Ngari Prefecture
Encyclopedia
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region , Tibet or Xizang for short, also called the Xizang Autonomous Region is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China , created in 1965....
. Its capital is Gar County. Its regional headquarters is in the town of Purang
Burang Town
Burang, known as Purang in Tibetan, is the main town in Burang County in Ngari Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It is situated to the south of Mount Kailash, near the borders with India and Nepal. The town lies at an altitude of 4755 metres...
. The biggest town is Ali
Ali, Tibet
Sênggêzangbo Town , or Shiquanhe Town is a town in Tibet. It is the main town of Ngari Prefecture, and of the Gar County of that prefecture.Historically the town was also known as Ger...
. It includes part of the Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin is one of the two main disputed border areas between China and India, and the other is South Tibet, which comprises most of India's Arunachal Pradesh. It is administered by China as part of Hotan County in the Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, but is also claimed by India...
area, a disputed region claimed by India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
but over which China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
exercises administrative control. The Xinjiang-Tibet Highway
China National Highway 219
China National Highway 219 runs along the southwestern border of the People's Republic of China, from Kargilik in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to Lhazê in the Tibet Autonomous Region. It is 2,743 kilometres in length. Construction of this road was started in 1951. It was completed in 1957...
(新藏公路) passes through this area. There is a famous pre-historic culture site near the town of Rutog
Rutog Town
Rutog or Rudok is a town and seat of Rutog County in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Located in western Tibet, it is the seat of Rutog County in the Ngari Prefecture. The town has a population of about 10000 people...
.
The heart of the ancient Tibetan Guge
Guge
Guge was an ancient kingdom in Western Tibet. The kingdom was centered in present-day Zanda County, within Ngari Prefecture of Tibet Autonomous Region, China. At various points in history after 10th century AD, the kingdom held sway over a vast area including south-eastern Zanskar, Upper Kinnaur,...
kingdom was once here. Later Ngari, along with Ü and Tsang composed Ü-Tsang
Ü-Tsang
Ü-Tsang , or Tsang-Ü, is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the other two being Amdo and Kham. Geographically Ü-Tsang covered the central and western portions of the Tibetan cultural area, including the Tsang-po watershed, the western districts surrounding and extending past Mount...
, one of the traditional provinces of 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...
, the others being Amdo
Amdo
Amdo is one of the three traditional regions of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu River to the Drichu river . While culturally and ethnically a Tibetan area, Amdo has been administered by a...
and Kham
Kham
Kham , is a historical region covering a land area largely divided between present-day Tibetan Autonomous Region and Sichuan province, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces of China. During the Republic of China's rule over mainland China , most of the region was...
.
Ngari sits 4,500 meters above sea level in the northwest of Tibet, 1,600 kilometers from the regional capital Lhasa. The Gunsa Airport is expected to start operation on July 1, 2010, to become the fourth civil airport on the "Roof of the World". The other airports in Tibet are Gonggar Airport in Lhasa, Bamda Airport in Qamdo Prefecture and Nyingchi Airport. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/03/content_12377434.htm
Subdivisions
The prefecture is subdivided into seven county-level divisions: seven counties.| Map | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Name | Hanzi | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan Tibetan language The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,... |
Wylie Wylie Wylie may refer to:* Wylie * Wylie , mononymous Aboriginal companion of Edward John Eyre during his crossing of the Nullarbor Plain in Australia* Wylie, Wylie Qua, Access Diving, Gabriola Island, B.C... |
Population (2003 est.) | Area (km²) | Density (/km²) |
| 1 | Gar County Gar County Gar County is a county in the Ngari Prefecture of the western Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The main town is Shiquanhe, once known as the city of Gar and often known as Ali in English.... |
噶尔县 | Gá'ěr Xiàn | སྒར་རྫོང་ | sgar rdzong | 10,000 | 13,179 | 1 |
| 2 | Burang County Burang County Burang County is called Purang in Tibetan, and the county capital is also known as Purang in Tibetan and Taklakot in Nepali... |
普兰县 | Pǔlán Xiàn | སྤུ་ཧྲེང་རྫོང་ | spu hreng rdzong | 10,000 | 24,602 | 0 |
| 3 | Zanda County Zanda County Zanda County is a county in the Ngari Prefecture to the extreme south west of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.... |
札达县 | Zhádá Xiàn | རྩ་མདའ་རྫོང་ | rtsa mda' rdzong | 10,000 | 18,083 | 1 |
| 4 | Rutog County Rutog County Rutog County is a large western territory of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Its capital, Rutog is located some northwest of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.... |
日土县 | Rìtǔ Xiàn | རུ་ཐོག་རྫོང་ | ru thog rdzong | 10,000 | 77,096 | <1 |
| 5 | Gê'gyai County Gê'gyai County Gê'gyai County is a county in the Ngari Prefecture of the western Tibet Autonomous Region of China.The lake Donggu Co is located in Gê'gyai County.... |
革吉县 | Géjí Xiàn | དགེ་རྒྱས་རྫོང་ | dge rgyas rdzong | 10,000 | 46,117 | <1 |
| 6 | Gêrzê County Gêrzê County Gêrzê County is a county in the Ngari Prefecture of the western-central Tibet Autonomous Region of China.... |
改则县 | Gǎizé Xiàn | སྒེར་རྩེ་རྫོང་ | sger rtse rdzong | 20,000 | 135,025 | <1 |
| 7 | Coqên County Coqên County Coqên County is a county in the Ngari Prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It is located on the border in the south-west of the country.- References :... |
措勤县 | Cuòqín Xiàn | མཚོ་ཆེན་རྫོང་ | mtsho chen rdzong | 10,000 | 22,980 | <1 |
Further reading
- Bellezza, John Vincent: Zhang Zhung. Foundations of Civilization in Tibet. A Historical and Ethnoarchaeological Study of the Monuments, Rock Art, Texts, and Oral Tradition of the Ancient Tibetan Upland. Denkschriften der phil.-hist. Klasse 368. Beitraege zur Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte Asiens 61, Verlag der Oesterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 2008.
- Zeisler, Bettina. (2010). "East of the Moon and West of the Sun? Approaches to a Land with Many Names, North of Ancient India and South of Khotan." In: The Tibet Journal, Special issue. Autumn 2009 vol XXXIV n. 3-Summer 2010 vol XXXV n. 2. "The Earth Ox Papers", edited by Roberto Vitali, pp. 371-463.