Biru county, also known as “Driru County“, is a county in Nagqu City, with an average elevation of 4000 meters;
“Biru” means “female yak herd” in Tibetan.
Location
It is located in the east of Nagqu City, between Tanggula Mountain and Nyainqentanglha Mountain, in the upper reaches of Nu River.
The county seat is in Biru township about 265 kilometers away from Nagqu City, 580 kilometers away from Lhasa City, 579 kilometers away from Chamdo City.
Biru county belongs to a semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral county dominated by animal husbandry, with ancient folk customs, colorful natural landscape. There is a beautiful Yangxiu Natural Scenic Area, and mysterious Skull Wall and Jowo Garbo Mountain
Best time to travel
From May to October
Local climate
Sub-cold plateau or temperate semi-humid monsoon climate
Most popular sites
Three-toed horse fossil site, in 1975, the expedition team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences unearthed three-toed horse fossils in the Xiaquka Basin and Bron Basin. The three-toed horse is a subtropical and tropical mammal that lived 3-10 million years ago, that is, between the Pliocene and the Pleistocene. According to research, at that time, this county was about 1000 meters above sea level.
Dam Monastery’s Skull Wall, is located at the Celestial Burial Platform of Dam Monastery about 65 kilometers away from county seat. The celestial burial platform was created by Renpoche Dap VIII Baima Baizha,whom instructed the celestial burial master of that year to feed the corpses to the vultures and preserve the skulls, so that every living person would remember his destiny when he saw them. The celestial burial platform of Dam Monastery covers an area of about 400 square meters, and it is surrounded by an earthen wall about one person high. There are wooden frames on the south and west walls, and Skulls are neatly arranged on the wooden frames to form two long walls of skull
Geography and climate
Biru county has a total area of 11,429 square kilometers. Mainly low mountains and hills, there are alpine valleys, and there are also a dozen of high mountains with altitude of over 5000 meters above sea level.
Its terrain slopes from northwest to southeast, and the altitude gradually decreases.
It is divided into two parts with Damuyela Mountain (the pass is 5014 meters above sea level) as the boundary.
The west part is more than 4400 meters above sea level, and there are many low hills, and open valleys are between the low hills. There are river valley with width of 1-1.5 kilometers in Baiga Township, the terrace is relatively flat, the soil layer is deep, the climate is mild, and it is suitable for planting barley.
The eastern part of Biru county is about 3800 meters above sea level, with many mountains and ridges. Deep valleys are formed between the high mountains, along the main and tributaries of the Nujiang River going eastward, and the deeper the river cuts to the east, the valleys are narrower, and the height difference between the mountain top and the valley bottom is very large, and some of those are even nearly 1000 meters
The county’s annual average temperature is 2.9℃, and the annual precipitation is 580-650 mm. The frost period is from October to April of the following year.
Population and ethnicity
As of 2008, the total population of Biru county is 60,000. The population of the county is mainly Tibetan, accounting for 98% of total population. There are also a few other ethnic minorities such as Han, Hui and Mongolian.
Brief history
In 4th century BC, Subi Kingdom in Tibet raised, the area of Biru county was a pasture land of Subi Kingdom
In 7th century, Tibetan King Songtsan Gampo unified Tibet. The area of Biru county was under jurisdiction of Tubo Kingdom.
During Song Dynasty(960 AD-1279 AD), the area of Biru county was called “Na Xue”
In 1260 AD, Yuan Dynasty goverment set up an Post-office in Biru County, which was called “Xia Ke”
In 10th year of Emperor Yongzheng of Qing Dynasty (AD 1732), the area of Biru county was under the direct jurisdiction of Minister office in Tibet of Qing Dynasty
In 1911, Biru county under thejurisdiction of the Kashag regime
In 1959, Biru county was established, and it was under jurisdiction of “Black River Prefecture“
In 1960, “Black River area” in Tibet was officially renamed as “Nagqu area”.
In 1970, Nagqu Administrative District was renamed as Nagqu Prefecture, and then Biru County was under jurisdiction of Nagqu Prefecture
In 2017, Nagqu Prefecture was abolished, and Nagqu City was established; Biru County is under the jurisdiction of Nagqu City until now
