Danba and Maerkang

Drive west from Wolong, over Balang Mountain and you enter a Tibetan area typified by an arid mountain landscape, where villages of tightly packed stone-built buildings cling to the steep slopes and the Tibetan farms found in the fertile river valleys now contain apple orchards and crops as well as livestock. Danba is around four hours drive from Wolong but the whole area on the western side of Balang Mountain and north to Maerkang (also called Barkam) shares this type of landscape. In this area we can also find another ethnic group that differ in language and culture from the Tibetans – the Qiang People. Their villages are notable for ancient watchtowers, sometimes dating back over a thousand years, whose original purpose has been lost in the mist of time.  Some villages can contain several towers and when still erect can reach up to 60 m high. But, today, most are in ruins. Some, placed at vantage points, may have been used to watch for intruders, other in villages were certainly used for storage but also must have been easily protected areas of retreat in times of trouble or even erected as a family status symbol. Today many of towers are being restored with the purpose of attracting visitors.