Nanwu temple, Kangding, 1929

nanwu1, originally uploaded by jiulong.

Here is another interesting example of how little has changed in the temples of Kham over the last eighty years. Compare this photograph taken by Joseph Rock of a corner of the Nanwu lama temple in Kangding [then known as Tatsienlu] in 1929 with the one below.

There are the same oven-like structures for burning juniper boughs in both pictures. And note how the 1929 temple has those blue yellow white and red prayer flags strung up - these are now in common use again in Kham.

However, despite the similarities in buidlilng structure I suspect that the main structures on the left have either been reconstructed or extensively renovated since the first picture. It seems likely though that the main building [left] is one and the same in both pictures.