LHASSA

LHASSA (seat of the gods), the capital of Tibet. It is the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.

It was the metropolis of the Buddhist world in the Chinese Empire, stands in the middle of a plain 11,900 ft. above the sea-level. On a hill in the north-west of the centre of the city, a conical hill called Potala, amid temples and palaces, was the residence of the Grand Lama. There were monasteries, 15 in number, and the priests 20,000, and it was the centre of the caravan trade.