Upper Wutun Monastery
སེང་གེ་གཤོང་ཡ་མགོ་དགོན།
A monastery in Wutun Village, known as the 'Home of Rebgong Art', where many monks are thangka painters. Its great white stupa and hall murals are signature works of Rebgong art.
Upper Wutun Monastery is in Wutun Village, about 6 km north of Tongren city. For generations, villagers and monks have made their living painting thangkas and producing appliqué embroidery and clay sculptures, which is why Wutun is regarded as the core production centre of Rebgong art. The hall murals are vivid in colour and finely drawn, and the white stupa in the courtyard is a popular photo spot. Around the monastery and in the village there are many thangka studios where you can watch painters at work. It is about a 15-minute taxi ride from Tongren and can be combined with Lower Wutun Monastery, Nianduhu Monastery and Guomari Monastery into a half-day tour. When buying thangkas, take care to tell hand-painted works apart from prints.
Opening hours
08:30–18:00