Wudangzhao Monastery

Wudangzhao was founded in 1749 and grew into the largest monastery in Inner Mongolia, with some two and a half thousand rooms across more than fifty buildings, housing well over a thousand monks at its height. Unlike most Mongolian monasteries, which followed Chinese architectural models, it was built in a Tibetan style: whitewashed blocks with battered walls, flat roofs and dark window bands, stacked up a hillside in a valley of the Yinshan mountains so that the complex reads as a Tibetan village rather than a Chinese temple. Murals inside the main halls cover thousands of square metres, and a smaller monastic community continues there. The setting in a dry mountain valley is bare and striking.

What you actually see

• The Tibetan-style buildings - whitewashed blocks terraced up the hillside.
• The murals - thousands of square metres of painting inside the halls.
• The scale - the largest surviving monastery complex in Inner Mongolia.
• The mountain valley - the bare Yinshan setting around the monastery.

When to go

May to October for the best weather; winter is severely cold and exposed. Festival days bring ceremonies and masked dances. The site is quiet on ordinary weekdays.

Honest expectations

Getting there requires a car or an infrequent bus from Baotou, around ninety minutes each way. The complex is steep with a lot of stair climbing. Photography inside the halls is generally prohibited, and English interpretation is minimal.

Nearby

Baotou lies southwest; Hohhot and Dazhao are further east.