Samzhubzê 桑珠孜区 •བསམ་འགྲུབ་རྩེ་ཆུས། Sangzhuzi, Samdruptse | |
|---|---|
 Samzhubzê in 2009 | |
  Samzhubzê Location in Tibet Show map of Tibet Samzhubzê Samzhubzê (China) Show map of China | |
| Coordinates (Xigazê government):29°16′01″N88°52′48″E / 29.267°N 88.880°E /29.267; 88.880 | |
| Country | China |
| Autonomous region | Tibet |
| Prefecture-level city | Xigazê |
| District seat | Chengbei Subdistrict |
| Area | |
• Total | 3,654.18 km2 (1,410.89 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 3,836 m (12,585 ft) |
| Population (2020)[2] | |
• Total | 158,290 |
| • Density | 43/km2 (110/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (CST) |
| Postal code | 857000 |
| Area code | 0892 |
| Website | www |
| Samzhubzê, Xigazê | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 桑珠孜区 | ||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 桑珠孜區 | ||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | Sāngzhūzī Qū | ||||||||
| Postal | Samdruptse | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Tibetan name | |||||||||
| Tibetan | བསམ་འགྲུབ་རྩེ་ཆུས་ | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Samzhubzê District (also spelledSangzhuzi District,Samdruptse District) is adistrict in theTibet Autonomous Region of theChina, and the administrative center of theprefecture-level city ofShigatse (Tibetan Pinyin: Xigazê). Prior to 2014 it was known as thecounty-level city ofShigatse. It was the ancient capital ofÜ-Tsang province and is the second largest city in Tibet with an estimated population of 117,000 in 2013. Samzhubzê is located at the confluence of theYarlung Tsangpo River and the Nyang River (Nyang Chu or Nyanchue), about 250 km (160 mi) southwest ofLhasa and 90 km (56 mi) northwest ofGyantse, at an altitude of 3,840 metres (12,600 ft).
In the 17th century, the city and the dzong was called Samdrubtsé (one of the transliterations of the current name). It was the capital of theTsang.
In the 19th century, the "Tashi" orPanchen Lama had temporal power overTashilhunpo Monastery and three small districts, though not over the town of Shigatse itself, which was administered by two Dzongpön (Prefects) appointed fromLhasa.[3] The Tibetan territory was divided into 53 prefecture districts calledDzongs.[4]
There were twoDzongpöns for everyDzong—a lama (Tse-dung) and a layman. They were entrusted with both civil and military powers and are equal in all respects, though subordinate to the generals and the ChineseAmban in military matters.[5] However, there were only one or two Ambans representing the Qing (Manchu) Chinese emperor residing in Lhasa, directing a littlegarrison, and their power installed since 1728, progressively declined to end-up as observer at the eve of their expulsion in 1912 by the13th Dalai Lama.[4] In 1952, shortly after theannexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China, Shigatse had a population of perhaps 12,000 people, making it the second largest town in Tibet.[6]
In 1959, Shigatse was made the administrative center of an eponymous special district (专区) of Tibet. In 1970 the special district was upgraded to a prefecture and the town designated acounty. In 1986 the county became acounty-level city, and when the prefecture was again upgraded to a prefecture-level city in 2014, the county-level city was redesignated a district and given the new name of Samzhubzê.[7] On 26 June 2014 Rikaze region upgraded to prefecture-level Rikaze city, the original county-level Rikaze city renamed Samzhubzê District.[8]
Samzhubzê lies on flat terrain surrounded by high mountains, and the urban area is located just south of theYarlung Zangbo River. The city lies at an elevation of around 3,840 metres (12,600 ft), and within its administrative area there are five peaks higher than 5,500 metres (18,000 ft).[9] The city's administrative area ranges in latitude from 29° 07' to 29° 09' N and in longitude from 88° 03' to 89° 08' E.
