Labrang Monastery is one of the six great monasteriesis of the Geluk (Yellow Hat) school of Tibetan Buddhism, of which the Dalai Lama is a member. Labrang is located in the town of Xiahe, in Gansu province, in the formerly Tibetan region of Amdo. Labrang Monastery is home to the largest number of monks outside of the province of Tibet. The Geluk or Gelug (Wylie transliteration: Dge-lugs, Tibetan: དགེ་ལུགས་པ་) school of Buddhism was founded by Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), a philosopher and tibetan religious leader. ... The 14th and current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (born 1935) The 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso (1876-1933) In Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lamas are a sequence of leaders, since 1391, from the Gelug (dge lugs) school. ... Xiahe (Chinese: 夏河, pinyin: Xiàhé) is a town in Gansu province, China, in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. ...

After the take over of Tibet by the People's Republic of China, Labrang became part of Gansu Provice, and is located about 8 hours from the city of Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu.

Labrang Monastery is located in the town of Xiahe, which belongs to the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The town is reflection of the diferent minorities that can be found on china, it is home diferent minorities Tibetans ( about 70% of the population) Hui chinese (20%) Han Chinese (10%).

Although the region is mostly rural and pastoral (including yak and other animal rearing), tourism is growing rapidly mainly to the monastery.

The monastery was founded in 1709 (the forty-eighth year of the reign of Qing Emperor Kangxi) by the monk E'Ang Zonghe, the first generation living Buddha, or Jiemuyang. It is Tibetan Buddhism's most important monastery town outside Tibet itself.

The monastery complex dominates the northern village. The white walls and golden roofs feature a blend of Tibetan and Han architectural styles. The monastery contains 18 halls, six institutes of learning, a golden stupa, a sutra debate, and nearly 60,000 sutras. There are more than 2000 monks in residence. It has a Buddhist museum with a large collection of Buddha statues, sutras and murals. In addition, a large amount of Tibetan language books, including history is available for purchase, together with medicines, calendars, music and art objects.

The monastery today is an important place for Buddhist ceremonies and activities. From 4th to 17th January and 26th June to 15th July (these dates may change according to the lunar calendar), the great Buddhist ceremony will be held with Buddha-unfolding, sutra enchanting, praying, sutra debates, etc.

The monks are extremely friendly to foreigners, and used every oportunity to pratice their basic English which in most cases is selftougth. Accomodation is easy to find and a great variety of articles and souvenirs are available.