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Hohhot, in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia, was founded in the mid-sixteenth century by Altan Khan, leader of the Tumet Mongols and a descendant of Chingis Khan. Build with the aid of Chinese refugees, it was the first permanent Mongol city to be built after the fall of the Yuan Dynasty in 1368. Altan Khan, who had been converted to Buddhism by the Third Dalai Lama in 1578, built the Dazhao Monastery here in 1579 and initiated a program of translating Buddhist scriptures from Tibetan into Mongolian. Hohhot is now a city of about a million people, most of them Chinese. The Dazhoa and Xilituzhao monasteries are located in the Old Town where most of the Mongolians, now a small minority in the city, live. |
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Plan of the Dazhao Monastery |
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Temple at Dazhao Monastery |
Temple to the left of the of the main compound |
White Tara Wall Painting at the White Tara Temple |
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Xilituzhao Monastery, just across the street from the Dazhao Monatery, built in the 1780s. Now the home of the Shiritu Khutukhtu, the first of whom was recognized by the Third Lama. |
Main Temple at the Xilituzhao Monastery |
Closer view of the blue-grazed tiles used in the construction of the Xilituzhao Monastery |
Stupa at the Xilituzhao Monastery |
Green Tara Statue in the Tara Temple at Xilituzhao Monastery |
Green Tara Mural in the Tara Temple |
Green Tara Mural in the Tara Temple |
Green Tara Mural in the Tara Temple |
Green Tara Mural in the Tara Temple |
Green Tara Mural in the Tara Temple |
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Buddha Mural in one of side temples at Xilituzhao Monastery |
