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Gyirong County

Coordinates: 28°51′16″N 85°17′48″E / 28.85444°N 85.29667°E / 28.85444; 85.29667
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Kyirong County
吉隆县 • སྐྱིད་གྲོང་རྫོང་།
Gyirong, Jilong
County
Tso Drolung (Drolung Lake)
Tso Drolung (Drolung Lake)
Location of Gyirong County (red) within Xigazê City (yellow) and the Tibet Autonomous Region
Location of Gyirong County (red) within Xigazê City (yellow) and the Tibet Autonomous Region
Kyirong is located in Tibet
Kyirong
Kyirong
Location of the seat in Tibet
Kyirong is located in China
Kyirong
Kyirong
Kyirong (China)
Coordinates: 28°51′16″N 85°17′48″E / 28.85444°N 85.29667°E / 28.85444; 85.29667
CountryChina
Autonomous regionTibet
Prefecture-level cityShigatse
County seatDzongka
Area
 • Total
9,019.7 km2 (3,482.5 sq mi)
Population
 (2020)[1]
 • Total
17,536
 • Density1.9/km2 (5.0/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+8 (China Standard)
Websitewww.jilong.gov.cn
Gyirong County
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese吉隆县
Traditional Chinese吉隆縣
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinJílóng Xiàn
Tibetan name
Tibetanསྐྱིད་གྲོང་རྫོང་།
Transcriptions
Wylieskyid grong rdzong
THLkyi rong dzong
Tibetan PinyinGyirong Zong

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 climatically 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".

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 sKyid-grong and the neighboring La-sdebs. The most famous temple of sKyid-grong is the Byams-sprin lha-khang, erected by the famous Tibetan king Srong-btsan sgam-po (Songtsän 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 sKyi-grong. sKyid-grong was one of the favorite meditation places of the Tibetan Yogin Mi-la ras-pa (Milarepa).

The local Kyirong language has been researched thoroughly and folk literature of this region was collected and published during the 1980s.

Special places

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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 yongs-´dzin Ye-shes rgyal-mtshan (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

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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

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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]

Maps

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  • Map including part of Kyirong County (AMS, 1955)
    Map including part of Kyirong County (AMS, 1955)
  • Map including "Gyirong (Zongga)" (DMA, 1985)
    Map including "Gyirong (Zongga)" (DMA, 1985)

References

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  1. ^ "日喀则市第七次全国人口普查主要数据公报" (in Chinese). Government of Xigazê. 2021-07-20. Archived from the original on 2021-10-26. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  2. ^ Dorje 2004, p. 327.
  3. ^ "Geographical names of Tibet AR (China): Xigazê Prefecture-Level City". KNAB Place Name Database. Institute of the Estonian Language. 2018-06-03.
  4. ^ Croddy, E. (2022). China’s Provinces and Populations: A Chronological and Geographical Survey. Springer International Publishing. p. 698. ISBN 978-3-031-09165-0. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  5. ^ Department of Forestry, Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China, ‘’Report on Protected Lands in the Tibet Autonomous Region’’ Lhasa: Tibet Autonomous Region Government Publishing House, 2006
  6. ^ Lhuboom; Richard Finney (September 8, 2017). "China Builds Road to Nepal Border, Sets Up Flag". Translated by Damdul, Dorjee. Radio Free Asia. The group, which appeared on Sept. 1 at Nepal's border with Kyirong county in the Tibet Autonomous Region, distributed food and clothing to the Nepalese, promising to help them with the roadwork and other construction projects in Nepal if permission can be obtained from government authorities in Kathmandu, a resident of the area told RFA's Tibetan Service.
  7. ^ "The Uneasy Future of the Nepal-China Railway". 2019-06-20.

Bibliography

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