Zhangzhung

Transcriptions
Zhangzhung
Tibetan name
Tibetan	ཞང་ཞུང་
Lhasa IPA
Transcriptions
Lhasa IPA	ɕaŋɕuŋ
Chinese name
Chinese	象雄
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Xiàngxióng

Zhangzhung
ཞང་ཞུང་
Zhangzhung ཞང་ཞུང་
c. 500 BC–625 AD
	Alchon; Huns Hephthalites Sassanian; Empire Gupta; Empire Vakatakas Zhangzhung class=notpageimage\| General location of Zhangzhung, with contemporary neighbouring polities c. AD 500
Capital	Kyunglung
Common languages	Zhang-Zhung language
Religion	Bön
Government	Monarchy
Brtsanpo
Historical era	Iron Age? to Classical Antiquity
• Established	c. 500 BC
• Conquest of Songtsen Gampo	625 AD
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Neolithic Tibet
Yarlung dynasty
Tibetan Empire
Today part of	China; India; Nepal

Zhangzhung or Shangshung was an ancient kingdom in western and northwestern Tibet, pre-dating Tibetan Buddhism. Zhangzhung culture is associated with the Bon religion, which has influenced the philosophies and practices of Tibetan Buddhism. Zhangzhung people are mentioned frequently in ancient Tibetan texts as the original rulers of today's western Tibet. Only in the last two decades have archaeologists been given access to do field work in the areas once ruled by the Zhangzhung.

^ Aldenderfer, Mark (2007). "Defining Zhang Zhung ethnicity: an archaeological perspective from far western Tibet". In Amy Heller and Giacomella Orofino (ed.). Discoveries in Western Tibet and the Western Himalayas: Essays on History, Literature, Archaeology and Art. Tibetan Studies, Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, 2003. Leiden: Brill. pp. 1–22. ISBN 978-90-04-15520-6.

[Aldenderfer2007-1] Aldenderfer, Mark (2007). "Defining Zhang Zhung ethnicity: an archaeological perspective from far western Tibet". In Amy Heller and Giacomella Orofino (ed.). Discoveries in Western Tibet and the Western Himalayas: Essays on History, Literature, Archaeology and Art. Tibetan Studies, Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, 2003. Leiden: Brill. pp. 1–22. ISBN 978-90-04-15520-6.

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