First, there was Hongjue Temple, then Xining's Qingtang City

Xining is located at the intersection of Han and Tibetan ethnic groups, and has historically been a place where various ethnic groups like Tibetan, Mongolian, and Han merged. Hongjue Temple was also a place where Princess Wencheng stayed on the Tang-Tubo Ancient Road, bringing with her a 12-year-old Sakyamuni Buddha statue. Historically, Hongjue Temple existed before Qingtang Ancient City (the predecessor of Xining). So I included it as a must-visit in Xining. I saw the magnificent Three Jewels Buddhas: Sakyamuni Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, and Bhaisajyaguru Buddha, as well as the Eight Great Bodhisattvas, and the Friendship Memorial Hall of Xi Zhongxun and the 10th Panchen Lama. It displays numerous documentary photos and contributions he made to promote the integration of Han and Tibetan ethnic groups. Only then did I learn that both the 10th Panchen Lama and Tsongkhapa were from Qinghai. Speaking of the origin of Hongjue Temple, it dates back to the most well-known "hand-in-hand" moment between the Han and Tibetan peoples – the marriage of Songtsen Gampo and Princess Wencheng. On their way to Tibet, Princess Wencheng and her entourage stayed for over a month at the border of the agricultural and pastoral areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is now the Xining region, to adapt to the plateau climate and prepare supplies. During this period, she built an earthen altar to enshrine the 12-year-old life-size statue of Sakyamuni Buddha that was part of her dowry. Subsequently, the princess brought the Buddha statue to the snowy plateau, leaving behind the remains of this earthen altar, thus beginning a new legend. Centuries later, Langdarma, the last Zampo of Tubo, banned and destroyed Buddhism. Many eminent monks fled, and three of them – Tsang Rabsal, Yo Gejung, and Ma Shakya – escaped to Qinghai to live in seclusion and practice, becoming known as the Three Sages. To comply with Buddhist precepts, the Three Sages invited two eminent Han Buddhist monks to jointly ordain and teach their disciple, Lachen Gongpa Rabsal, in Danduo. In 941 AD, Lachen Gongpa Rabsal and several Tibetan and Han eminent monks founded Hongjue Temple on the site where Princess Wencheng had built an altar to enshrine the Buddha statue. It can be said that from its very inception, the dharma lineage of Hongjue Temple flowed with the joint efforts of different ethnic groups. During the Northern Song Dynasty, King Zongka Gushila built Qingtang City, which is today's Xining, leaving behind the saying, "First, there was Hongjue Temple, then Qingtang City." In the Yuan Dynasty, Koden and Kublai Khan successively invited Sakya Pandita and his nephew Phagpa to spread Buddhism there. Sakya Pandita and Phagpa were also participants in another historical tale of ethnic unity – the Liangzhou Alliance. In 1247 AD, the Mongol prince Koden and the Tibetan religious leader, the eminent Tibetan Buddhist monk Sakya Pandita, formed an alliance in Liangzhou. In the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle bestowed the temple name "Hongjue Temple." To this day, inscriptions from the Yongle and Xuande periods can still be seen on the beams of the temple's ancient buildings. During the Ming Dynasty alone, five eminent monks from this temple were granted the title of National Preceptor, and three Dharma Kings resided there to preach and teach the Dharma. The young Tsongkhapa also studied Buddhism here, making Hongjue Temple a preeminent monastery in the Qingtang region.