Gyantse with the Dzong fortress in the background

Gyantse with the Dzong fortress in the background

Gyantse was the third largest town in Tibet before China annexed the country.

The history before the Chinese occupation of this town is almost more cruel:
During the British invasion 1903–1904 there was a slow but bloody advance from Sikkim and a massacre of several hundred Tibetan troops equipped with antiquated "matchlock guns, swords, spears and slingshots" at the crude fortifications they had built below the village of Guru and at nearby Chumik Shenko (or Chumi Shengo), with the Tibetans facing far more deadly weapons including Maxim machine guns (look to my next picture) and ten-pound cannon for the first time. The British then pushed on to Gyantse which they reached after a couple more unequal skirmishes, on 12 April 1904.
Then in 1959 an other disaster happened after a revolt against Chinese rule. It was ransacked again during the Cultural Revolution, but has since been largely restored. Prior to the uprising there were 1520 monks but now they number less than 80.

My picture is taken in May 2004 with a NIKON CoolPix 5000.