College of Zorig Chusum, Trashi Yangtse

The College of Zorig Chusum in Trashi Yangtse is one of two institutions in Bhutan that train young people in the traditional crafts — the other is in Thimphu. Visitors walk the workshops while classes are working. Term time only; allow an hour to an hour and a half.

What you’ll see

Workshops, and students being corrected in them. The reason to come here rather than only to the Thimphu school is shagzo — wood turning, which is this district’s craft rather than a national one.

A dapa is a Bhutanese wooden bowl, and a dza phob a wooden cup, and they come from Trashi Yangtse the way kishuthara silk comes from Khoma. They are turned from zaa — burl, the knotted outgrowth on a tree rather than any particular species of tree. Local burl has become scarce enough that turners here now buy it in from Wangdue and Trongsa, halfway across the country.

What are the thirteen crafts?

Carpentry (shingzo), masonry (dozo), carving (parzo), painting (lhazo), sculpting (jinzo), bronze casting (lugzo), blacksmithing (garzo), ornament making (trozo), cane and bamboo work (tsharzo), weaving (thagzo), tailoring and embroidery (tshemzo), wood turning (shagzo) and papermaking (dezo).

They were formally codified late in the 17th century, under the fourth Druk Desi, Gyalse Tenzin Rabgye (1638–1694) — which is late enough to be worth noticing: the crafts are much older than the list of them.

How many are taught here we cannot honestly tell you. Published counts run from six to ten, they disagree with each other, and the college’s own website has gone dark. Wood turning is the safe expectation. Ask us for the rest.

When you can visit

In term time, and the holidays are long. No published timetable for visitors survives checking — not the days, not the hours — so your guide confirms before you drive out. It is the same rule we apply to the Thimphu institute, where the days at least are known.

Ask before photographing a student at work. They are being assessed while you watch.

How it fits your day

The college is five minutes from Chorten Kora and just outside Trashi Yangtse town, so the two of them go together easily. But four hours of the day are spent driving out and back from Trashigang, which leaves room for about three stops — so the college is a swap for the dzongs or for Gom Kora on the way, not an addition to them.

Where it came from

It opened in 1997 as the Trashiyangtse Institute for Zorig Chusum, under what was then the National Technical Training Authority. It is now the College of Zorig Chusum, one of ten technical institutions under the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, running certificate and diploma courses.

Most guidebooks and most of the internet still call it the Institute, or the School of 13 Traditional Arts and Crafts. So does our own URL, which we have left alone.

See things to do in Trashi Yangtse for the rest of the district.