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Songzanlin Temple
Gadan Songzanlin Temple，the largest Tibetan Buddhist Temple in Yunnan，is approximately 5 km north of the seat of Shangri-la County．It covers an area of 33.3 hectares and has 700 monks．The temple was built with approval in 1679 as this site selected personally by the 5th Dalai Lama．The temple built at the foot of a hill took three years to build．As an imitation of the Potala Palace in Tibet，the temple is also called "Minor Potala Palace". The fifth Dalai Lama named it "Gadan Songzanlin Temple", Gadan is the Tibetan name for Tusita，the fourth of the six-1ayered Buddhist heavens．In 1410，Tsong-kha-ha，founder of the Gelu Sect of Tibetan Buddhism，built the first temple for Gelu Sect in Lasa named Gadan or Gandan Temple．Songzanlin is also a Tibetan expression in which "song" means "three", "zan" means the"playground for heavenly gods" and "lin" "temple". Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty granted the name "Guihuasi" to the temple and his brother Prince Heshuoguo also granted to it a golden plaque inscribed with Blessings for All.
The Songzanlin Temple consists of a group of Tibetan styled stone houses with earthen walls looking like a fortification. At the highest point in its center stand two major temples named Zhacang and Jikang，around which are eight branch temples，each in charge of a Buddhist parish．Beyond the branch temples are rooms for monks and nuns．The whole Songzanlin Temple is well arranged and majestically beautiful．The two major temples are five-storied，golden-pantile-roofed stone houses facing south．Zhacang Main Hall holds 1，600 people for meditation and scripture chanting．On the front altar of the hall is enshrined a bronze statue of the fifth Dalai Lama．In the back hall arc enshrined the statues of Tsong-kha-ha，the Maitreya Bcddha and the seventh Dalai Lama，all over 10 meters high．The Songzanlin Temple houses many valuable cultural relics from past dynasties，including eight gilded Sakyamuni statues from the periods of the fifth and seventh Dalai Lamas，the Pattra-leaf Scripture，the five-colored Thangka scroll paintings in golden ink，and a golden lantern．There are more than 200 volumes of Bak'-'gyur，a major part of the Tibetan tripitaka．
In April 1 936 when the Red Army passed by Zhongdian，Generals He Long and Xiao Ke went to the Songzanlin Temple，visited the living Buddha and lamas there and granted to the temple a banner with "Thriving Tibetan Nationality" which is now in the China Military Museum. The temple supported the Red Army on their way to the north to fight the Japanese invaders by collecting over 20 thousand jin of grain and sending monks to work as their guides．
