Shigatse

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Xigazê
གཞིས་ཀ་རྩེ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར། · 日喀则市
Shigatse
Shigatse Dzong
Nickname: 
Gateway to Everest
Location of Xigazê within China
Location of Xigazê within China
Coordinates: 29°16′01″N 88°52′52″E / 29.267°N 88.881°E / 29.267; 88.881
CountryPeople's Republic of China
Autonomous regionTibet
County-level divisions
  • 1 district
  • 17 counties
Municipal seatSamzhubzê District
Area
 • Total182,000 km2 (70,000 sq mi)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total798,153
 • Density4.4/km2 (11/sq mi)
GDP
 • TotalCN¥ 16.7 billion
US$ 2.7 billion
 • Per capitaCN¥ 22,469
US$ 3,608
Time zoneUTC+8 (China Standard)
ISO 3166 codeCN-XZ-02
Shigatse
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese日喀则
Traditional Chinese日喀則
Hanyu PinyinRìkāzé
Tibetan name
Tibetanགཞིས་ཀ་རྩེ་
CITS Shigatse Individual Travel Sign

Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê, or Rikaze (Tibetan: གཞིས་ཀ་རྩེ་, Wylie: gzhis ka rtse, ZYPY: xigazê; Chinese: 日喀则; pinyin: Rìkāzé),[1][2] is a prefecture-level city of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area of jurisdiction, with an area of 182,000 km2 (70,271 sq mi), corresponds to the historical Ü-Tsang region of Tibet.

Overview[edit]

The administrative center of the prefecture-level city is the Samzhubzê District. It is roughly equivalent to the historical Shigatse urban center, the second-largest city in Tibet, located about 280 km (170 mi) southwest of Lhasa and home to the Tashilhunpo Monastery, traditionally the seat of the Panchen Lama.[3]

Some of the towns in the prefecture are: Gyantse (Gyantse County), Tingri (Tingri County), and Nyalam (Nyalam County).

On 11 July 2014 Shigatse Prefecture was upgraded into a prefecture-level city (the same status as Lhasa).[4]

Map including Shigatse (Jih-k'a-tse) (DMA, 1973)

History[edit]

In the eighth century, the Tibetan Empire of Tibetan King Chisong Dezan invited Indian monk Padmasambhava into Tibet to build the Samye Mighur Lhundrub Tsula Khang, passing through the place of Rikaze, where the practice of preaching, and predicated Lhasa as the center of snowy plateau, followed by Nianmai (Shigatse). In the eleventh century, the Sakya dynasty, Nianmai has initially begun urbanization.

In October 1959, Rikaze prefecture was established.[5] In 1970, Rikaze Prefecture was abolished and Rikaze District was established.[6] On June 26, 2014, by the State Council of the People's Republic of China agreed, the original Rikaze area abolished, the establishment of prefecture-level Shigatse city, the original county-level Shigatse city merged into the Sangzhuzi District. This was the second prefecture-level city established in the Tibet Autonomous Region. [7]

On December 18, 2014, prefecture-level Shigatse City was officially established.[8][9]

Population[edit]

According to the 2020 Chinese census, the resident population of the city was 798,153.[10] Compared to 703,292 in the 6th Chinese Census, there was a total increase of 94,861 or 13.49% in ten years, 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, while the female population was 381,769, accounting for 47.83% of the total population. The sex ratio of the total population (100 females) was 109.07. The population aged 0-14 years was 209,900, accounting for 26.3% of the total population; the population aged 15-59 years was 516,838, accounting for 64.75% of the total population; and the population aged 60 years and above was 71,415, accounting for 8.95% of the total population, of which the population aged 65 years and above was 8.95%. 8.95% of the total population, of which 44,772 were aged 65 and above, accounting for 5.61% of the total population. The population living in towns and cities was 184,323, or 23.09% of the total population, while the population living in villages was 613,830, or 76.91% of the total population.

Ethnicity[edit]

Of the city's resident population, 42,501, or 5.32%, were Han Chinese; 748,443, or 93.77%, were Tibetans; and 7,209, or 0.9%, were other ethnic minorities. Compared with the 2010 Chinese Census, the Han population increased by 16,691, or 64.67%, and accounted for 1.66 percentage points of the total population; the populations of various ethnic minorities increased by 78,170, or 11.54%, and accounted for 1.66 percentage points of the total population. Among them, the Tibetan population increased by 76,779, an increase of 11.43%, accounting for a decrease of 1.73 percentage points in the proportion of the total population.[10]

