Lhatse County, also known as “Lazi County” OR “Lhartse County “, is a county in the southeast of Shigatse City. It means “the top of the mountain, the golden dome where the light shines first” In Tibetan.
Location
Lhatse County is located in the middle of Shigatse City, and the westmost of Nyainqentanglha Mountain. Quxia (Chushar) Town is county seat with altitude 4086 meters, about 150 kilometers away from Shigatse City and 276 kilometers away from Lhasa City, and 370 kilometers away from Zhangmu
It borders Sakya County in east, Tingri County in southwest, Ngamring County in west, and Xaitongmoin County in north.
Latse County is an important road junction, where the road leads west to Mount Kailash and Gar(Ali) County or southward to Mount Everest or Nepal.
Best time to travel
From May to October
Local climate
Alpine plateau climate
Most popular sites
Phuntsoling Monastery is located in Phuntsoling Township of Lhatse County, with an altitude of 4100 meters. It was built in 1615 AD, originally belonged to Jonang pa, and later converted to Gelug pa. The monastery used to have 35 halls and a chanting hall, 3300 monks, composed of the main building and outbuildings. It is currently the largest and only ancient Jonang pa monastery in Tibet. Its mural art is unique and provides important information for study of Nepalese painting style. In 2006, Phuntsoling Monastery was approved to be a national key cultural relics protection units.
Lhatse Monastery is also called “Quxia (Chushar) Monastery” Or “Lhatse Chode”. It was built about 340 years ago, and its architectural form is similar to that of Tashilhunpo monastery. The monastery was rebuilt in 1985 and dedicated to Sakyamuni Buddha. During Tibetan New Year Festival, there is always a Pujia of Jampa Buddha; In addition, Every year, in the 1st month of a year, there will be a religious activities of the Future Buddha (Maitreya) Welcoming Festival
Dzashan Grottoes, located to the west of Lhatse Village of Lhatse Town, is one of the few ancient cultural relics in Tibet. The grotto is 2.65 meters wide, 3.2 meters high, and 3.5 meters deepth. Inside cave, there are giant statues of Tathagata Buddha and various reliefs. The large one is 1.53 meters high and the small one is 0.53 meters high. The statues are simple and solemn. Those are one of few remaining cultural relics of ancient people in Tibet.
Geography and climate
Lhatse County is 69 kilometers from east to west, 98 kilometers from north to south, and has a total area of 4505 square kilometers.
It is a convenient transportation hub, and also a must pass for seven counties in west of Shigatse City. National Highway 318, the China-Nepal Highway, runs through south of Lhatse.
Lhatse – Yecheng Highway (No 219) starts from the county-administered Chawu Township and then connected to 318 National Highway. It passes through Ali to Yecheng in northwest. The total length of two national highways within the county is 122 kilometers.
The climate of Lhatse County is characterized by strong sunshine, low temperature, large temperature difference, concentrated rain, obvious dryness and wetness, little rain and snow in winter and spring.
Each year can be divided into just winter and summer; winter is not too cold, summer is not too hot;
Annual average temperature is 7.0℃. The absolute maximum temperature is 28.2℃, and the extreme minimum temperature is -25.1℃.
90% of annual precipitation is concentrated from June to September, and winter and spring are severely dry.
The most wind direction throughout a year is southerly, mostly from October to mid-April of the following year. The annual average wind speed is 3.1m/s, the maximum wind speed has reached 20 meters per second,
Population and ethnicity
As of 2010, Lhatse County has a total population of 703,292 people, of which Tibetans account for 95.5% of total population; Han people account for about 3.67%; other ethnic minorities include Kirgiz, Hui, Kazakh, Tu, Dongxiang, and Manchu , Miao, etc.
Brief History
Before and after the establishment of Tubo kingdom, Lhatse was in tribes of separatism. Lhatse Zong and Phuntsoling Zong were established in the followed regimes
From 52nd year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty (AD 1713), it was managed by Tashilhunpo Lazhang
In 1959, Lhatse County was established, and it was under jurisdiction of Shigatse Prefecture
In 1968, Lhatse county seat was moved from Lazi Town to Quxia (Chushar) Town.
In 2014, Shigatse Prefecture was abolished and the prefecture-level Shigatse City was established, and Lhatse County has been under jurisdiction of Shigatse City since then
