Shigatse (日喀则)

1. Introduction

Shigatse City (Tibetan: གཞིས་ཀ་རྩེ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར།, Wylie: gzhis ka rtse grong khyer, THL: Zhikatsé, Tibetan Pinyin: Xigazê Chongkyêr; formerly known as "Nyainquêma" or "Nyainma") is a prefecture-level city under the jurisdiction of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, covering an area of 179,903 square kilometers. Shigatse City is the religious, political, economic, and cultural center of the Tsang region. It has historically been the seat of the Panchen Lama, one of the two principal spiritual leaders of Tibetan Buddhism, and is designated by the State Council as a National Historical and Cultural City. The city's border line stretches 1,507 kilometers, with a length of 800 kilometers from east to west and a width of 220 kilometers from north to south. The total resident population of the city is 641,400, of which 90% are Tibetan. The Municipal People's Government is located in Samzhubzê District.

2. Etymology

The etymology of Shigatse City can be traced back to the Tibetan phrase "Xi Ka Sang Zhu Zi," meaning "the manor with the best soil" or "the manor with fertile land and water," which is the original meaning of the place name. Additionally, Shigatse was historically known as "Nianmai," meaning "the downstream plain of the Nianchu River." These names reflect the agricultural and geographical significance of Shigatse.

3. History

Shigatse was originally known as "Nianqu Mai" or "Nianmai" (meaning the lower reaches of the Nianchu River). Although it had been inhabited since ancient times, it remained a desolate place.

In the 8th century, during the Tibetan Empire, King Trisong Detsen invited the Indian master Padmasambhava to Tibet to build Samye Monastery. On his journey, Padmasambhava passed through the Shigatse area, where he practiced and taught Buddhism. He prophesied that the center of the snow-covered plateau would be in Lhasa, with Nianmai (Shigatse) as the second most important region.

By the 11th century, during the Sakya Dynasty, Nianmai had begun to take shape as a "town."

In October 1959, the Shigatse Administrative Region was established.

In 1970, the Shigatse Administrative Region was abolished and replaced by the Shigatse Prefecture.

On June 26, 2014, with the approval of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, the former Shigatse Prefecture was abolished, and the prefecture-level Shigatse City was established. The former county-level Shigatse City was renamed Samdruptse District. This marked the second prefecture-level city established in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

On December 18, 2014, the prefecture-level Shigatse City was officially inaugurated.

In May 2020, a border conflict between China and India occurred in Gamba County.

4. Geography

Average Meteorological Data of Xigazê City

| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | |------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|-----------------| | Avg. high °C (°F) | 5.6 (42.1) | 7.9 (46.2) | 10.9 (51.6) | 15.2 (59.4) | 18.9 (66.0) | 22.2 (72.0) | 20.8 (69.4) | 19.7 (67.5) | 18.5 (65.3) | 15.1 (59.2) | 10.3 (50.5) | 6.8 (44.2) | 14.3 (57.8) | | Daily mean °C (°F) | −3.7 (25.3) | −0.8 (30.6) | 2.8 (37.0) | 7.3 (45.1) | 11.0 (51.8) | 14.9 (58.8) | 14.7 (58.5) | 13.9 (57.0) | 12.1 (53.8) | 6.9 (44.4) | 1.0 (33.8) | −2.7 (27.1) | 6.5 (43.6) | | Avg. low °C (°F) | −13.0 (8.6) | −9.4 (15.1) | −5.3 (22.5) | −0.7 (30.7) | 3.2 (37.8) | 7.6 (45.7) | 8.7 (47.7) | 8.1 (46.6) | 5.7 (42.3) | −1.2 (29.8) | −8.3 (17.1) | −12.2 (10.0) | −1.4 (29.5) | | Avg. precipitation mm (inches) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 2 (0.1) | 3 (0.1) | 15 (0.6) | 60 (2.4) | 129 (5.1) | 146 (5.7) | 58 (2.3) | 7 (0.3) | 2 (0.1) | 0 (0) | 422 (16.7) |

Data Source: Climate-Data.org

5. Administrative Divisions

Shigatse City administers 1 district and 17 counties.

