Nyingchi
Prefecture-level city in Tibet, China
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Nyingchi (Tibetan: ཉིང་ཁྲི་གྲོང་ཁྱེར།, Wylie: nying khri grong khyer), also known as Linzhi (Chinese: 林芝; pinyin: Linzhi) or Nyingtri, is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. The administrative seat of Nyingchi is Bayi District.
Nyingchi
林芝市 · ཉིང་ཁྲི་གྲོང་ཁྱེར། | |
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An intersection in Bayi, Bayi District, Nyingchi | |
  Nyingchi Location of the seat in the Tibet Autonomous Region  Nyingchi Nyingchi (China) | |
| Coordinates (Nyingchi municipal government): 29°38′56″N 94°21′41″E | |
| Country | China |
| Autonomous region | Tibet |
| Prefecture-level city | Nyingchi |
| City seat | Bayi District (Bayi Town) |
| Area | |
• Total | 116,175 km2 (44,855 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• Total | 200,000 |
| • Density | 1.7/km2 (4.5/sq mi) |
| GDP[1] | |
| • Total | CN¥ 10.4 billion US$ 1.7 billion |
| • Per capita | CN¥ 49,039 US$ 7,873 |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard) |
| ISO 3166 code | CN-XZ-04 |
| Nyingchi | |||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||
| Chinese | 林芝 | ||||||
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| Tibetan name | |||||||
| Tibetan | ཉིང་ཁྲི་ས། | ||||||
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Nyingchi is the location of Buchu Monastery.
History
The area around Nyingchi has been settled since Tibet's prehistoric era.[2] Researchers discovered several human bones and burial groups from the Neolithic Age near the Nyang River in the 1970s, suggesting that humans in Nyingchi were engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture and led a relatively sedentary lifestyle as early as 4,000-5,000 years ago.[3] Unearthed artifacts, including net pendants and arrowheads, indicate that the inhabitants of this region, along the ancient Nyang River, Yarlung Zangbo River, and ancient lakes, were involved in both cultivation and fishing activities along the riverbanks.[4]
Initially, Nyingchi was under the dominion of the King of Kongpo. In the Sakyapa and Phagmodrupa periods (13th-16th centuries), Nyingchi emerged as the dominion of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Subsequently, in the 17th century, the Ganden Podrang was instituted, leading to the partitioning of Nyingchi into the territories of three families including Ngapoi. Nyingchi was further subdivided into Zela (རྩེ་ལ་), Qomo (ཇོ་མོ་), Xoka (ཞོ་ཁ་), and Gyamda (རྒྱ་མདའ་) dzongs. The Bomê region had long been governed by the local leader Kanam Depa and was in a condition of secession.[5]
In 1931, the Tibetan government annexed Bomê and partitioned it into two administrative divisions: Bodoi and Bomê, while the Mêdog area was reclassified as Mêdog dzong.[6]
Tibet was annexed by China in May 1951. In January 1960, the Tagong Special Department was established, and in February 1960, it was restructured as the Nyingchi Prefecture, with the Special Department located in Nyingchi County.[7] In March 2015, State Council of China sanctioned the dissolution of Nyingchi Prefecture and the creation of Nyingchi City at the prefecture level, as well as the dissolution of Nyingchi County and the establishment of Bayi District.[8][9]
Economy
Tourism
The average elevation of Nyingchi is 3,040 meters (9,974 feet), which is the lowest compared with the other prefectures in Tibet. The relatively low elevation compared to other regions of the Tibetan plateau yields a lower risk of altitude sickness. Guangdong province announced in 2012 that it plans to invest more than RMB 400 million (US$63 million) in Nyingchi's tourism industry. According to the plan, Guangdong will help build 22 "prosperous model villages" in Nyingchi in counties such as Bomê and Zayü.[10]
Nyingchi Convention and Exhibition Center (Chinese: 林芝会展中心; Tibetan: ལིན་ཀྲི་ཧྲུའེ་ལམ་ཞིབ་འཛིན་ཁང་), originally called the Nyingchi Guangdong Cultural Exhibition Center (Chinese: 林芝广东会展中心), is a convention center in the city. The province of Guandong contributed funds to the building of the center.[11] In 2018, the opening ceremony of the first Trans-Himalaya Extreme Cycling Race was held at the center's square.[12] In 2023, young artists from Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macao went to Nyingchi for performances and exchanges.[13]
Transportation
The opening ceremony was held on the morning of September 9, 2015 for the La-Lin Highway (Lhasa to Mozhugongka section) and (Gongbu Jiangda to Linzhi section) connecting Lhasa-Linzhi.[14][15] It takes about 5 hours to travel from Lhasa to Nyingchi by a highway opened at the end of 2018.[16] Nyingchi is connected to Lhasa by the 435-kilometer Lhasa–Nyingchi railway, completed in 2021. The journey from Lhasa by train takes 2.5 hours.[17]
