In the last place in China without road access, lies the mysterious and brutal blood sacrifice
Motuo County is situated in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River and the southern part of the Kangri Garpo mountain range of the Himalayas. In Tibetan, it means "the hidden lotus blossoming land." There are many types of primitive forests in Motuo, rich in species. It is famous as the last county in China without road access, and also highly regarded by backpackers for its extremely treacherous journey, making it a very popular hiking route.
This is the last place in China without road access, where locals live a nearly isolated, primitive life. One can enter Motuo on foot or by rented vehicle from Bayi Town in Nyingchi or Bomi County. The 120-kilometer mountain road from Pai Township to Motuo has seen the Motuo Highway intermittently operational. Before this, to reach the “heart of the lotus,” one had to measure every step on foot—120 kilometers in four days, with the highest altitude over 5,000 meters and an average elevation of 1,200 meters in Motuo. The journey involves crossing snow-capped mountains, passing through leech-infested areas, traversing dense forests, and facing frequent landslides, falling rocks, and mudslides—it’s truly a road of life and death.
Upon entering Motuo County, one can witness within hours the diverse and spectacular natural landscapes ranging from alpine frigid zones to tropical rainforests, earning it the reputation as the “Xishuangbanna of Tibet.” Liu Zanting, the leader of Qing soldiers who came here at the end of the Qing Dynasty to secure the border, was deeply moved by this and remarked about Motuo: “The forest spreads for thousands of miles, flowers and trees cover the mountains, vines serve as bridges—it is truly a paradise on earth...” This offers an incisive description of the subtropical rainforest in the high mountain valleys of the region.
Since the liberation of Motuo, the government selected five road construction routes and put them into action. However, due to various reasons, vehicles were ultimately never able to successfully enter Motuo.
In the 1990s, the 141-kilometer-long Zhamo-Motuo Highway (from Zhamu Town in Bomi County to Motuo) was completed. This highway, built at great expense, only saw one car drive on it before being declared scrapped, and that car became a permanent “relic” upon reaching Motuo. The road was overgrown with shrubs and weeds, many sections of the roadbed had collapsed, some areas had turned into massive landslides, and the bridges erected along the way were left with only rusted steel frames.
On April 20, 2009, the groundbreaking ceremony for the new reconstruction project of the Motuo Highway was held at the Galongla Snow Mountain Pass. The official start of this project marked the end of the history of counties in China without road access.
On the morning of October 31, 2013, the opening ceremony of the Motuo Highway was held at the 80-kilometer mark on the road from Bomi to Motuo County in Nyingchi, Tibet, declaring the official opening of the last county in China without road access.
The world’s first blood pool was unearthed in Motuo County. A blood pool is a mechanism used to prevent doors from being opened, utilizing human blood to relax an immensely strong fiber. In "Tibet Code," a blood pool is described as a mechanism that is visually unsettling because it involves soaking various human organs (many of them) in different blood pools. But it is highly effective as a defense mechanism, since the mechanism only opens when the correct organ is placed in the correct blood pool, using the distinct functions of the organs to produce the liquid needed to activate it—it is a product of human sacrifice.
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