A topic as it changes from season to season
- January -

The beauty of the nature of Four Girls Mountains (6250m) is good known. However, there will still be few persons who know about the peculiar culture of the "rGyalrong" (the Queen Valley) district where has Four Girls Mountains. The word "rGyalrong" is derived from the "rGyalmorong" in ancient Tibetan that means the valley of the queen. (This area is generally called "Jiarong" in Chinese).
The Queen Valley is in the Trans-Himalayas. It is the ancient name of the upper reaches of the Daduhe River (one of the source of the Changjiang River) such as the Big Gold River and the Small Gold River. A lot of peoples moved in to this area from the ancient times and were blended with aboriginal peoples. Above all, the immigration of a clan called the Queendom (it means the Shanshun) in Sui-Shu (a history book of the Sui period 581-618 in China) is the most interesting. This clan was prosperous in the Queen Valley, and was named the Eastern Queendom in Tang-Shu (a history book of the Tang period 618-907 in China).
The Shanshun prospered for long at all over the Tibet, but it was exterminated by Tufan Kingdom and most of their cultures were lost. However a part of the cultures of the Shanshun was inherited in the Queen Valley. It's vestige has been left such as in the mural painting and the ruins of the manor house still now. The mural painting is a kind of the god of a land what was called the queen of the lake in the Shanshun. It has the jar what filled the liquor of the life in the left hand.
The highest peak of Four Girls Mountains 6250m (FGM) of the alpenglow
Also, the high stone-piled tower where is studded among here and there in the village attracts attention worldwide, and the activity to register these tower as the UNESCO World Inheritance is promoted. (Four Girls Mountains was registered as UNESCO World Nature Inheritance in July 2006.)
The legend what the land is guarded by the gods of the mountain and the lake is inherited from the Shanshun era in Tibet. Also the same legend lives in the Queen Valley, and the Four Girls Mountains is worshiped as one of the gods.

Produced by Kenzo Okawa
Particular adviser of Four Girls Mountains Nature Reserve Management Bureau