Xinlong County

Xinlong County is a county under jurisdiction of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The county seat is Rulong Town, also known as “Barshok Town” in Tibetan, at an altitude of 3,030 meters.

It is 340 kilometers away from prefectural capital of Kangding City and 646 kilometers away from provincial capital of Chengdu

Xinlong, literally, is Chinese Pinyin of 2 characters, among of which “Xin” means “New“, “long” means “dragon“, which means “the dragon gets a new life”

Xinlong, also known as “Nyarong County” which means a valley in forests in Tibetan. It was once called “Zhan Dui“, meaning “Iron lump”

Xinlong County is connected to Luhuo County and Dawu County to east, Yajiang County and Litang County to south, Baiyu County to west, Garze County to north, and Dege County to northwest.

Best time to travel From May to October

Local climate Sub-humid climate on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Most popular sites

Larima village, located in Larima village, about 64 kilometers away from Xinlong County seat. It is a vast natural pasture. The Larima grassland with flocks of cattle and sheep is beautiful, especially in July and August, in which Tibetans flood into Larima grassland from areas of Kham, where grand horse races and material fairs are held here.

Yixi Gompa, located in Jialasi Township, is about 4 kilometers away from Xinlong County and has an elevation of 3,200 meters. The temple was built in Qing Dynasty and belongs to Bonbo religion. The huge murals on the inner wall of this monastery, such as the life and death picture, map of Brahma world, the seven treasures, protectors, are with history of over hundreds of years.

Kawalungring is located in Dagai Township, some 90 km away from Xinlong county seat. This mountain is 5995 meters above sea level. There are a pair of towering main peaks that are covered with snow all year round, like a pair of “gold ingots”, so this mountain is also called “The God of Wealth”. It is deeply worshipped by followers of Bonbo religion and Tibetan Buddhism. It is said that after adoring this mountain, wealth will be prosperous and happiness will continue.

Drongtok Gompa, located in Da-gai (Da-ge) Township of Xinlong County, was first built in 1896 AD. It is about 4000 meters above sea level and covering an area of more than 30,000 square meters. It is a branch of Mindrolling monastery, a popular Nyingma pa monastery in Zhanang County in Tibet

Geography and climate

Xinlong County is located on southeastern edge of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in the central Ganzi Prefecture, and the alpine valley in middle reaches of Yalong River. It belongs to contact zone between mountain plains and Hengduan Mountains in Western Sichuan.

It is high in north and low in south, with a total area of 9183 square kilometers.

Xinlong County is located in the hilly plateau mountainous area of northwest Sichuan, and the northern section of Shaluli Mountain. The basic landform features are divided into three types: hilly plateau, mountain plateau, and alpine valley.

The highest elevation is 5992 meters, the lowest point in its south is 2760 meters above sea level, and the county’s average elevation is above 3,500 meters.

Xinlong County is rich in mines, the most famous of which is the gold mine, which is called “Zhan Gold“.

Xinlong County is with obvious differences in climate vertical zones.

There are four main climatic zones including mountain temperate zone, mountain cold zone, alpine sub-frigid zone and alpine freezing zone.

Annual average temperature is 7.4℃, average temperature in January is -3.5℃, and average temperature in July is 15.1℃. Annual precipitation is 604 mm – 700 mm, annual average sunshine is 2160.8 hours, and the frost-free period is 115 days.

The coldest month is from December to January of the following year. The extreme minimum temperature is -19.2℃, the hottest month is August, and the extreme maximum temperature is 33.6℃.

The river systems in this county include Yalong River, Jinsha River and Xianshui River. There are 13 rivers with a drainage area greater than 100 square kilometers.

Yalong River runs through from north to south with length of 172 kilometers in Xinlong county.

Most of the more than 60 lakes are distributed on mountain plateaus and hilly plateaus with altitude of over 4000 meters.

Among them, Zando Tso is 4690 meters above sea level and covers an area of 5 square kilometers, making it one of the largest lakes in the Kham area.

Population and ethnicity

As of 2015, Xinlong County has a total population of 51,900, of which Tibetans account for 97.88% of total population, and Han people account for 2.12% of total population; other ethnic groups include Yi people, Hui people, Zhuang people and Mongolian

–Recommended hotels–

How to get to Xinlong

Garze Gesar Airport is the nearest airport to Xinlong, it is about 150 km northwest from Xinlong county, a 3 hours drive is required to cover this distance. For the moment, overland trip is the major way that local people use to connect this town

Overland routes

Garze – Xinlong Road in north of the county is connected to National Highway 317 by 100 kilometers;

Litang – Xinlong Road in south of the county is connected to National Highway 318 by 186 kilometers,

Yajiang – Xinlong Road is is connected to National Highway 318 by 116 kilometers

With the completion of paved roads, Xinlong County has become a “bridge” connecting National Highway 317 and 318, and also a main route linking North and South of Garze Prefecture.

Distance from Xinlong to

• To Garze County : 100 kilometers, about 2 hours’ drive
• To Litang County : 186 kilometers, about 5 hours’ drive
• To Yajiang County: 116 kilometers, about 4 hours’ drive
• To Larima village : 60 kilometers, about 1.5 hours’ drive

Brief History

Xinlong is with a long history. Before the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period ((770 BC-221 BC)), Tibetan ancestors had already thrived here, and it was called “Zhan Dui” , meaning “Iron lump“

From pre-Qin period(Paleolithic period – 221 BC) to Three Kingdoms period (220 AD-280 AD), Xinlong area was land of “White Wolf Kingdom”

From Southern and Northern Dynasty (AD 420-AD 589) to Sui Dynasty(AD 581-AD 619), Xinlong area was a part of Fu Kingdom

During Tang Dynasty (AD 618-AD 907) , it was occupied by Tubo kingdom

In 10^th year of Emperor Kublai Khan of Yuan Dynasty (1273 AD), the title of “Zhan Dui Ben Chong” was given to the 1^st generation of chieftains of Xinlong area

“Zhan Dui Ben Chong” means “Official holding an iron lump“

In 7^th year of Emperor Hongwu of Ming Dynasty (1374 AD), Sha-ke Wanhufu and Zhao-ri Qianhusho both were established.

From 6^th year of Emperor Yongzheng (1728 AD) to 10^th year of Emperor Qianlong (1745 AD) of Qing Dynasty, Xinlong area was awarded the upper “Zhan”, the middle “Zhan” as the “Zhang Guan Si”, and the lower “Zhan” as “An-fu Si”, so this region was called the “three Zhan” area

“Zhang Guan Si” & “An-fu Si” were both offical title that were used in Yuan Dynasty and Ming dynasty

From 4^th year of Emperor Tongzhi of Qing Dynasty (AD 1865), it became an “enclave” under jurisdiction of Tibet for 46 years in Sichuan province

In 5^th year of Republic of China (1916), A county was established in Xinlong area with name of “Zhan Hua County”

In 28^th year of Republic of China (1939), it belonged to 4^th administrative inspection district of Xikang Province.

In 1950, it belonged to Tibetan Autonomous Region of Xikang Province.

In 1952, “Zhan Hua County” was renamed as “Xinlong County”

In 1955, Tibetan Autonomous Region of Xikang Province was changed to Xikang Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in the same year, it was renamed as “Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture”, since then Xinlong County” has been under its jurisdiction