Imperial Tours’ China Luxury Travel Blog

Ganden Monastery near Lhasa

Summer is fast disappearing and it’s time to think ahead and make your travel plans to see you through the winter. A more unusual winter vacation to tell your friends and family about back home is a trip to Lhasa to experience the Tibetan Lunar New Year celebrations, known in Tibetan as Losar (lo means ‘year’ and sar means ‘new’). This is a great time to visit Lhasa if you want a truly memorable and moving experience to come home with

The Ganden Sumtseling Monastery (Songzanlin Monastery) is located near Shangri-La, on the Tibetan plateau in China’s south-west Yunnan province. If you've been to Lhasa and seen the Potala Palace you may think that this monastery is proof that all Tibetan monasteries look the same - and you'd be half right. The Sumtseling was in fact modelled on the Potala and has been nicknamed the 'Little Potala'.

This is the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in south-west China. All

^{Pilgrims prostrating in front of Jokhang Temple}

Travelers to China’s skyscraper cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong may think they have seen and done all there is to do in China. Other travelers may even venture beyond to cities like Xi’an, Guilin, and Hangzhou. But those looking to escape the more traditional and explore an incredibly unique destination and culture on a deeper level should definitely consider Lhasa in Tibet. A time of year Imperial Tours recommends

Chengdu is a fantastic destination for families. It’s the capital of Sichuan province and home to spicy food, night markets and hot pot. Culture seekers will want to head to a nearby mountain for its Daoist temple where you can learn about fortune telling, alchemy, meditation, and even get to meet a monk and accompany him on his daily routine. For history lovers the Sanxingdui archeological site is not to be missed. First unearthed in 1987, archaeologists discovered a previously

This lecture on the ancient Chinese philosopher, Zhuangzi, was given by Professor Wang Bo, Professor of Philosophy at Beijing University as part of Imperial Tours sponsored research into Chinese philosophy and ideas.

The Spirit of Zhuangzi

By Professor Wang Bo

Good evening everybody. My name is Professor Wang Bo and I have been at Peking University (PKU) for about 24 years since 1982. My major is philosophy, especially Chinese philosophy.

Zhuangzi is my favorite philosopher.

The short article, Occult Universe, presents the basic patterns of belief current in China from the third millenium BC. It introduces the Book of Changes , which was as influential in the development of Confucianism as it was in much Daoist doctrine. Yet whereas Confucius expanded this book's social implications, Daoism elaborated on its metaphysical claim - to understand the invariable laws controlling the process of change in the universe. Lao Zi, who founded the D

In the introductory article on the Occult Universe we establish the the basic model of Chinese thought which Confucius inherited. His contribution was to imbue this primtive but complex system with a moral value. For Confucius was an innovative conservative. While upholding all the ceremonial rituals of the existing cultural model, he gave them a moral significance of his own making.

In this short article, after introducing Confucius and principal ideas, we outline his significance in

To understand how Tibetan Buddhism differs from other Buddhist schools we need to consider its development from two different perspectives, the first ideological and the second historical. Although these are here considered separately, they of course developed with reference to each other.

Ideological Development

Ideologically Tibetan Buddhism is a derivation of Mahayana Buddhism heavily influenced by Tantrism. To unravel this jargon-cloaked statement, we should take a look at the essential co

Buddhism is said to have traveled into China along the Silk Road in the first half of the first century AD. Its rise to prominence grew in proportion to the increasing traffic along the Silk Road, so that by the Tang dynasty (618-907AD) when China's capital, Chang'an, was one of the world's most prosperous cities, Buddhist translations were for the first time accessible. It was during this period that a new variant of Buddhism arose, which used elements from Daoism to beget

Foundation of the Gelug Sect

Tsong Khapa (1357-1419) founded Ganden monastery in 1409. A graduate of the austere Karmapa order, his doctrine emphasized monastic discipline. This attitude was echoed by his reinforcement of the primacy of sutras - the original teachings of Buddha - over the tantras - later mystical teachings. So popular was his movement that new monasteries were soon opened at Sera, Drepung & Tashilhunpo, and the sect took on the name of Gelug or "Virtuous Ones".

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