Qualla: Lhasa River

Lhasa River: Introduction

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit oemaix, CC BY-SA 2.0. In 1948, the Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer stood on the banks of a river two kilometers wide after the monsoon, directing 500 soldiers and 1,000 laborers as they ferried granite blocks in 40 yak-skin boats to reinforce a dyke protecting the Norbulingka -- the Dalai Lama's summer palace. The Tibetan workers, Harrer noted, would stop mid-task to rescue worms they found in the soil. The Lhasa River, known also as the Kyi Chu, had been threatening the palace and the city built along its banks for centuries. At 450 kilometers, it is the longest tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo, and its valley is the political, economic, and cultural center of Tibet.

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Image: oemaix | CC BY-SA 2.0

Lhasa River: Born from Three Rivers

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Antoine Taveneaux, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Lhasa River begins where three smaller waterways converge: the Phak Chu, the Phongdolha Chu flowing from Damxung County, and the Reting Tsangpo, which rises beyond the ancient Reting Monastery. Its highest tributary originates at 5,290 meters on the southern slope of the Nyen...

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Image: Antoine Taveneaux | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lhasa River: Monasteries on the Banks

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. The river valley became Tibet's spiritual corridor. In 1409, the first fortress of the Gelukpa sect, Riwo Ganden Nampar Gyelpe Ling, was built on the left bank about 35 miles upstream from Lhasa. Seven years later, in 1416, the monastery of Chodra Chenpo Penden Drepung rose on th...

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Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

Lhasa River: Monsoon and Meltwater

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jesse Allen, Public domain. The Lhasa River runs on two calendars. From May onward, snowmelt and glacial melt contribute 20 to 30 percent of its flow, a steady pulse that announces the warming season. Then the summer monsoon arrives, and between July and September, the river transforms. Floods surge through...

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Image: Jesse Allen | Public domain

Lhasa River: Damming the Kyi Chu

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Laika ac from UK, CC BY-SA 2.0. Before the Austrian engineer Peter Aufschnaiter designed a dam to protect the Norbulingka, the river's relationship with Lhasa was defined by annual negotiation -- the monsoon surged, the city adapted. That relationship has been fundamentally reengineered. The Zhikong Hydro Power...

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Image: Laika ac from UK | CC BY-SA 2.0