District: Samzhubzê District Counties: Namling County, Gyangzê County, Tingri County, Sa'gya County, Lhazê County, Ngamring County, Xaitongmoin County, Bainang County, Rinbung County, Kangmar County, Dinggyê County, Zhongba County, Chomo County, Gyirong County, Nyalam County, Saga County, Gamba County

Administrative Divisions Map of Shigatse City

| Division Code | Division Name | Tibetan Script | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan Pinyin | Wylie Transliteration | Area (km²) | Resident Population (2020 Census) | Government Seat | Postal Code | Township-level Divisions| Border Management Area Scope | |--------------|----------|------|----------|----------|----------|-----------------------------|------------------------------------|----------|----------|----------------|----------------| | 540200 | Shigatse City | གཞིས་ཀ་རྩེ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར། | Rìkǎzé Shì | Xigazê Chongkyêr | gzhis ka rtse grong khyer | 179,902.60 | 798,153 | Samzhubzê District | 857000 | 2 Subdistricts | 27 Towns | 175 Townships | Parts of the territory | | 540202 | Samzhubzê District | བསམ་འགྲུབ་རྩེ་ཆུས། | Sāngzhūzī Qū | Samzhubzê Qü | bsam 'grub rtse chus | 3,664.72 | 158,290 | Chengnan Subdistrict | 857000 | 2 Subdistricts | - | 10 Townships | None | | 540221 | Namling County | རྣམ་གླིང་རྫོང་། | Nánmùlín Xiàn | Namling Zong | rnam gling rdzong | 8,106.84 | 83,531 | Namling Town | 857100 | - | 1 Town | 16 Townships | None | | 540222 | Gyangzê County | རྒྱལ་རྩེ་རྫོང་། | Jiāngzī Xiàn | Gyangzê Zong | rgyal rtse rdzong | 3,849.23 | 68,650 | Gyangzê Town | 857400 | - | 1 Town | 18 Townships | None | | 540223 | Tingri County | དིང་རི་རྫོང་། | Dìngrì Xiàn | Tingri Zong | ding ri rdzong | 13,861.21 | 58,173 | Xêgar Town | 858200 | - | 2 Towns | 11 Townships | Entire territory | | 540224 | Sa'gya County | ས་སྐྱ་རྫོང་། | Sàjiā Xiàn | Sa'gya Zong | sa skya rdzong | 5,748.81 | 48,766 | Sa'gya Town | 857800 | - | 2 Towns | 9 Townships | None | | 540225 | Lhazê County | ལྷ་རྩེ་རྫོང་། | Lāzī Xiàn | Lhazê Zong | lha rtse rdzong | 4,488.70 | 56,355 | Quxia Town | 858100 | - | 2 Towns | 9 Townships | None | | 540226 | Ngamring County | ངམ་རིང་རྫོང་། | Ángrén Xiàn | Ngamring Zong | ngam ring rdzong | 28,205.88 | 55,108 | Kagar Town | 858500 | - | 2 Towns | 15 Townships | None | | 540227 | Xaitongmoin County | བཞད་མཐོང་སྨོན་རྫོང་། | Xiètōngmén Xiàn | Xaitongmoin Zong | bzhad mthong smon rdzong | 13,964.95 | 45,573 | Kagar Town | 858900 | - | 1 Town | 18 Townships | None | | 540228 | Bainang County | པ་སྣམ་རྫོང་། | Báilǎng Xiàn | Bainang Zong | pa snam rdzong | 2,805.85 | 44,564 | Lhojang Town | 857300 | - | 2 Towns | 9 Townships | None | | 540229 | Rinbung County | རིན་སྤུངས་རྫོང་། | Rénbù Xiàn | Rinbung Zong | rin spungs rdzong | 2,124.10 | 33,530 | Dêgylin Town | 857200 | - | 1 Town | 8 Townships | None | | 540230 | Kangmar County | ཁང་དམར་རྫོང་། | Kāngmǎ Xiàn | Kangmar Zong | khang dmar rdzong | 6,163.72 | 20,864 | Kangmar Town | 857500 | - | 1 Town | 8 Townships | Entire territory | | 540231 | Dinggyê County | གཏིང་སྐྱེས་རྫོང་། | Dìngjié Xiàn | Dinggyê Zong | gting skyes rdzong | 5,834.55 | 20,362 | Gyanggar Town | 857900 | - | 3 Towns | 7 Townships | Entire territory | | 540232 | Zhongba County | འབྲོང་པ་རྫོང་། | Zhòngbā Xiàn | Zhongba Zong | 'brong pa rdzong | 43,602.92 | 26,897 | Larang Township | 858800 | - | 1 Town | 12 Townships | Entire territory | | 540233 | Chomo County | གྲོ་མོ་རྫོང་། | Yàdōng Xiàn | Chomo Zong | gro mo rdzong | 4,240.14 | 15,449 | Xarsingma Town | 857600 | - | 2 Towns | 5 Townships | Entire territory | | 540234 | Gyirong County | སྐྱིད་གྲོང་རྫོང་། | Jílóng Xiàn | Gyirong Zong | skyid grong rdzong | 9,019.70 | 17,536 | Zongga Town | 858700 | - | 2 Towns | 4 Townships | Entire territory | | 540235 | Nyalam County | གཉའ་ལམ་རྫོང་། | Nièlāmù Xiàn | Nyalam Zong | gnya' lam rdzong | 7,863.92 | 17,009 | Nyalam Town | 858300 | - | 2 Towns | 5 Townships | Entire Area | | 540236 | Saga County | ས་དགའ་རྫོང་། | Sàgā Xiàn | Saga Zong | sa dga' rdzong | 12,418.87 | 16,220 | Jiajia Town | 858600 | - | 1 Town | 7 Townships | Entire Area | | 540237 | Kamba County | གམ་པ་རྫོང་། | Gǎngbā Xiàn | Kamba Zong | gam pa rdzong | 3,938.49 | 11,276 | Kamba Town | 857700 | - | 1 Town | 4 Townships | Entire Area |

