Lhasa

Lhasa is the inner urban district of Lhasa City, located in the Tibet Autonomous Region of Southwestern China. It is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining, and sits at an altitude of 3,656 meters, making it one of the highest cities in the world. Since the mid-17th century, Lhasa has served as both the religious and administrative capital of Tibet. The city is home to important Tibetan Buddhist sites, including the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, and Norbulingka Palaces. According to census data, the city’s total resident population is projected to reach 876,400 by the end of 2024.

The name Lhasa comes from the Tibetan words *lha* (god) and *sa* (place), meaning "place of gods." The Chinese name for the district, Chengguan, translates to "urban gateway." Ancient records show the area was originally called Rasa, meaning "goat's place," as it was used for herding. The name changed to Lhasa when it became the capital of Tibet and the Jokhang Temple was completed, housing a holy Buddha statue. The earliest recorded use of the name Lhasa appears in a treaty between China and Tibet from 822 C.E., referring to the Jowo temple in the area. Some old European maps label a town called Barantola in Tibet, which may refer to Lhasa, though it could also be modern Bulantai in western Qinghai province.

In the mid-7th century, Songtsen Gampo led the Tibetan Empire from the Yarlung Tsangpo River Valley. After conquering the Zhangzhung kingdom to the west, he moved his capital from Chongye County to Rasa (Lhasa). In 637, he began construction on the site of what would become the Potala Palace on Mount Marpori. In 639 and 641, Songtsen Gampo married Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal and Princess Wencheng of the Tang court. Bhrikuti is said to have converted him to Buddhism, a faith also attributed to Wencheng. In 641, he built the Jokhang and Ramoche Temples in Lhasa to house Buddha statues brought by the two princesses. During the 9th century, Lhasa suffered extensive damage under King Langdarma, who destroyed and desecrated sacred sites, leading to the empire’s fragmentation.

A Tibetan tradition claims that after Songtsen Gampo’s death in 649, Chinese troops invaded Lhasa, captured it, and burned the Red Palace. However, this event is not mentioned in Chinese annals or Dunhuang manuscripts. Scholar Lǐ suggested the tradition might be an interpolation, and Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa argued that histories reporting Chinese troop arrivals are incorrect. Later Tibetan accounts acknowledge harsh actions by Chinese forces during this period, including violence against locals and destruction of sacred sites.

From the fall of the monarchy in the 9th century until the 5th Dalai Lama’s rise, political power in Tibet was not centered in Lhasa. Yet the city’s religious importance grew over time. It was considered the site where Padmasambhava pinned down the earth demoness and built the Jokhang Temple over her heart. Islam has been present in Lhasa since the 11th century, with two distinct Tibetan Muslim communities maintaining their own homes, food, clothing, language, education, trade, and herbal medicine traditions.

By the 15th century, Lhasa gained prominence after Je Tsongkhapa and his disciples founded three large Gelugpa monasteries: Ganden, Sera, and Drepung. These were part of a puritanical Buddhist revival. The Gelugpa lineage’s scholarly and political skills eventually returned Lhasa to a central role. The 5th Dalai Lama, Lobsang Gyatso, unified Tibet in 1642 with help from Güshi Khan of the Khoshut, moving his administration to Lhasa. With Güshi Khan as a largely uninvolved overlord, the 5th Dalai Lama established a civil government known as the Lhasa state, or the Ganden Phodrang, making Lhasa both the religious and political capital. Reconstruction of the Potala Palace began on Red Hill in 1645, with the White Palace completed in 1648, serving as the Dalai Lama’s winter palace. The Red Palace was added between 1690 and 1694. The name Potala comes from Mount Potalaka, the mythical home of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. The Jokhang Temple was also greatly expanded during this period. While some wooden carvings and lintels of the Jokhang date to the 7th century, the oldest surviving buildings in Lhasa—including parts of the Potala, the Jokhang, and several monasteries and properties in the Old Quarter—date to this second flowering of the city’s history.