The Linzhi Milin Airport was opened in Nyingchi in March 2017. Linzhi Airport initiated RNP navigation procedures in 2006, becoming the first airport in China to operate exclusively with RNP.[18] It is presently the sole transportation airport globally where all aircraft takeoffs and landings are mandated to adhere to RNP AR procedures, necessitating compliance with specific aircraft and crew qualifications.[19] In 2018, the construction of the Engineered materials arrestor system (EMAS) was completed at the Miling Airport.[20][21][22]
Climate
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as subtropical highland (Cwb).[23]
| Climate data for Nyingchi, elevation 2,992 m (9,816 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1981–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 19.4 (66.9) |
22.1 (71.8) |
24.0 (75.2) |
25.3 (77.5) |
28.4 (83.1) |
29.0 (84.2) |
31.4 (88.5) |
30.4 (86.7) |
30.2 (86.4) |
24.5 (76.1) |
20.8 (69.4) |
16.7 (62.1) |
31.4 (88.5) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8.9 (48.0) |
10.9 (51.6) |
13.8 (56.8) |
17.0 (62.6) |
19.7 (67.5) |
21.7 (71.1) |
22.5 (72.5) |
22.4 (72.3) |
20.7 (69.3) |
17.5 (63.5) |
14.0 (57.2) |
10.3 (50.5) |
16.6 (61.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 1.1 (34.0) |
3.3 (37.9) |
6.3 (43.3) |
9.3 (48.7) |
12.4 (54.3) |
15.4 (59.7) |
16.5 (61.7) |
16.0 (60.8) |
14.3 (57.7) |
10.5 (50.9) |
5.8 (42.4) |
2.0 (35.6) |
9.4 (48.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −4.6 (23.7) |
−2.1 (28.2) |
1.2 (34.2) |
4.3 (39.7) |
7.5 (45.5) |
11.2 (52.2) |
12.5 (54.5) |
12.0 (53.6) |
10.4 (50.7) |
5.8 (42.4) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
−3.8 (25.2) |
4.5 (40.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −15.3 (4.5) |
−13.3 (8.1) |
−10.1 (13.8) |
−4.6 (23.7) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
2.7 (36.9) |
3.9 (39.0) |
2.9 (37.2) |
−1.0 (30.2) |
−5.0 (23.0) |
−10.4 (13.3) |
−15.3 (4.5) |
−15.3 (4.5) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 2.0 (0.08) |
4.1 (0.16) |
21.2 (0.83) |
47.9 (1.89) |
80.1 (3.15) |
125.2 (4.93) |
137.4 (5.41) |
128.2 (5.05) |
110.3 (4.34) |
37.3 (1.47) |
4.3 (0.17) |
0.7 (0.03) |
698.7 (27.51) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 3.1 | 5.2 | 11.3 | 16.9 | 19.9 | 23.7 | 23.1 | 21.1 | 20.7 | 12.8 | 3.3 | 1.5 | 162.6 |
| Average snowy days | 7.3 | 10.8 | 8.4 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 4.0 | 33.8 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 49 | 51 | 57 | 62 | 65 | 72 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 65 | 55 | 51 | 63 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 189.5 | 157.3 | 167.0 | 158.0 | 161.2 | 122.1 | 131.3 | 141.2 | 132.8 | 166.4 | 191.3 | 201.3 | 1,919.4 |
| Percentage possible sunshine | 58 | 50 | 45 | 41 | 38 | 29 | 31 | 35 | 36 | 48 | 60 | 64 | 45 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration[24][25] NOAA[26] August record high[27] | |||||||||||||
Flora and fauna
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According to local forestry officials, Nyingchi hosts the country's largest primitive forest region that covers 26.4 billion cubic metres, storing over 800 million cubic metres of wood.[28] The forests of Bome, Zayu and Lhoyu have ancient dragon spruces which reach heights of over 80 metres and diameters of 2.5 metres. Wildlife species include "the Bengal tiger, leopard, bear, snub-nosed monkey, antelope and lesser panda."[28]
There are over 2,000 species of higher plants, including some 100 species of xylophyta, 165 species of medical herbs and fungus. Crops include rice, peanut, apple, orange, banana, and lemon. Agricultural products include medicinal materials, edible fungus, orange, tangerine, sugar cane, honey peach, apple, pear, grape, walnut and other fruits.[28]
Administrative subdivisions
| Map | ||||||||
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| # | Name | Hanzi | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan | Wylie | Population (2010 Census) | Area (km2) | Density (/km2) |
| 1 | Bayi District | 巴宜区 | Bāyí Qū | བྲག་ཡིབ་ཆུས། | brag yib chus | 54,702 | 8,536 | 6.40 |
| 2 | Gongbo'gyamda County | 工布江达县 | Gōngbùjiāngdá Xiàn | ཀོང་པོ་རྒྱ་མདའ་རྫོང་། | kong po rgya mda' rdzong | 29,929 | 12,960 | 2.30 |
| 3 | Mainling City | 米林市 | Mǐlín Shì | སྨན་གླིང་གྲོང་ཁྱེར། | sman gling grong khyer | 22,834 | 9,507 | 2.40 |
| 4 | Mêdog County | 墨脱县 | Mòtuō Xiàn | མེ་ཏོག་རྫོང་། | me tog rdzong | 10,963 | 31,394 | 0.34 |
| 5 | Bomê County | 波密县 | Bōmì Xiàn | སྤོ་མེས་རྫོང་། | spo mes rdzong | 33,480 | 16,770 | 1.99 |
| 6 | Zayü County | 察隅县 | Cháyú Xiàn | རྫ་ཡུལ་རྫོང་། | rdza yul rdzong | 27,255 | 31,305 | 0.87 |
| 7 | Nang County | 朗县 | Lǎng Xiàn | སྣང་རྫོང་། | snang rdzong | 15,946 | 4,114 | 3.87 |
Parts of the two counties of Zayü and Mêdog are considered by the Chinese government to be under Chinese jurisdiction as part of South Tibet.
Sister cities
Pokhara, Nepal