6. Economy

The economy of Shigatse City showed significant growth in 2023, with the regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reaching 40.686 billion yuan for the year, a year-on-year increase of 10.2%. Specifically, the value added of the primary industry grew by 11.0%, the secondary industry by 14.4%, and the tertiary industry by 7.5%. Furthermore, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 23.5% year-on-year, fixed asset investment grew by 52.8% year-on-year, and the total import and export trade volume surged by 41.6 times, indicating a rapid economic recovery and a steady, progressive development trend.

7. Transportation

7.1 Aviation

Shigatse Peace Airport Shigatse Peace Airport is located in Jiangdang Township, Samdruptse District. It operates flights to and from Chengdu every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

7.2 Railway

Shigatse Railway Station Shigatse Railway Station officially commenced operations on August 15, 2014, with a travel time of approximately 3 hours to Lhasa. Following the Lhasa-Shigatse Railway, during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, railways from Shigatse to the Gyirong Port and from Shigatse to the Yadong Port are also expected to commence construction. According to national plans, the Lhasa-Shigatse Railway will connect northward to the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and southward to railways from Shigatse to Nyalam, Shigatse to Gyirong Port, and Shigatse to Yadong Port. This will form an international railway corridor leading to Nepal and India.

7.3 Highway

National Highway 318, Provincial Highway 203, and Provincial Highway 304 traverse the entire region, with numerous rural roads providing connectivity.

8. Education

8.1 Education System

1. Preschool Education: Kindergartens and policy support.
2. Basic Education: Primary schools, secondary schools, and bilingual education.
3. Vocational Education: Vocational institutions and program offerings.
4. Higher Education: Shigatse Vocational and Technical College and Tibet University Shigatse Branch.

