Dege - 德格

Pictures of Dege in the Kham Region

Dege

Small town just 20 kilometers from the Tibetan border, Dege is mainly known for its sutras printing press. The road that leads from Manigango takes the vertiginous and lunar pass Chola (5050 meters) before descending to the fertile valleys.

What to see at Dege?

Dege’s printing works

You will discover at the printing press (Bakong in Tibetan) all the steps necessary for the realization of sacred Buddhist texts. Built around the middle of the 18th century, it would house 290 thousand wooden boards each corresponding to a page of sacred text. The speed of printers working in pairs allows them to achieve 100 pages per minute.

Dege Monastery

The Dege Monastery (Gongshen Gompa in Tibetan), of which the printing press is a part, includes several other halls that can also be visited.Ticket price: Printing Works: 50 yuanAccess: Bus from Ganzi, Manigango and Qamdo among others.