The Queen Valley in the Trans-Himalayas
- Gold River basin in Southwestern China -

The Queen Valley is in the Trans-Himalayas. It is the ancient name of the upper reaches of the Daduhe River (one of the source of the Changjiang River) such as the Big Gold River and the Small Gold River in the western part of Sichuan Province, China. The queen valley where is in the about 5000m-hight mountains forms, deeply eroded by the glacier and the water flows. The river what flows through the valley is about 2000m above the sea level, and surrounded by the steep cliffs. Now this area is generally called "Jiarong"*1 in Chinese, "rGyalmorong" in ancient Tibetan that means the valley of the queen.
A lot of peoples moved in to this area from the ancient times and were blended with aboriginal peoples. A clan, with the Bon Sect's doctrines, called the Queendom*2 in Sui-Shu (a history book of the Sui period 581-618 in China) moved to this area around the birth of Christ. This clan had the excellent technology in extracting gold, and was prosperous in the Queen Valley, and was named the Eastern Queendom in Tang-Shu (a history book of the Tang period 618-907 in China). The ancient cultural legacies still have been inherited in the Queen Valley now. Especially, the stone-piled house and the tower and the folk clothing have peculiar beauty.
According to the legend, the Queen Valley is protected by many of the mountain gods. Among them, holy Mount Moerduo 4820m where is in Danba is the top one and many eminent monks practiced asceticism there from the ancient times. And the Four Girls Mountains 6250m famous in it's beauty is one of the mountain gods what is at the source of some rivers in the southeastern part of the Queen Valley.

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*1 : This area is called "rGyal-rong" in the foreign country.
In recent years, a part of this area is called the "Beauty Valley" what is comes from tha tourism development.
The photograph in this site was taken at the Danba County in Ganzi Autonomous Prefecture. The Danba County is a rich agricultural area which include the grazing land of the yak. On the other hand, Danba is one of the cultural center of Queen Valley, and whole of the county is the elegance reserve. At the end of October in every year, the Danba Elegance Festival what is one of the 10 biggest festivals of Sichuan Province is held.
The Queendom means the Shanshun, the Zhang Zhung, or the Xiang Xiong.


Interesting historical story : The historical story which filled with romantic adventures in the Queen Valley
Customs and nature : A topic as it changes from season to season


A lot of flowers : Colorful flowers of the Queen Valley
- Beautiful flowers around Four Girls Mountains -

Beautiful butterflies


Recommended Book


The Eastern Queendom and the Hakuran : Zuiho Yamaguchi,
Toyo-Gakuhou Vol.54-3, December 1971


A study of formation of the Toban-Kingdom : Zuiho Yamaguchi,
Iwanami Publishing House, February 1983, ISBN9-784-00001-4816


The history of the rGyalrong Tibetan : Quedan, National Publishing House, December 1995, ISBN7-105-02545-X/K254


The history of the Danba County" : Danba County in Gantu Autonomous Prefecture, National Publishing House, June 1996, ISBN7-105-02587-5/K260


Divine Dyads, Ancient Civilization in Tibet : John Vincent Bellezza, 1997,
The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, ISBN81-86470-19-0



The Queen Valley in the Trans-Himalayas - Trace of the Eastern Queendom - :Kenzo Okawa, Sichuan Nationalities Publishing House, March 2004, ISBN7-5409-2920-0



The piled stone architecture of Danba-Jiaju Village in East Tibet
Kagurazaka-Study Group of Architecture, Home Architecture Vol.2, February 2005


Tibetan temple and architectural pilgrimage : Teruyuki Oiwa,
Tokyodou Publishing House, September 2005, ISBN4-490-20549-X


Secret Towers of the Himalayas : Frederique Darragon, Shenzhen Media Group Publishing House, September 2005, ISBN7-80709-043-X



Senri Ethnological Report 79 - A Lexicon of the rGyalrong bTsanlha Dialect - Bon Studies 12 : bThsan lha Ngag dbang Tshul khrims, National Museum of Ethnology, January 2009, ISBN 978-4-901906-60-9 C3014


Amusing Link
The watercolor paintings of Tibetan landscape
Center for Tibetan Studies of Sichuan University
China Tibet Information Center


Unicorn Foundation: The protection of stone-piled towers and the aid of education in southeast Tibet



The Databases of the National Museum of Ethnology : Cross search system for the databases provided by the National Insutitutes of Humanities.
There is a Databases listening to the rGyalrongic Languages, too.


Treasury of happy view of Bon
The commentary of the ancient history and so on
The Hengduan Mountains Club, Japan


The citizens' meeting to exchange culture between Japan and China
"The Great Wall"


Kagurazaka-Study Group of Architecture
The group what is study and protect the historic houses in the world

Queen Valley-TOP Touching sight in the world

Duplication without the author's permission is forbidden.

Produced by Kenzo Okawa
Particular adviser of Four Girls Mountains Nature Reserve Management Bureau