Comai County, also known as “Tso-me County “, is a county under Shannan City. In Tibetan, “Co” means lake, “mai” means downstream, so that “Comai” means “downstream of lake“; it is called “Comai” because it is located in the lower reaches of Zhegu (Trigu) Lake.
Location
The county borders Lhunze County to east, Nagarze County to west, Lhozhag County and Cona County to south, and Qonggyai County and Nedong District to north.
Comai County covers an area of 4549 square kilometers, the county seat is Dangxu Township at an altitude of 4,242 meters, about 300 kilometers away from Lhasa City, and 130 kilometers away from Shannan City.
Best time to travel
From June to September
Local climate
Plateau temperate semi-arid monsoon climate zone
Most popular sites
Zhegu Lake, also known as “Trigu lake“, located 60 kilometers northeast of Zhegu Town, has an area of approximately 66 square kilometers and an altitude of 4,600 meters. It is an inland river, and its water source mainly depends on melted ice and snow. “Zhegu” means “Machete” in Tibetan. Because the lake is shaped like a machete, so that it is named “Zhegu Lake”. The lake is surrounded by thousands of acres of grassland and rolling snow mountains
Naixi monastery, also known as “Nezhi monastery” OR “Nezhi Zhitro Lhakhang“, located in Naixi Township, 15 kilometers away from Comai county’s seat, it is about 3800 meters above sea level. It was built at the end of the 13th century and belongs to Nyingma pa. In the beginning of 18th century, Mindrolling Monastery repaired Nexi monastery and placed it as a subordinate, becoming the main subsidiary temple of Mindrolling Monastery in this area of Comai. There are actually 8 monks, all of whom can marry wives and have children. Although their wives are called nuns, however, they do not go to the monastery to study scriptures, to instead, they do farm work. Monks generally do not wear robes except for religious events. In the 1920s, with the funding of Kashag regime and Mindrolling Monastery, Naixi monastery was repaired and expanded for the second time, forming existing scale of construction.
Watchtowers, Cuomei County is one of the most densely constructed areas of watchtowers. The towers distributed in this county can be divided into two categories. One was built with stone blocks, and the other was built with soil.
Geography and climate
Comai County belongs to the plateau lake valley area of the plain lake basin area of southern Tibet. Located in the northern foothills of the Himalayas, the territory has undulating mountains and complex geological structure.
There are 124 large and small mountain in this county, among of which 73 high mountains are over 5,500 meters above sea level, 9 high mountains are over 6,000 above sea level covered with snow and ice all year round, and the highest elevation (Dalari Peak) is 6,777 meters above sea level.
Comai county is high in northeast and low in southwest, with an average elevation of 4500 meters. The lowest elevation is 3266 meters, located at the junction of Dangba Village and Lhozhag County, with a relative elevation difference of 3511 meters across the county.
Annual sunshine hours in Comai County is 2,800 hours, and annual frost-free period is 90 days. Annual average temperature is 8.2℃, the extreme minimum temperature is -18.2℃, and the extreme maximum temperature is 30.0℃. Annual precipitation is about 300-400 mm
Population and ethnicity
As of 2014, the population of Comai County was 14,000, of which 96% were Tibetans, in addition to Han, Hui, Monba, etc.
Brief History
During Tubo period (618 AD – 842 AD), Comai area was under jurisdiction of “Yo Ru”.
In 13th century, during Yuan Dynasty, it was the territory of Yasang Wanhu.
In 1354 AD, Phagmo Drupa regime established Zhegu (Trigu) Zong in Comai area
In 1956, after Shannan Division of Work Committee was formally established, Zhegu Zong was under jurisdiction of Shannan Division of Work Committee.
In 1960, Shannan Prefecture was established, Kazhu Township was divided into Zhegu County from jurisdiction of Nedong District. Zhegu County belongs to Shannan Prefecture.
In 1965, Zhegu County was renamed Comai County
In 2016, Shannan Prefecture was abolished, and prefecture-level Shannan City was established, and Cuomei County was under jurisdiction of Shannan City.
