Pargor Subdistrict

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Chinese. (May 2020) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Chinese article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Chinese Wikipedia article at [[:zh:乔塔钦]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|zh|乔塔钦}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

The Barkhor Square or Barkhor (known also as Pargor Subdistrict, Tibetan: བར་སྐོར་, Wylie: bar-skor, ZYPY: Pargor; Chinese: 八廓; pinyin: bākuò), is an historic area of narrow streets and a public square with markets, and the circumambulation route around the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa,^[1] Tibet, China.

The Barkhor is a popular devotional circumambulation around the historic Jokhang for pilgrims and locals. The walk is about a kilometre long and encircles the entire Jokhang Temple complex, the former seat of the Nechung Oracle in Lhasa called the Muru Nyingba Monastery, and a number of former nobles' houses including Tromzikhang and Jamkhang. There are four large incense burners (sangkangs) in the four cardinal directions, with incense burning constantly, to please the gods protecting the Jokhang.^[2] The Tromzikhang market is busy in the Barkhor, and the area is a major tourist attraction.

Because the Jokhang Temple has also become a symbolic centre of Tibetan protests since 1987, the Barkhor has also seen many demonstrations. When the 14th Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, many of his supporters threw tsampa around the Barkhor to celebrate. After the central government denounced the prize, residents who continued such demonstrations were arrested.^[3] The square was briefly closed by riot police during the 2008 Lhasa protests.^[4]