Ngamring County is a county under jurisdiction Shigatse City; Ngamring means “Long valley” in Tibetan.
Location
Ngamring County is located in the southwest of Shigatse, on the upper reaches of Yarlung Tsangbo River, and the mid-ridge line of Gangdise Mountains. Lhatse-Burang Highway (219 National Highway) runs through the southern part of the territory.
It borders Xietongmen County and Lhatse County to east, Coqen County and Saga County to west, Nyalam County and Tingri County to south, and Xainza County to north.
Ngamring county has an average elevation of 4,513 meters and a total area of 39,600 square kilometers, accounting for 21.78% of total area of Shigatse City;
The county seat is Kaga Town with altitude of 4380 meters above sea level. It is 220 km from Shigatse City, 485 kilometers from Lhasa City, and 437 kilometers from Lhasa Airport
Best time to travel
From May to September
Local climate
Alpine plateau climate
Most popular sites
Jinmu Qiong village, it was once the birthplace of the first Panchen Lama Kaichun Geleg Baisang (1385 AD -1438 AD).
Renqingding Village, it is the birthplace of Thangtong Gyalpo (1385 AD – 1464 AD), whom is also known as the Living Buddha of Iron Bridge, a monk of the Kagyu pa of Tibetan Buddhism, a Tibetan architect, and the founder of Tibetan opera. He dedicated his life to art culture, architectural culture, and medical culture.
In terms of art and culture, he integrated speaking, singing, jumping, and playing together, and created the “Chungpa Tibetan Opera Troupe”, which is well-known in Tibetan areas, which has been continued to this day;
In terms of architectural culture, he built 58 cable bridges, of which the 58th bridge still serves on the Yajiang River in the township of Riwuqi. In addition, he had guided and built 60 wooden bridges and 118 ships;
In terms of medical, the stomach medicine “Zhu Mu” and other prescriptions that he developed have been used until now.
Riwuqi Tower, also known as “Stupa of Chung Riwoche“, located in Riwuqi Township. It was built in 1390 AD. This tower is an integral part of “Chung Riwoche Monastery”, and it is a unit building of the nature of “the integration of towers and monasteries“. The tower body is in shape of “mandala“, with three-dimensional in a multi-body multilateral pattern.
The tower is 35 meters high and there are 6 floors. It is closed layer by layer from bottom to top. The top is “Thirteen Heavens” umbrella cover of the tower. There are bright doors in the middle of each side of each floor, about 1.2 meters high and 0.8 meters wide. The walls inside the bright doors and the passage walls on the 5th, 6th, and 7th floors are densely painted, and most of image colors are clearly identifiable.
Kaga Chode, is located in eastern foothills of Xuecun Village of Kaga Town, where Ngamring County seat is located, with an altitude of 4,400 meters. Kaga Chode was built around 1225 AD. It is the largest monastery among the 33 monasteries in Ngamring County, covering a total area of 4,732 square meters. There are more than 50 monks and nuns at most, and 35 monks are currently resident.
Tonglin Monastery, located in Chazi Village, was founded in 1870. Tonglin Monastery belongs to the Nyingma Pa, which covers an area of 2,649 square meters and currently hosts 15 monks.
Vesalin Nunnery, located on the top of a hill in the north of Sangsang Town, its altitude is more than 4,500 meters above sea level. The nunnery was founded in 1917 and belongs to Nyingma pa. The nunnery covers an area of 1685 square meters and currently hosts 25 nuns.
Lulong monastery is located in Zhuntang Village of Yamu Township with a mountain in the north and Mechu River in the south. Its altitude is about 4300 meters above sea level. It was founded in 1095 AD, and belongs to Sakya Pa. The monastery covers an area of 824 square meters and currently hosts 18 monks.
Riwuqi Monastery, also known as “Chung Riwoche Monastery“, was founded in 1389 AD. Its altitude is 4260 meters above sea level, with a mountain to the north and the Yarlung Tsangpo River in the south. It covers a total area of 3,228 square meters and currently hosts 16 monks and nuns, including: 9 monks and 7 nuns.
Zasang Monastery, is located in Bangba Village of Sangsang Town. It was founded in 918 AD. Zasang monastery is an important monastery of the early Nyingma pa, covering a total area of 1296 square meters.
There are three parts of this temple:
–The main building under mountain is residence of the abbot, with altitude of 4460 meters above sea level;
–The building on mountainside is Lakhang Bare, which is 4870 meters above sea level;
–The building on top of mountain is Upper Lakhang, which is 5,000 meters above sea level
Currently, there are 16 monks in Zasang Monastery.
In addition, there are many natural hot springs here, which can treat a variety of skin and joint diseases.
Taggeja Hot Spring is the largest intermittent high-temperature fountain in Asia. It is located in Qie’re Township by N219 road, and erupts every 20 minutes with a temperature of up to 80°C. The diameter of the spring is about 40 cm, and the height of each eruption ranges from 1 meter to 2 meters or 20 meters. The fountain steam could reach at about 40-50 meters high. The eruption activity is very irregular
Geography and climate
Ngamring County is located in southwest of Shigatse, and the terrain gradually rises from east to west. Mountains occupy more than three-fifths of the county’s total area, and the high mountains from 4500m to 6300m above sea level are in colore of red, yellow, blue, white, and purple.
At an altitude of 4400 to 4600 meters, the sunny slopes of the mountains are covered with cypress or a small amount of grass, and the shaded slopes are covered with grass vegetation. The river valley plains are mostly pastures and are animal husbandry base of Ngamring County; Below 4400 meters above sea level, it is mainly agricultural production base of Ngamring County, where six agricultural townships are located.
There are two climate zones in Ngamring County:
-1. The southeast river valley area (1 town and 5 agricultural townships) — warm, low wind and semi-arid climate, with an average temperature of 6.5°C, an average temperature of 12°C in the hottest month (July), and an annual precipitation of about 400 mm;
-2. The northwest high mountains (1 town, 10 pastoral townships) — windy, cold, semi-arid climate, with an average temperature below 4°C and precipitation of about 300 mm.
Population and ethnicity
As of 2010, the total population of Ngamring County was 50,000, of which Tibetans accounted for 87% of total population.
In addition, there are also more than a dozen ethnic groups including Han, Hui, Mongolian, Tu, Manchu, Miao, and Zhuang.
Brief History
As early as in primitive society, humans thrived here, due to restrictions of nomadic life, there are few ruins and written records, and the existing cultural and historical records are all from after Ming Dynasty (AD1368 – AD 1644).
In 14th century, Phagmo Drupa regime implemented “Zong system” in Tibet, and Ngamring Zong was established at this time.
Before 1949, Ngamring Zong was under the jurisdiction of Panchen Khenpo Conference Hall.
In 1959, Ngamring County was established, and it was under jurisdiction of Shigatse Prefecture
In 2014, Shigatse Prefecture was abolished and the prefecture-level Shigatse City was established, since then Ngamring County has been under the jurisdiction of Shigatse City
