936), he wrote:"

Here we changed from the tenth to the 20th century and took a bus.
We bought an inside ticket for three dollars for a 400 li ride. Tickets
for the top of the bus would have been $2.00. Our bus was filled with
camel hair and wool with only Laurie and me inside. It was an eight to
nine hour ride over rather bumpt roads at what seemed flying speed. At
the first hundred li place was PA TS?(Z) PU LUNG in the site of a C. & ?.
??(As) experiment, similar to the R.C one in Norther Ningsia, but with much
less success. Most of the trip was over semidesert and grassland with
very little sedentary life. The last 300 li was South of the TA CH'ING
SHAN. Every now and then at a distance we could see a lamasary. Half
way we stopped at KUNG MIAO where we had lunch: boiled eggs and bitter
water. Finally we a strong wind behind us we reached Paotow.

PAOTOW, SUIYUAN. Just as we reached the city it started to rain.
Had this happened anywhere else our journey would have stopped until
the sun came out to dry things. They say that this is the first good
rain in 6 months. We went directly to the Swedish Mission where mail
was awaiting us. Mr. and Mrs. Swenson took us in and treated us kindly.
This town is very large and the center of much trade with Inner Mongolia
and Sinkiang. It was formerly one of the centers of trade with
?rga, but this is now stopped. One wonders what will happen when Japan
takes Inner Mongolia. Of course, it is also the beginning of the camel
caravans that go to and from Ningsia and Kansu. There are huge and
impressive inns and shops with Mongolian and Chinese characters on them.
There are two mosques here, but I was too tired to look for them."

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Mongolian wrestlers

Mongolia wrestlers from Weichang
1909, by Purdom, William
Weichang Xian, Hebei Sheng, China

围场满族蒙古族自治县, Chengde, Hebei

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The Lags-kha-gtsang Incarnation on the way to Dzangar Lamasery

Lamas and the mule litter of the Lags-kha-gtsang Incarnation below the Gan-dmar Pass on the way to Dzangar Lamasery.
1926, by Joseph Rock