Nagarze County, also known as “Nakartse County“, is a county in Shannan City. It means “white nose tip” in Tibetan.
Nagarze County is located at the northern foot of central Himalayas in southern Tibet, in southwest of Shannan City, 164 kilometers away from Lhasa City and 227 kilometers away from Tsetang Town.
Location
Nagarze County borders Comai County and Zhanang County in the east, Gyantse County, Kangmar County and Rinbung County of Shigatse City to the west, Lhozhag County and Bhutan in the south, and Nyemo County and Qushui County of Lhasa City to the north.
Its total area is of 8109 square kilometers and a water area of 1054 square kilometers with average elevation of 4500 meters. It is the highest county in Shannan City
It is one of border counties of Tibet Autonomous Region with border length of 25 kilometers
Best time to travel
From June to October
Local climate
Subarctic plateau climate
Most popular sites
Yamdrok Yum Tso, in short “Yamdrok Lake“, According to its Tibetan translation, “Yam” means “above”; “drok” means “pastoral area”; “Yum” means “jasper”; “tso” means “lake”. When connected, it means “Jasper Lake in the pastoral area above”. Its altitude is of 4442 meters above sea level, about 130 kilometers long from east to west, 70 kilometers wide from north to south, the lake area is 638 square kilometers, its shoreline is more than 250 kilometers long, and the depth of Yamdrok lake is 30-40 meters. The deepest point is nearly 60 meters in the eastern part of the lake and the southern part of Pado Island which is in the middle of Yamdrok lake
This is a lake with a mixed supply of rain, snow, and glaciers. Its shape like a paper fan, roughly extending from northwest to southeast. It is wide in south and narrow in north. There are many lake branches along the lake, winding into the mountains. It, together with Namtso in northern Tibet and Lake Manasarovar in Ali, are honored as the “three holy lakes” on Tibet plateau. .
Samding monastery is located on the top of a steep mountain in the southwest of Yamdrok lake. It belongs to the Shangpa Kagyu of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. It is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist monastery with history of more than 300 years.
Puma Yumtso Lake is located in Nagarze County, with an altitude of 5,010 meters. It is in south of Yamdrok Lake, in the piedmont basin at northern foot of the Himalayas; the basin is surrounded by mountains; Its east and west are mainly alluvial plains, and its south is an ice-level plain with open terrain. The lake runs east-west, with a length of 32.5 kilometers from west to east, and a maximum width of 14 kilometers from north to south, an average width of 8.93 kilometers, covering an area of 290 square kilometers, and a shoreline of 94 kilometers. It is the highest lake in southern Tibet.
There are 3 small stone islands in the northeast of the lake, with a height difference of 26.0-114.0 meters, and an area of 0.12, 0.32 and 0.95 square kilometers respectively. The lake area has a semi-arid climate in the mountainous shrub grassland of southern Tibet. The annual precipitation is about 300 mm. The lakeside water grass is more lush. The lake water mainly relies on precipitation and runoff from melted ice and snow. There are 6 large rivers that enter the lake, of which Jiaqu is the largest on the west bank, and the ice and snow meltwater runoff is abundant.noff is abundant.
Dalong Ancient Town, also known as “Taklung” OR “Lho Taklung” , is located on the southwest bank of Yamdrok Lake. Its central and eastern parts are valleys, the terrain is high in west and low in east, with an average elevation of more than 4,500 meters. It is in southwest of Nagarze County, connected to Duque Township to the east, Lhozhag County to the south, Bhutan to the west, and Nagarze Town to the north. It is 25 kilometers away from county seat and 180 kilometers away from Lhasa City that makes it the nearest border town to Lhasa, it is also the site of Dalong Border Trade Market, as well as an important distribution center for county’s agricultural and livestock products.
Geography and climate
Nagarze County belongs to wide valley area of lake basin of southern Tibet, with high protruding edges and low-lying lakes in the middle. There are many high peaks, and 6 of those are over 6000 meters above sea level. The highest altitude is 7206 meters.
Nagarze County is rich in natural resources, it is high and cold. Long sunshine time, abundant wind, Strong winds in this county last for a long time, with an average annual number of strong winds of 100 to 150 days, wind speeds up to 3 meters per second,
The average temperature of Nagarze County is 2.2～5.4℃, annual sunshine hours are 2,934 hours, annual average precipitation is 252 mm, and annual frost-free period is 28 days.
Population and ethnicity
As of 2010, the total population of Nagarze County was 34,767, of which Tibetan population accounted for 99.86%, Han population accounted for 0.14%, and there were no other ethnic minorities.
Brief History
In Tang Dynasty (AD 618-AD 907), Tubo king Songtsen Gampo put Nagarze area under jurisdiction of “Yo Ru” (“Ru”, a name of adminitrative area)
During Yuan Dynasty (AD 1271-AD 1368), Sakya king, who ruled Tibet, established an administrative system of thirteen Wanhu households in Tibet, and established Yamdrok Wanhu Mansion in ancient town of Dalung (Taklung). Part of Nagarze belonged to Yamdrok Wanhu Mansion. According to historical records, there were 750 families under jurisdiction of Yamdrok Wanhu Mansion
During Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-AD 1644), Phagmo Drupa regime established Nagarze Zong to rule the entire Yamdrok region, which was one of the 13 New Zong.
In 37th year of Republic of China (1948), the jurisdiction of Nagarze Zong was to include
To East, all villages on the island in the middle of Yamdrok Lake
To West, Karora Mountain which was boundary of Nagarze and Gyantse
To South, Till Drajie of Lhozhag County
To North, Till Yase village
In addition, it also governed private estate of Segarimpa, Samding Monastery, Dalong (Taklung) Upper and lower Monastery and Wenga Chode Monastery
In 1954, Nagarze Zong and Baidi Zong were established, and both of them were under jurisdiction of “Shannan Jiqiao“. (“Jiqiao”, a name of adminitrative area)
In 1960, Nagarze Zong and Baidi Zong were merged to form Nagarze County, and Dalong(Taklung) and Linggu were merged to form Dalong County, which was placed under jurisdiction of Gyantse Prefecture.
In 1964, Dalong County was merged into Nagarze County and was placed under jurisdiction of Shannan Prefecture.
In 2016, Shannan Prefecture was abolished, and prefecture-level Shannan City was established, and Nagarze County was under jurisdiction of Shannan City.
