Rare ancient monastery moat discovered in Tibet

Chinese archaeologists have discovered a 700-year-old rare moat surrounding a monastery in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

"The unearthed part of the moat whirled its way about every five meters in a square manner, which has been a shape rarely found in history both at home and abroad," said Zhang Jianlin, deputy director of the Shaanxi Archeology and Research Institute.

The excavated section of the river way is 8.8 meters deep, 6 meters and 3.3 meters wide on its upside and downside respectively, said Zhang, who took charge of the excavation work.