Zongjiagou

Zongjiagou

Zongjiagou is located 16 kilometers southwest of Huangyuan. The area features rugged mountains, crisscrossing peaks, and a valley that opens to the outside beyond the mountain pass, making it strategically advantageous for advance and retreat. The climate inside the valley is pleasant, with lush forests and gushing mountain springs, offering stunning scenery and making it highly suitable for human habitation. There are over a hundred caves of various sizes, forming the most densely concentrated cave complex in the Haidong region. It is suitable for a larger ethnic group to live and thrive here year-round.

Several large caves have naturally formed patterns on their ceilings, breathtakingly beautiful, which inevitably bring to mind ancient texts describing the Queen Mother of the West’s stone chambers—jade halls adorned with pearls and glittering like a divine palace. Cave No. 1 and Cave No. 2 each cover an area of over 200 square meters and are now occupied by the Bodhisattva and Lüzu. Cave No. 3 has not yet been claimed by any deities; it spans nearly 300 square meters and is spacious and majestic. Outside the cave, the scenery is striking: to the right is a steep cliff of hundred-foot red sandstone, and to the left is a gentle slope covered with pine trees. At the cave entrance, rugged stone steps descend along the right wall. In front lies a 3,000-square-meter “plaza” that could accommodate thousands of people for gatherings. At the entrance of the plaza, there are two distinct remnants of ancient fortified passes. If this place was chosen by the Queen Mother of the West as her residence back then, it would certainly be considered an excellent site. The other caves vary in size and have mostly been used by later generations as sheepfolds, with sheep dung accumulating several feet thick. Many cave walls are covered with thick layers of soot, indicating that they have been inhabited by generations of people.

In 1992, a Japanese expedition led by the renowned scholar Takeshi Yoshida, known as the Western Queen Mother Research Group of Japan, came to Qinghai for investigation. After traveling tens of thousands of miles, they published a monograph upon their return. In the text, using the ancient Chinese unit of distance “li” from the Zhou Dynasty to measure King Mu’s travels, they concluded that the Xining area was the “front courtyard” of the Queen Mother of the West. The Queen Mother’s stone chambers should be located 120 li west of Xining—not west of the Riyue Mountain—but Zongjiagou is exactly at that distance. The Japanese scholars had no academic preconceptions and no intention of competing for cultural resources, so their insights are worthy of our reference.

Furthermore, looking at the environment around Zongjiagou, within the territory of Huangyuan County at the border with Gonghe, at the eastern end of the Riyue Mountain Range, there stands a majestic mountain that abruptly rises into the clouds. It is dark bluish-black in color, with an elevation of 4,898 meters, making it the highest peak in the region near Qinghai Lake, dominating the view of Qinghai Lake and the upper reaches of the Huangshui River. On the map, this mountain is labeled as Yeniushan (Wild Ox Mountain). However, locals refer to it as “Suorege” Mountain, which in Tibetan means “Mother of All.” It is regularly worshipped with grand ceremonies. Among the people around the lake, the one who could be called the Mother of All is likely the “Wanzhang Queen Mother,” also known as “Chixue Jiamo.” Scholars such as Songba Yixi have verified that Chixue Jiamo is indeed the Queen Mother of the West. Moreover, the Tibetan customs in this area differ from those of other Tibetan regions. For example, they worship water and offer water rituals to the heavens, and their funeral customs are even more unique—those with surnames are buried in coffins, while those without surnames follow a different practice. The Tibetans with surnames are mostly surnamed Yang. The “Hundred Gods Chart” records: “The Queen Mother of the West resides in the Kunlun Mountains of the west. Her surname is Yang, and her given name is Hui.” The ancient Qiang people, especially those in the Hehuang region, practiced coffin pit burials. The Dahua tombs are an example of this burial style. Therefore, I suspect that this group of Tibetans are descendants of the Qiang people, direct relatives of the Queen Mother of the West, and descendants of a tribe that has worshipped the Queen Mother of the West for generations.