Luchu County, also spelled as “Luqu County” belongs to Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture,
“Luqu” is Tibetan homophony of river originating here—Taohe, which means spring river. Natural landscape in Luchu integrates snow-capped mountains, grasslands, forests, stone forests, rivers, etc. Annual Xianglang Festival is a grand event for Tibetan people
Location
It is located in southwest of Gannan Prefecture, on eastern edge of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, at junction of Gannan, Qinghai and Sichuan provinces.
It borders Xiahe County to north, Zhuoni County to east, Maqu County to southwest, Henan Mongolian Autonomous County to west, and Zoige County of Sichuan Province to south. County seat is 78 kilometers away from Hezuo City.
Best travel time
From June to October
Local Climate
Plateau humid climate zone
Most popular sites
Zecha Stone Forest was listed as a national nature reserve in 1998. It is located in Zecha Village, about 52 kilometers south of Luchu County. It is 22 kilometers long and covers an area of more than 20,000 hectares. It is a rare comprehensive tourist area in China that integrates forests, grasslands and stone forests.
Langmusi also known as “Taktsang Lhamo“. It is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, with two parts, one of which is in Luchu county, another is in sichuan province;
Xicang monastery, also known as “Garda Gompa” in Tibetan. It was founded in 1839 AD, and being built on basis of several small local small temples, so it is also called “Xicang New Monastery”
Geography and climate
Luchu County is 126 kilometers long from east to west, 90 kilometers wide from north to south, with a total area of 5189 square kilometers. county’s elevation is between 3000 and 4000 meters, with an average elevation of 3,500 meters. Terrain of Luchu County is high in west and low in east. It consists of two major terrains: basin and mountain. Its west is a plateau and mountains, its east is steep mountains on both sides of Tao River, and valley is main agricultural planting area;
Luchu County belongs to plateau humid climate zone of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau climate zone, with long winter
but short summer, short springs and autumns, annual average temperature of 2.3℃, no absolute frost-free period, annual precipitation of 633 to 782 mm, and annual total sunshine hours of 2358 hours
Population and ethnic group
As of end of 2017, Luchu County has a permanent population of 38,000, 87% of whom are Tibetans. There are other ethnic groups in Luchu County: Han, Hui, Dongxiang, Tu, Baoan, Manchu, Mongolian, and Salar.
Brief history
In Neolithic Age, Qiang ancestors lived in this area.
In early Han Dynasty, it belonged to Qiangliu tribe
During period of Three Kingdoms, it belonged to “Wei”.
In Northern Wei Dynasty, it was occupied by Tubaohun regime.
In 1st year of Daye (AD 605) of Sui Dynasty, It was under jurisdiction of Lintao County.
After Anshi Rebellion, Luchu area was occupied by Tubo kingdom
In Southern Song Dynasty, Luchu area was under jurisdiction of Do Kham
After unification of Mongolian of Yuan Dynasty, Luchu area was under jurisdiction of Tubo kingdom
In Ming Dynasty, Luchu area was under jurisdiction of Taozhou wei.
In Qing Dynasty, Luchu area became two parts, one was occupied by Heshuote tribe, and other part was under jurisdiction of Taozhou Wei.
In 13th year of Qianlong (AD 1748), Luchu area was under jurisdiction of Gansu Province.
In 1955, Luchu County officially established
