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Life in Tagong, a Tibetan town in Sichuan, China

Buddhist monks and nomadic tribes in grasslands of Mount Yala lead traditional Tibetan life as they have for centuries.

On the Road to Tibet/ Please Do Not Use
The curving Sichuan-Tibet Highway can be seen from a Buddhist shrine located at the 4,298m Zheduo Shan Pass. This 2,142km road begins in Chengdu and ends in Lhasa. It is known for its breathtaking scenery, high altitudes and dangerous driving conditions. [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]
By Dave Tacon
Published On 16 Jun 2016

Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China – The sun rises over holy Mount Yala, imposing and jagged at 5,820 metres. Student nuns and monks begin their prayers at the 1,400-year-old Lhagang Monastery in Tagong, a town in the mountain-ringed grasslands of the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China.

The people of the town emerge from their stone winter houses to tend to their yaks. When the mild summer arrives at the Tibetan highlands, the semi-nomadic herders who live in the town will set off to roam the grasslands with their herds and tents as they have done for centuries.

Tagong is a frontier town of about 8,000 people on the 2,142km-long Sichuan-Tibet Highway, about a quarter of the way to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. Formerly known as the Kham region of eastern Tibet, the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is roughly the size of Nepal and has a population of mainly Tibetans.

READ MORE: India’s disappearing nomads

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Penzo, 44, is a member of a semi-nomadic Tibetan family living in the grassland of the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]
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The prayer wheels outside Lhagang Monastery in the Tagong grasslands beckon to worshippers. Lhagang Monastery was built in the year 652AD by decree of the Chinese wife of the Tibetan king Songtsan Gampo, Princess Wencheng. [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]
Tagong: On the Road to Tibet/ Please Do Not Use
Young nuns inside their shared accommodation at Ani Gompa, a nunnery linked to the Lhagang Monastery in the Tagong grasslands, say their parents sent them to live at the temple indefinitely. Nuns' families contribute 300 renminbi ($46) for housing construction, while the nuns receive a monthly stipend of 800 renminbi ($122) as well as meals from the temple. [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]
Tagong: On the Road to Tibet/ Please Do Not Use
Anidolma, 69, opens a gate of individual logs that are placed each evening at the entrance to her yard to keep her family's 27 yaks inside the home. Anidolma knows each yak's name and age. During the summer months, Anidolma and her family will travel with their yaks across the Tagong grasslands and live in a tent. [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]
Tagong: On the Road to Tibet/ Please Do Not Use
After seven years of scholarship, young monks will be able to join senior monks at Tagong Temple or elsewhere. [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]
Tagong: On the Road to Tibet/ Please Do Not Use
Anidolma, 69, back, right, and her daughter Dayko, 50, back, left, watch as Tserlan, aged seven, the daughter of Dayko's sister, tries to drive a yak with a rope near their home in Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]
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Sola, 38, washes her face in the morning at the home she shares with her mother and two daughters. [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]
Tagong: On the Road to Tibet/ Please Do Not Use
Monks stand outside Tagong Temple, one of the most significant Buddhist sites in the former Kham region, now known as the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]
 Tagong: On the Road to Tibet/ Please Do Not Use
Anidolma, 69, collects yak dung after releasing her family's 27 yaks to graze on the Tagong grasslands outside her home. Yak dung is used as a building material to reinforce stone walls as well as a fuel for fires. [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]
 Tagong: On the Road to Tibet/ Please Do Not Use
Buddhist monks and labourers work to renovate the facade of Lhagang Monastery. [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]
 Tagong: On the Road to Tibet/ Please Do Not Use
Galemnora, 16, on a motorcycle, drives a herd of yaks in a valley facing east towards the holy Mount Yala (5,820m). [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]
 Tagong: On the Road to Tibet/ Please Do Not Use
Student monks help with renovation work on the facade of Lhagang Monastery by carrying slate tablets. [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]
 Tagong: On the Road to Tibet/ Please Do Not Use
Thserlan Degi, aged 7, stands near the stone fence that surrounds the farm where she lives with her mother, grandmother and little sister. [Dave Tacon/Polaris/Al Jazeera]