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Concept
Lhasa
Summary
Lhasa ('lɑːsə; Lhasa dialect: /l̥ɛː˥˥.sa˥˥/; ) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhasa City is equivalent to the administrative borders of Chengguan District (), which is part of the wider prefectural Lhasa City.
Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining and, at an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world. The city has been the religious and administrative capital of Tibet since the mid-17th century. It contains many culturally significant Tibetan Buddhist sites such as the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka Palaces.
Lhasa literally translates to "place of gods" (ལྷ , god; ས , place) in the Tibetan language. Chengguan literally translates to "urban gateway" () in the Chinese language. Ancient Tibetan documents and inscriptions demonstrate that the place was called Rasa (ར་ས), which meant "goat's place", as it was a herding site. The name was changed to Lhasa, which means "place of gods", upon its establishment as the capital of Tibet, and construction of the Jokhang temple was completed, which housed a holy statue of the Buddha. Lhasa is first recorded as the name, referring to the area's temple of Jowo, in a treaty drawn up between China and Tibet in 822 C.E. In some old European maps, where Tibet is depicted, a town under the name Barantola can be come up with; this town has mostly been suggested to be Lhasa, at other times to refer to modern Bulantai/Boluntay in the western part of the Qinghai province.
By the mid 7th century, Songtsen Gampo became the leader of the Tibetan Empire that had risen to power in the Yarlung Tsangpo River (whose lower reaches in India is known as the Brahmaputra River) Valley. After conquering the kingdom of Zhangzhung in the west, he moved the capital from the Chingwa Taktsé Castle in Chongye County (pinyin: Qióngjié Xiàn), southwest of Yarlung, to Rasa (Lhasa) where in 637 he raised the first structures on the site of what is now the Potala Palace on Mount Marpori.
Official source
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