8.2 Education Policies

• Educational equity, teacher training, and information technology in education.

8.3 Educational Achievements

• Increased enrollment rates, improved education quality, and preservation of ethnic culture.

8.4 Future Outlook

• Continued investment, quality enhancement, and promotion of equity.

9. Population

According to the Seventh National Population Census in 2020, the city's resident population was 798,153. Compared with the 703,292 people from the Sixth National Population Census, there was an increase of 94,861 people over the past ten years, a growth of 13.49%, with an average annual growth rate of 1.27%. Among them, the male population was 416,384, accounting for 52.17% of the total population; the female population was 381,769, accounting for 47.83% of the total population. The sex ratio of the total population (with females as 100) was 109.07. The population aged 0–14 was 209,900, accounting for 26.3% of the total population; the population aged 15–59 was 516,838, accounting for 64.75% of the total population; the population aged 60 and above was 71,415, accounting for 8.95% of the total population, of which the population aged 65 and above was 44,772, accounting for 5.61% of the total population. The urban population was 184,323, accounting for 23.09% of the total population; the rural population was 613,830, accounting for 76.91% of the total population.

9.1. Ethnic Groups

Among the city's resident population, the Han population was 42,501, accounting for 5.32%; the Tibetan population was 748,443, accounting for 93.77%; and other ethnic minorities numbered 7,209, accounting for 0.9%. Compared with the Sixth National Population Census in 2010, the Han population increased by 16,691, a growth of 64.67%, with its proportion in the total population increasing by 1.66 percentage points; the population of various ethnic minorities increased by 78,170, a growth of 11.54%, with their proportion in the total population decreasing by 1.66 percentage points. Among them, the Tibetan population increased by 76,779, a growth of 11.43%, with its proportion in the total population decreasing by 1.73 percentage points.

Ethnic Composition of Shigatse City (November 2010)

| Ethnic Group | Tibetan | Han | Kyrgyz | Hui | Unidentified Ethnicity | Kazakh | Tu | Dongxiang | Manchu | Miao | Other Ethnic Groups | |------------|---------|--------|------------|-------|------------|----------|------|--------|------|------|----------| | Population | 671,664 | 25,810 | 2,669 | 1,434 | 703 | 250 | 162 | 138 | 98 | 66 | 298 | | Proportion of Total Population (%) | 95.50 | 3.67 | 0.38 | 0.20 | 0.10 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.04 | | Proportion of Ethnic Minority Population (%) | 99.14 | --- | 0.39 | 0.21 | 0.10 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.04 |

10. Religion

10.1 Tibetan Buddhism

• Major Temples: Tashilhunpo Monastery, Sakya Monastery, Palcho Monastery, Shalu Monastery.
• Religious Activities: Kora (circumambulation), pilgrimage, religious festivals.

10.2 Bon

• Major Temple: Reting Monastery.
• Religious Activities: Bon religious ceremonies.

10.3 Religion and Life

• Religious festivals, religious architecture, religious art.

11. Culture

11.1 Religious Culture

• Tibetan Buddhism: Tashilhunpo Monastery, Sakya Monastery, Palcho Monastery, Shalu Monastery.
• Bon Religion: Reting Monastery.

11.2 Folk Culture

• Traditional Festivals: Tibetan New Year, Mount Everest Cultural Festival.
• Folk Arts: Tibetan Opera, Guozhuang Dance.

11.3 Artistic Culture

• Thangka Painting: Religious painting art, known for its vibrant colors.
• Handicrafts: Wood Carving, Silverware.

11.4 Culinary Culture

• Specialty Foods: Tsampa, Butter Tea, Air-dried Meat.

11.5 Cultural Heritage

• Intangible Cultural Heritage: Tibetan Opera, Thangka Painting.
• Cultural Education: School Education, Community Activities.

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Sangzhuzi District

Sangzhuzi District

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