Tibetan pilgrim circumnambulating around Dege Scripture Printing House, Dege, Sichuan, China

In 1729, building work began on the Sutra Printing House at Dege, what was to become the most important repository of wood-block Buddhist scriptures in the Buddhist world. The then ruler of Dege, Chokyi Tenpa Tsering, chose the site by the Genqqing Oupu River following auspicious omens. The building was expanded between 1725 and 1744, and these have continued, with restoration, ever since. Known in Tibetan as the Dege Parkhang, the Printing House is within Gengqing Temple, and is larger even than the Lhasa Sutra Printing House. A constant stream of pilgrims and local people circumnambulate the building, in acknowledgment of its special status. Dege, now the county seat, was once the capital of Dege kingdom, one of the largest in Kham.