Dongzhulin Monastery: a G214 stop with masked dances in the 8th Tibetan month
Shusong village, Benzilan, Deqin County
Deqin County's largest monastery stands at about 3,000 m above the Jinsha, with the G214 running just behind it, so it's an easy stop on the drive north from Benzilan. It began as a Kagyu monastery, switched to the Gelug school in the 1670s, was wrecked in the Cultural Revolution and was rebuilt on a new site from the mid-1980s. In the four-story main hall a 6.8 m Maitreya rises from the second floor into the third, where a Shakyamuni of about 10.5 m was a gift from Sera Monastery in Lhasa. Each year on the 27th to 29th days of the eighth Tibetan month, monks dance the masked cham for the Gedong festival, which falls on different Gregorian dates every year, often in October.
What locals sayLocals count it among the 'thirteen lings', the great monasteries of Kham, and call it one of the region's famous houses.
- Time
- 1 hour · on the drive to Deqin
- In Chinese
- 东竹林寺
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Based on what locals and regular visitors share, checked against current sources · Updated September 2026. Details change — check opening times locally.