Ethnic composition of Shigatse (November 2010)[11]
Ethnic Group Tibetan Han Kirghiz Hui Unidentified Ethnic Groups Kazakh Turkish Dongxiang Manchu Hmong Other Ethnic Groups
Population 671664 25810 2669 1434 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

Transport[edit]

Rail[edit]

Xigazê Railway Station

The Lhasa–Xigazê Railway connects Xigazê Railway Station with Lhasa and further connects with Qinghai via Qinghai–Tibet Railway. It takes about three hours to travel between Lhasa and Shigatse by train. It is possible to get back to Lhasa within the same day by train.[12]

Air[edit]

Rikaze Peace Airport

Rikaze Peace Airport began operations on 30 October 2010 after an Airbus A319 landed safely, making it Tibet's fifth commercial airport. It is located 43 kilometres from Samzhubzê District at Jangdam Township at an elevation of 3,782 metres. The airport will be capable of supporting 230,000 passengers annually by 2020.[13]

Rikaze Dingri Airport opened in December 2022.[14]

Road[edit]

China National Highway 318 and China National Highway 219 are the main roads in and out of Shigatse.[15][16][17]

Counties[edit]

Map
Name Simplified Chinese Hanyu Pinyin Tibetan Wylie Population (2010 Census) Area (km2) Density (/km2)
City proper
Samzhubzê District 桑珠孜区 Sāngzhūzī Qū བསམ་འགྲུབ་རྩེ་ཆུས། bsam 'grub rtse chus 120,374 3,654 32.94
Rural
Namling County 南木林县 Nánmùlín Xiàn རྣམ་གླིང་རྫོང་། rnam gling rdzong 74,930 8,113 9.23
Gyantse County 江孜县 Jiāngzī Xiàn རྒྱལ་རྩེ་རྫོང་། rgyal rtse rdzong 63,503 3,859 16.45
Tingri County 定日县 Dìngrì Xiàn དིང་རི་རྫོང་། ding ri rdzong 50,818 13,859 3.66
Sa'gya County 萨迦县 Sàjiā Xiàn ས་སྐྱ་རྫོང་། sa skya rdzong 47,304 7,510 6.29
Lhatse County 拉孜县 Lāzī Xiàn ལྷ་རྩེ་རྫོང་། lha rtse rdzong 49,286 4,505 10.94
Ngamring County 昂仁县 Ángrén Xiàn ངམ་རིང་རྫོང་། ngam ring rdzong 51,472 20,105 2.56
Xaitongmoin County 谢通门县 Xiètōngmén Xiàn བཞད་མཐོང་སྨོན་རྫོང་། bzhad mthong smon rdzong 42,280 13,960 3.02
Bainang County 白朗县 Báilǎng Xiàn པ་སྣམ་རྫོང་། pa snam rdzong 42,551 2,806 15.16
Rinbung County 仁布县 Rénbù Xiàn རིན་སྤུངས་རྫོང་། rin spungs rdzong 27,826 2,123 13.10
Kangmar County 康马县 Kāngmǎ Xiàn ཁང་དམར་རྫོང་། khang dmar rdzong 20,522 6,165 3.32
Dinggyê County 定结县 Dìngjié Xiàn གཏིང་སྐྱེས་རྫོང་། gding skyes rdzong 20,319 5,816 3.49
Zhongba County 仲巴县 Zhòngbā Xiàn འབྲོང་པ་རྫོང་། 'brong pa rdzong 22,147 43,594 0.50
Yadong County 亚东县 Yàdōng Xiàn གྲོ་མོ་རྫོང་། gro mo rdzong 12,920 4,306 3.00
Gyirong County 吉隆县 Jílóng Xiàn སྐྱིད་གྲོང་རྫོང་། skyid grong rdzong 14,972 9,009 1.66
Nyalam County 聂拉木县 Nièlāmù Xiàn གཉའ་ལམ་རྫོང་། gnya' lam rdzong 17,568 7,903 2.22
Saga County 萨嘎县 Sàgā Xiàn ས་དགའ་རྫོང་། sa dga' rdzong 14,036 12,411 1.13
Kamba County 岗巴县 Gǎngbā Xiàn གམ་པ་རྫོང་། gam pa rdzong 10,464 3,936 2.65

Climate[edit]

Shigatse has an elevation-influenced humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dwb).

