The Machen county has the famous Amnye Machen range, which forms the large bend of the Yellow River, is the ancestral homeland of the Golok; and the sacred abode of the protector deity, Machen Pomra, revered by Bonpo and Buddhists alike. As recently as 1949 there had been reports suggesting that the highest peak of this isolated range exceeded the height of Mount Everest; it was only during the 1950s and 1960s that the height was fixed at 6,282 meters. The county of Machen includes the entire pilgrim’s circuit around the range. The county capital is located at Tawo (Machen), 209 km from Tsogyenrawa (Ch Huashixia) and 68 kilometers from Rabgya Monastery on the banks of the Yellow River.
