Luhuo county

Luhuo county is also called “Dran-Go” and composed of the valley of the Zhe-chu as far as its confluence of the Nyi-chu tributary. In Tibetan “Dran” means Mongolian, “Go” means the cliff; it was a stronghold of Mongolian army when Kham was occupied by Mongolian Army; its geographic coordinates are: Longitude 100 ° 10 ‘~ 101 ° 13’, latitude 31 ° 00 ‘~ 31 ° 51’; covers an area of 5,796 square kilometers. the average temperature in July and August is about 20 – 25 degrees, and the coldest temperature could reach -20 degrees in January.

Till the end of 2011, the population is about 45,900 people, more than 70% of them is Tibetan, the rest people are Chinese Han, Yi people, Miao people, Mongolian people, Hui people and Naxi people…etc; The terrain is high in its northwest, and low in its southeast. The average altitude of the whole county is 3,680 meters above sea level

Luhuo county is a strategic location on the mountain slope at the junction of the Zhe-chu and Nyi-chu rivers. The castle of Drango Dzong formerly stood at the vantage point at an elevation of 3,475 meters. Above in the 17^th century, the Gelugpa monastery of Luhuo Gonpa was constructed. At its highest point, this monastery housed 1,000 monks, making it the largest in Kham. In 1973 of 20^th century, a 7.6 degree earthquake hit the town, caused serious damage which made monks moved out promptly. In 1863, Luhuo county along with the other Trehor Kingdoms and Derge were overwhelmed by the tribal forces of Nyarong Gonpo Namgyel. Then, in 1865, from the defeat of Gonpo Namgyel, the town became a protectorate of Lhasa. Subsequently, the Chinese settlement, Luhuo Xian, was founded in 1894 by Lu Ch’uan-lin who ended the succession of local chieftains.

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How to get to Luhuo county

Luhuo county is located at the bottom of three valleys joints, which lead to Barkham to the north, Garze to the West, and Dawu Countyto the East. It neighboring Xinlong county to its southwest.

There are regular buses from Kangding to Luhuo, Kanze to Luhuo; In addition to regular buses, local minivan is very motivated to provide short distance transportation, and also providing Rental services, it usually cost RMB 600 – 800 one way to Kanze or Dawu, or RMB 800 – 1000 one way to Sertar county

There are two airports that near Luhuo county. One is Kangding Airport which is 225 kilometers east, an approximately 4.5 hours drive to cover this drive. Another one is Garze Gesar airport which is 150 kilometers, and 3.5 hours’ drive is needed;

Distance from Luhuo to

• To Dawu 78 kilometers on paved road, approximately 2 hours drive
• To Garze (Kanze) 90 kilometers on paved road, approximately 2-3 hours drive
• To Barkham 265 kilometers on paved road, approximately 5-6 hours drive
• To Sertar 155 kilometers on paved road, about 3 hours drive