The building on Maggie Amy's left has now become a fast food restaurant, Pizza Hut and KFC. Opening a fast food restaurant in Barkhor Street will arouse people's criticism. After all, it is a Buddhist holy land, which is somewhat less solemn.
There is a prayer flag post in front of the fast food restaurant. It is said that Master Zong Kaba, the founder of Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, founded the Summoning Dafa Society in Lhasa and erected five flags in Barkhor Street. After the summoning of Dafa, people erected this flagpole at the place where the flag was planted to commemorate it. There is also a walking stick on the flagpole that follows Master Zong Kaba across the mountains and rivers in Tibet.
The alley to the left of the prayer column is Lu Gu Lane 1. Out of Barkhor Street, walk along Lu Gu Lane, and there is a compound called Ban Da Cang Compound. The building of this compound has Tibetan characteristics and is a national key cultural relic protection unit.
Now it has become a commercial hotel. This compound used to be the residence of the Bunda family, the largest businessman in Tibet. "Bangda" is a transliteration of Tibetan, and "Cang" means home. There used to be a folk song in Tibet: Bangdacang owns the sky and Bangdacang owns the earth. It can be seen that the prosperity of Bangda Cang at that time was unparalleled.
The owners of this building, Bangdacang and his son, are Mangkang people in eastern Tibet. Their father, Bondani Jiang, and their sons, Bonda Yang Pei and Bonda Dorje, have successively served as commercial officials of the local government in Tibet. Because of its close relationship with the upper class, this family obtained the title of nobility and the exclusive right to export wool and cow hair. In just ten years, he became the richest man in Tibet, with semicolons all over India, the mainland and Tibet.
When it comes to Bundacang, we have to talk about the ancient tea-horse road. The ancient tea-horse road is a commercial corridor formed in the Yunnan-Sichuan-Tibet triangle. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, this ancient road has become a corridor for political, economic and cultural exchanges between the mainland and the frontier.
This ancient road is divided into two parts. One is from Xishuangbanna and Simao in southern Yunnan via Lincang, Baoshan, Dali, Nujiang, Lijiang and Diqing to Ganzi in Sichuan and Qamdo, Chayu, Bomi, Linzhi and Lhasa in Tibet, and then to Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, India and Afghanistan. The other one starts from Ya 'an, Sichuan, passes through Kangding to Zuogong, Changdu, and meets the road in Yunnan.
Scholars believe that the ancient tea-horse road and the Silk Road in the north together constitute China's external transportation network, and the north and the south echo each other.
Bangda warehouse used mules and horses to transport goods, which made the ancient tea-horse road more prosperous. "The bells of Bangda's caravan have been ringing on the ancient tea-horse road for more than half a century."
Why can Bangda Cang exclusively contract wool and precious medicinal materials, the most important and strategic materials in Tibet, for several years? The most important reason is the strong economic strength of Bonda Warehouse. At that time, there were neither banks nor money houses in Tibet, and there was a lack of economic talents. Bangdacang has abundant talents and rich experience in import and export, which not only has sufficient liquidity, but also has huge foreign exchange, making it famous inside and outside Tibet and even at home and abroad.
Bonda Gongjue Mu Wang, a descendant of Bonda Cang, said: "Bonda Cang has no secrets in doing business, is honest and hardworking, has a flexible mind, dares to take risks and is not afraid of hardships. These are all necessary conditions for a businessman. If we have to say that Bangdacang has secrets, I think there are five: one is to make friends, the other is to pay attention to honesty, the third is to be good at discovering and using talents, the fourth is not to make huge profits, and the fifth is to repay the society. ..... The key to why Bangdacang can expand its business is keeping its promise. Keeping promises is also reflected in the time to keep them. If you have an appointment with someone, you must keep your promise and wait for them. Also, Kangba people are arrogant, but they are afraid of being soft and hard. If people are kind to Kangba people, Kangba people will be doubly kind to others. This is the case with people in Banda Cang. "
There is a stone tablet in front of Bonda Warehouse, which says Bonda Warehouse. Walking in from the heavy porch is an open yard. This is a typical aristocratic mansion building. Go up the stone steps and you reach the second floor. Looking around, the blue railings and red pillars are slightly solemn, and the yellow walls are painted with patterns of hidden treasures. Walking in the corridor is like walking into that era. The classical temperament of this house permeates into the modern times and lingers.
Now it has become a hotel, and all the people living in it are tourists. People can't help feeling that "in the old society, Wang Xietang died in front of swallows and flew into the homes of ordinary people."
According to the historical records of Banda Cang, the main building is three stories high, facing south, and there is a big yard. The circular two-story building surrounds the courtyard, which sets off the tall and solemn style of the main building and maintains the rich human touch of the private house. The rich national characteristics reveal the magnificent style, which is a highlight of the traditional national architecture in Barkhor Street. In the use of building materials, Tibetan dwellings adopt the method of adapting to local conditions and using local materials, mostly civil structures. In the 1940s, modern building materials such as cement, steel bars, glass and steel frames entered the building field in Tibet. Tibetan architecture, represented by Bandacang Courtyard, not only uses wooden roof and aga floor, but also uses reinforced doors and windows and cement beams imported from India.
The third floor is an open-air balcony. There are several small houses on the balcony, and now it is the kitchen.