Gyantse Dzong, Fortress in Gyangzê County, China

Gyantse Dzong is a fortress of pale tan and whitewashed stone rising in stepped tiers along a grey-brown rock spur above Gyantse. Sheer windowless walls face downslope, with rows of small dark windows in the upper facades and flat roofs; the highest block sits near the ridge top. The entrance is on the eastern side.

A fortress attributed to Pelkhor-tsen, son of King Langdharma (reigned 838–841), stood here as Gyel-khar-tse; the present walls were supposedly built in 1268 under Sakyapa power. In 1365 Prince Phakpa Pelzangpo added a large palace, and his son Kungpa Phakpa expanded the complex and built the hilltop temple Samphel Rinchenling. On 6 July 1904, after a siege, British artillery breached the wall and Gurkha and British troops captured the fort; John Duncan Grant received the Victoria Cross.

The name Gyantse derives from Gyel-khar-tse, meaning "peak of the king's fortress," later shortened to Gyantse. The ruined walls still hold 14th-century murals in Newari and Gyantse styles, and the Samphel Rinchenling temple stands beside the castle. Since 1995, Feng Xiaoning's film Red River Valley has made the 1904 siege widely known in China.

The entrance is on the eastern side; a stepped path leads up the front of the ridge, while a road on the rear side reaches the meeting hall of the former Gyantse dzong government at mid-height. From the summit the Nyang River valley and Pelkor Chode monastery lie below. The site holds an anti-British cannon platform, a cliff-edge memorial at the north side, and a stone stele recording the 1791 frontier inspection by the Qing resident ministers Songyun and Hening.

The 1791 cannon "Yellow Brothers", used by Qing general Fuk'anggan, was fired again by Tibetan defenders at the British in 1904 from a battery on the ridge. A stele carved in 1795 records the border inspections of the Qing resident Songyun and He Ning.