Yaqing Monastery in Ganzi

Yaqing Monastery in Baiyu County, Ganzi, Sichuan, is home to more than 20,000 female practitioners (called "Jue Mu"), earning it the nickname "Daughter Kingdom." Yaqing Monastery is a sacred site for the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. The most unique feature is its core area, "Jue Mu Island," where adult males are prohibited from entering, and boys underage must leave before 7 p.m. The monastic life here is very harsh; the Jue Mu live in small wooden huts they build themselves, and during the "Hundred-Day Retreat" in winter, they even chant scriptures in temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius. Photo by friend Zheng Shuofang.