Gyirong County
County in Tibet, China
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kyirong[2] or Gyirong County (Tibetan: སྐྱིད་གྲོང་རྫོང་།), also known by its Chinese name Jilong (Chinese: 吉隆县),[3] is a county of the Shigatse Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China.[4] It is famous for its mild climatic conditions and its abundant vegetation which is unusual for the Tibetan plateau. The capital lies at Zongga (Gungthang). Its name in Tibetan, Dzongka, means "mud walls".
Kyirong County
吉隆县 • སྐྱིད་གྲོང་རྫོང་། Gyirong, Jilong | |
|---|---|
Tso Drolung (Drolung Lake) | |
.png) Location of Gyirong County (red) within Shigatse City (yellow) and the Tibet Autonomous Region | |
  Kyirong Location of the seat in Tibet  Kyirong Kyirong (China) | |
| Coordinates: 28°51′16″N 85°17′48″E | |
| Country | China |
| Autonomous region | Tibet |
| Prefecture-level city | Shigatse |
| County seat | Dzongka |
| Area | |
• Total | 9,019.7 km2 (3,482.5 sq mi) |
| Population (2020)[1] | |
• Total | 17,536 |
| • Density | 1.9442/km2 (5.0354/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard) |
| Website | www |
| Gyirong County | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 吉隆县 | ||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 吉隆縣 | ||||||||
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| Tibetan name | |||||||||
| Tibetan | སྐྱིད་གྲོང་རྫོང་། | ||||||||
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It is one of the four counties that comprise the Qomolangma National Nature Preserve (Kyirong, Dinggyê, Nyalam, and Tingri).[5]
In 1945, Peter Aufschnaiter counted 26 temples and monasteries which covered the area of Gyirong and the neighboring La-sdebs. The most famous temple of Gyirong is the Byams-sprin lha-khang, erected by the famous Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo as one of the four Yang-´dul temples in the 7th century A.D. During the 11th century, the famous South Asian scholar Atisha visited Gyirong. Gyirong was one of the favorite meditation places of the Tibetan Yogin Milarepa.
The local Kyirong language has been researched thoroughly and folk literature of this region was collected and published during the 1980's.
Special places
Of outstanding importance are the Byams-sprin lha-khang temple, which was built in the 7th century A. D., and the ´Phags-pa lha-khang temple. The ´Phags-pa lha-khang formerly contained one of the holiest Avalokiteshvara statues of Tibet, the statue of the Ārya Va-ti bzang-po. This statue was brought to India in 1959 and is now kept in Dharamsala.
Of some importance is the bKra-shis bdam-gtan gling monastery, founded by Yeshe Gyaltsen (1713–1793), who was one of the teachers of the 8th Dalai Lama.
Lake Paiku is in this county. This is a 27 km (17 mi) long, slightly salty lake surrounded by snowy peaks 5,700 to 6,000 m (18,700 to 19,700 ft) high. Secondly, there is Sanjen Valley which is located at the foot of Sanchen Glaciers and Yangra Mountain. It is also called a Hidden Valley of Tibet. It is very small valley where there are many yak shed but not any human settlement and only used seasonally by the Nomadic peoples of Nepal and Tibet.
Administration divisions
Gyirong County is divided into 2 towns and 4 townships.
| Name | Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan | Wylie | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Towns | ||||||
| Dzongka Town (Zongga) |
宗嘎镇 | Zōnggā zhèn | རྫོང་དགའ་གྲོང་རྡལ། | rdzong dga' grong rdal | ||
| Kyirong Town (Gyirong) |
吉隆镇 | Jílóng zhèn | སྐྱིད་གྲོང་གྲོང་རྡལ། | skyid grong grong rdal | ||
| Townships | ||||||
| Drakna Township | 差那乡 | Chànà xiāng | བྲག་སྣ་ཤང་། | brag sna shang | ||
| Trepa Township | 折巴乡 | Zhébā xiāng | ཀྲེ་པ་ཤང་། | kre pa shang | ||
| Gungtang Township | 贡当乡 | Gòngdāng xiāng | གུང་ཐང་ཤང་། | gung thang shang | ||
| Sale Township | 萨勒乡 | Sàlè xiāng | ས་ལེ་ཤང་། | sa le shang | ||
Transportation
Up to 1960, one of the main trade routes between Nepal and Tibet passed through this region. Easily accessible from Nepal, it was used several times as an entrance gate for military actions from the site of Nepal against Tibet. In 2017, Chinese soldiers began building a new road on the Tibetan side of the border, and intend to continue construction into Nepal via Rasuwa pending approval from Kathmandu.[6]
A possibility of a transborder railway link along a similar route (Gyirong to Kathmandu via Rasuwa) is considered as well.[7]
