Tingri County, also known as “Dingri County“, is a county under Shigatse City. Tingri means “Ting sound hill” in Tibetan. According to legend, a lama threw a stone which landed on the place with a sound of “Ting”. Later, he built a monastery on that place, named Ting monastery, then the county was named after this monastery
Location
Tingri County is adjacent to Dinggye County and Sagya County in east, Nyalam County in west, Ngamring County in north, Lhatse County in northeast, and Nepal in south.
Shegar, the seat of Tingri County, is at an altitude of 4,300 meters, The whole county is with an average altitude of 5,000 meters.
Best time to travel
From May to October
Local climate
Temperate plateau semi-arid monsoon climate
Most popular sites
Mount Everest, 8,848 meters above sea level, is the highest peak in the world. The entire body of Mount Everest is a giant pyramid-shaped, mighty and majestic.
Mount Makalu, 8463 meters above sea level, is located in the middle section of Himalayas, southeast of Mount Everest, and is fifth highest peak in the world. The upper part of the peak body is covered with thick ice and snow. There are huge glaciers in the slope valleys. There are many jagged cliffs and cracks on the glaciers, and ice avalanches are very frequent. The foot of the mountain is open, with abundant water sources and dense forests.
Gama Forest Scenic Area, Located in the valley of Gama Tsangbo River and its tributaries from the glacier on the north side of Makalu Peak. Together with mountaineering areas on eastern slopes of Makalu, Mount Everest, and Lhotse, it forms an ecological and adventure tourism scenic spot with forest as the main body.
Rongbuk Monastery, built in 1899, belongs to Nyingma pa of Tibetan Buddhism. It is a monastery that hosts both monks and nuns. Its altitude is of 5154 meters, which makes it the highest monastery in Tibet. It is located at the end of Rongbuk Glacier at the northern foot of Mount Everest, about 20 kilometers away from Mount Everest.
Geography and climate
Tingri County is located at the northern foot of Mt Everest in the middle section of Himalayas. It is 115 kilometers wide from east to west and 152 kilometers long from north to south, with a total area of about 14,000 square kilometers.
It has a large temperature difference between day and night, a dry climate, low annual rainfall, and an average annual sunshine time of 3393 hours. The plateau has strong ultraviolet rays and low temperature, with an average annual temperature of 2.8~3.9℃.
The coldest month is January, with an average temperature of -7.4℃; The hottest month is July, with an average temperature of 12℃; The extreme maximum temperature is 24.8℃, the extreme coldest temperature is -27.7℃
Annual precipitation is 319mm, the highest annual precipitation is 474mm, 95% of precipitation is distributed from June to October, relative frost-free period of a year is 113 days
Population and ethnicity
As of 2013, Dingri County has a total population of 62,000, of which Tibetan population accounts for 92% of total population. Other ethnic groups include Han and Uygur.
Brief History
During Tubo kingdom, Tingri area was under jurisdiction of “Tsang”.
In Ming Dynasty(AD 1368-Ad 1644), Phagmo Drupa Regime ruled this area
In Qing Dynasty(AD 1616-Ad 1912), The area of Tingri was under jurisdiction of Ganden Phodrang regime of Tibet
In 1959, original Shegar Zong, Tingri Zong, and the other 13 Xika were all merged to form Tingri County
In 1960, Tingri County was officially established， and its seat was located in Shegar Township.
In 2014, Shigatse Prefecture was abolished and the prefecture-level Shigatse City was established, and Tingri County has been under jurisdiction of Shigatse City since then
