Lhünzhub or Linzhou is a county towards the north-east of the main centre of Lhasa

Lhasa

Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...

, Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

.

It has a population of 50,895 people as of 2000.

Geography and climate

Lhünzhub County is located in central Tibet in the Peng Po Valley, around 65 km northeast of Lhasa. It covered an area of 4512 square kilometers in 2003 and the county was established in 1857. The county was reorganized to cover more territory in 1959. The Nyainqentanglha Mountains passes through the county across the central Tibetan plateau, and eventually spread for about 600 km from west to east, beyond even the Lhasa Prefecture.

Lhünzhub has a cool dry climate with an annual temperature ranging on average between 2.9 and 5.8 degrees celsius, and the main river is the Lhasa River flowing through the Peng Po Valley, with an average elevation of 3860 meters. Natural disasters such as floods, landslides, drought, hail, avalanches etc are common.

As of 2000, Lhünzhub County has jurisdiction over one town (Lhünzhub

Lhünzhub

Lhünzhub is a town and capital of Lhünzhub County in the Lhasa Prefecture of Tibet, China. It is located northeast of Lhasa....

)and 9 townships.

Settlements

• Chunduixiang
• Gana
• Kazixiang
• Lhünzhub
  Lhünzhub
  Lhünzhub is a town and capital of Lhünzhub County in the Lhasa Prefecture of Tibet, China. It is located northeast of Lhasa....
  
  
• Mainacun
• Seronggang
• Tiangacun
• Zhujiecun

Economy

Lhünzhub County is a large agricultural county, with some 18 million mu of cultivated land, accounting for one third of the cultivated area of the Lhasa Prefecture. It has all kinds of livestock particularly yak, sheep, goats and horses.

In 2004 the county earned 350 million yuan of gross domestic product

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....

, with 2649 yuan per capita per farmer. In 2007, the economy had grown by 17%, with a GDP of 562 million yuan. 190.672 million yuan was invested in Lhünzhub county in 2003 in capital construction projects.

The main crops are highland barley, winter wheat, spring wheat, rapeseed and vegetables, with a total output of 120 million kilograms of grain. The main mineral resources are lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

, zinc

Zinc

Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...

, barite

Barite

Baryte, or barite, is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate. The baryte group consists of baryte, celestine, anglesite and anhydrite. Baryte itself is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of barium...

, coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

, gypsum

Gypsum

Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...

, etc and the main wildlife includes deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

, black-necked crane

Black-necked Crane

The Black-necked Crane is a medium-sized crane that is found on the Tibetan Plateau of Asia. It is 139 cm long with a 235 cm wingspan, and it weighs 5.5 kg . It is whitish-gray, with a black head, red crown patch, black upper neck and legs, and white patch to the rear of the eye...

s, chickens, gray duck, pheasant, Mongolian gazelle etc.

There are two hydropower stations in Lhünzhub County and Hutoushan Reservoir

Hutoushan Reservoir

Hutoushan Reservoir is a man made reservoir in Lhünzhub County, Tibet, roughly 20 miles north of Lhasa. It lies to the northeast of the village of Kazixiang and southeast of Chunduixiang.The villages of Gana, Tiangacun, Seronggang and Zhujiecun lie near the lake.-References:...

 is located towards the south. The ceramics industry has a long history and many people are employed in the crafs making pots etc. There are also speciality arts and crafts exhibitions.

The county has three major highways, and Highway 12 has a total length of more than 260 km.
In 2003, the county had 55 medical institutions including a hospital with 70 beds.

Religion

A religious county, it has a total of 37 temples, and some 1055 monks and nuns in 2003 mainly following Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...

.

Reting Monastery

Reting Monastery

Reting Monastery is an historically important Buddhist monastery in Lhünzhub County in the Lhasa Prefecture of central Tibet. It is also commonly spelled "Radreng."...

 is located in Lhünzhub County and was built in 1056 by Dromtönpa (1005–1064) and was the seat of the Kadampa

Kadampa

The Kadampa tradition was a Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist school. Dromtönpa, a Tibetan lay master and the foremost disciple of the great Indian Buddhist Master Atisha , founded it and passed three lineages to his disciples. The Kadampa were quite famous and respected for their proper and earnest...

 school of Buddhism. In 1240 the Mongols raided the monastery severely and in 1397, Tsongkhapa  had a vision of Atisha

Atisha

Atiśa Dipankara Shrijnana was a Buddhist teacher from the Pala Empire who, along with Konchog Gyalpo and Marpa, was one of the major figures in the establishment of the Sarma lineages in Tibet after the repression of Buddhism by King Langdarma .- Birth :Atisha is most commonly said to have been...

 (Kadampa's founder) and reformed the Kadampa school into the Gelugpa sect. The cultural revolution left it severely damaged but in recent years a lot of reconstruction work was done. About 160 monks reside in Reting.