Litang County

Litang County
County
Chinese transcription(s)
• Simplified	理塘县
• Traditional	理塘縣
• Pinyin	Lǐtáng Xiàn
Tibetan transcription(s)
• Tibetan script	ལི་ཐང་རྫོང
• Wylie	li tang rdzong
• THL	Litang Dzong
Yaks in the Ganden Thubchen Choekhorling monastery courtyard
Litang County (red) in Garzê Prefecture (yellow) and Sichuan
Litang Location of the seat in Sichuan
Coordinates: 30°00′N 100°16′E / 30.000°N 100.267°E / 30.000; 100.267Coordinates: 30°00′N 100°16′E / 30.000°N 100.267°E / 30.000; 100.267
Country	China
Province	Sichuan
Autonomous prefecture	Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
County seat	Litang Town
Elevation	3,954 m (12,972 ft)
Population (2001)
• Total	47,500
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Website	litang.gov.cn

Litang or Lithang County (Wylie: ལི་ཐང་རྫོང; Chinese: 理塘县) is in southwest of Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China. In 2001 it had a population of 47,500.

Before the Battle of Chamdo, Lithang was part of Kham, Tibet, and several famous Buddhist figures were born here, including the 7th Dalai Lama, the 10th Dalai Lama, the 11th Tai Situpa, four of the Pabalas, as well as the 5th Jamyang Zhépa of Labrang Monastery. Düsum Khyenpa, 1st Karmapa Lama, returned here and built two monasteries, Kampo Nénang Monastery next to the Genyen Massif, where he trained the important Kagyu teacher, Drogön Rechen (Wylie: 'gro mgon res pa chen po, 1148-1218) who recognised his tulku, and the Pangphuk Monastery, founded in 1169.

It also has strong connections with the eponymous hero of the Epic of King Gesar,

During the 1950s, the region around Litang was one of the main areas of Tibetan armed resistance to the presence of the People's Liberation Army. A resistance group called the Chushi Gangdruk was active in the area. In 1956 the monastery in Litang was bombed by the PLA.