Climate data for Shigatse (1991–2020 normals)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 7.0
(44.6)
9.0
(48.2)
12.5
(54.5)
16.0
(60.8)
19.9
(67.8)
22.9
(73.2)
21.8
(71.2)
21.0
(69.8)
20.0
(68.0)
16.7
(62.1)
11.9
(53.4)
8.4
(47.1)
15.6
(60.1)
Daily mean °C (°F) −2.6
(27.3)
0.5
(32.9)
4.6
(40.3)
8.1
(46.6)
12.0
(53.6)
15.3
(59.5)
14.9
(58.8)
14.1
(57.4)
12.6
(54.7)
7.4
(45.3)
1.2
(34.2)
−2.5
(27.5)
7.1
(44.8)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −12.2
(10.0)
−8.9
(16.0)
−4.0
(24.8)
0.4
(32.7)
4.5
(40.1)
8.6
(47.5)
9.8
(49.6)
9.2
(48.6)
6.8
(44.2)
−0.8
(30.6)
−8.0
(17.6)
−11.9
(10.6)
−0.5
(31.0)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 0.1
(0.00)
0.4
(0.02)
0.6
(0.02)
5.2
(0.20)
20.7
(0.81)
66.0
(2.60)
149.8
(5.90)
145.2
(5.72)
52.0
(2.05)
3.7
(0.15)
0.5
(0.02)
0.5
(0.02)
444.7
(17.51)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 0.3 0.4 0.8 2.6 6.1 12.6 20.2 20.7 12.5 1.8 0.3 0.1 78.4
Average snowy days 0.6 1.2 1.7 4.3 1.6 0.1 0 0 0 0.6 0.6 0.4 11.1
Average relative humidity (%) 28 25 25 32 40 50 64 68 61 44 34 33 42
Mean monthly sunshine hours 260.4 244.0 280.0 278.5 301.8 278.6 227.4 222.5 247.5 286.3 276.5 267.8 3,171.3
Percent possible sunshine 80 77 75 72 71 67 54 55 68 82 87 84 73
Source: China Meteorological Administration[18][19]

Gallery[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Powers, John (2016). The Buddha party : how the People's Republic of China works to define and control Tibetan Buddhism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. Appendix B, page 16. ISBN 9780199358182. OCLC 967694121.
  2. ^ 国家测绘局地名研究所 (1997). 中国地名录 [Gazetteer of China]. Beijing: SinoMaps Press. p. 311. ISBN 7-5031-1718-4.
  3. ^ Mapping the Tibetan World. Yukyasu Osada, Gavin Allwright, and Atushi Kanamaru. 1st edition 200. Reprint 2004. Kotan Books, Japan, pp. 109, 113.
  4. ^ Li, Zhe. 西藏日喀则成为中国最年轻地级市. 中国网. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  5. ^ Translations on People's Republic of China. JPRS (Series). Joint Publications Research Service. 1972. p. 9. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  6. ^ 陈至立主编 (2020). 辞海. 上海: 上海辞书出版社. p. 3644. ISBN 978-7-5326-5325-6.
  7. ^ "国务院批复西藏设立第四个地级市". 中国政府网. 3 April 2015. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  8. ^ "西藏海拔最高地级市挂牌成立 助力藏西南经济发展_中华人民共和国国务院新闻办公室". www.scio.gov.cn. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  9. ^ "西藏海拔最高市日喀则市挂牌成立". paper.people.com.cn. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  10. ^ a b 日喀则市统计局、日喀则市第七次全国人口普查领导小组办公室. "日喀则市第七次全国人口普查主要数据公报". Archived from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  11. ^ 西藏自治区第六次全国人口普查领导小组办公室、西藏自治区统计局、国家统计局西藏调查总队 (2012). 《西藏自治区2010年人口普查资料》. 中国统计出版社. ISBN 978-7-5037-6517-9.
  12. ^ "Shigatse Travel" ChinaTour.net Archived 16 August 2015 at Wikiwix Accessed 21 April 2013
  13. ^ "Tibet's Xigaze Airport begins operations - People's Daily Online". Archived from the original on 7 November 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  14. ^ "公司动态:公司重点保障项目——日喀则定日机场顺利通过行业验收". weixin.qq.com. 中航质. 12 December 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  15. ^ IIRF Strategic Yearbook 2022-23. p. 251. ISBN 979-8-88883-276-9. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  16. ^ Bakshi, A. (2001). Silk Road on Wheels: Travels Through Central Asia and Tibet. Odyssey Books. p. x. ISBN 978-81-900861-1-0. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  17. ^ Bhattacharya, A. (2017). Journeys on the Silk Road Through Ages—Romance, Legend, Reality. Repro Knowledgcast Limited. p. 132. ISBN 978-93-86407-81-8. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  18. ^ 中国气象数据网 – WeatherBk Data (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  19. ^ "Experience Template" 中国气象数据网 (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 27 September 2023.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]