Dege Sutra Printing House

The Parkhang at Dege was founded in 1729 and has printed continuously since, holding somewhere around three hundred thousand woodblocks carved with Tibetan texts across the major schools, including works that survive nowhere else. Printing is done as it always was: two men sit facing each other on a bench, one inking the block, the other laying and rubbing the paper, working at a speed that produces thousands of sheets a day, while the building around them stores blocks in racks from floor to ceiling. Pilgrims circumambulate the building, and the smell of ink and paper fills the upper floors.

What you actually see

• The printing benches - pairs of printers working blocks by hand at speed.
• The block stores - racks of carved woodblocks filling the upper floors.
• The carvers - craftsmen cutting replacement and new blocks.
• The pilgrim circuit - people walking around the building in prayer.

When to go

May to October, when the roads over the passes are reliably open; winter access is difficult and cold. Printing runs on working days. Dege sits above 3,200 metres.

Honest expectations

Dege is very remote, a day or more of bus travel over high passes from Kangding. Photography inside is restricted in places. The building is dim and crowded with pilgrims and workers.

Nearby

Ganzi lies east; the Tibet border is west.