Samzhubzê has amonsoon-influenced, alpine version of ahumid continental climate (KöppenDwb), with frosty, very dry winters and warm, wet summers. Temperatures are relatively moderate for theTibetan Plateau, as the annual mean temperature is 6.48 °C (43.7 °F).[1] Barely any precipitation falls from November to March, when thediurnal temperature variation can frequently exceed 20 °C (36 °F). Nearly two-thirds of the annual rainfall occurs in July and August alone. Sunshine is abundant year-round, totaling 3248 hours annually.[9]
Samzhubzê is rich in medicinal herbs, with more than 300 varieties of commonly used medicinal plants, such asCordyceps,Bayberry,Tianma,Snowdrop,Rhodiola Rosea,Rhubarb, etc.
| Climate data for Shigatse, elevation 3,836 m (12,585 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 18.6 (65.5) | 18.8 (65.8) | 22.9 (73.2) | 23.9 (75.0) | 28.5 (83.3) | 28.2 (82.8) | 28.2 (82.8) | 26.2 (79.2) | 24.4 (75.9) | 22.2 (72.0) | 21.1 (70.0) | 17.3 (63.1) | 28.5 (83.3) |
| 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) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −21.3 (−6.3) | −19.4 (−2.9) | −14.4 (6.1) | −9.5 (14.9) | −4.9 (23.2) | 0.6 (33.1) | 2.2 (36.0) | 0.5 (32.9) | −1.6 (29.1) | −9.8 (14.4) | −15.5 (4.1) | −18.6 (−1.5) | −21.3 (−6.3) |
| Averageprecipitation 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 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 28 | 25 | 25 | 32 | 40 | 50 | 64 | 68 | 61 | 44 | 34 | 33 | 42 |
| Mean monthlysunshine 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 |
| Percentagepossible sunshine | 80 | 77 | 75 | 72 | 71 | 67 | 54 | 55 | 68 | 82 | 87 | 84 | 73 |
| Source 1:China Meteorological Administration[10][11] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Weather China[12] | |||||||||||||
Shigatse administers twosubdistricts and tentownships.[1]
| Name | Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan | Wylie | Population (2010)[13] | Area (km2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subdistricts | ||||||
| Chengbei Subdistrict | 城北街道 | Chéngběi Jiēdào | གྲོང་བྱང་ཁྲོམ་གཞུང | grong byang khrom gzhung | 13,110 | 70 |
| Chengnan Subdistrict | 城南街道 | Chéngnán Jiēdào | གྲོང་ལྷོ་ཁྲོམ་གཞུང | grong lho khrom gzhung | 50,857 | 90 |
| Townships | ||||||
| Lhain Township | 联乡 | Lián Xiāng | ལྷན་ཤང་། | lhan shang | 4,823 | 514 |
| Nyamo Township | 年木乡 | Niánmù Xiāng | ཉ་མོ་ཤང་། | nya mo shang | 3,347 | 330 |
| Jangdam Township | 江当乡 | Jiāngdāng Xiāng | ལྕགས་འདམ་ཤང་། | lcags 'dam shang | 4,951 | 304 |
| Benxung Township | 边雄乡 | Biānxióng Xiāng | སྤེན་གཞུང་ཤང་། | spen gzhung shang | 4,106 | 230 |
| Donggar Township | 东嘎乡 | Dōnggā Xiāng | གདོང་དཀར་ཤང་། | gdong dkar shang | 8,625 | 428 |
| Nyarixung Township | 聂日雄乡 | Nièrìxióng Xiāng | ཉ་རི་གཞུང་ཤང་། | nya ri gzhung shang | 5,119 | 555 |
| Gyacoxung Township | 甲措雄乡 | Jiǎcuòxióng Xiāng | རྒྱ་མཚོ་གཞུང་ཤང་། | rgya mtsho gzhung shang | 11,946 | 471 |
| Qugboxung Township | 曲布雄乡 | Qǔbùxióng Xiāng | ཕྱུག་པོ་གཞུང་ཤང་། | phyug po gzhung shang | 5,428 | 310 |
| Qumig Township | 曲美乡 | Qǔměi Xiāng | ཆུ་མིག་ཤང་། | chu mig shang | 5,998 | 356 |
| Nar Township | 纳尔乡 | Nà'ěr Xiāng | སྣར་ང་ཤང་། | snar nga shang | 2,064 | 207 |
Samzhubzê contains the hugeTashilhunpo Monastery, founded in 1447 byGendun Drup, the FirstDalai Lama.[14] It is the traditional seat of thePanchen Lamas. Until the Chinese arrived in the 1950s, the "Tashi" or Panchen Lama had temporal power over three small districts, though not over Samzhubzê itself, which was administered by a dzongpön (general) appointed from Lhasa.[3] In the 2nd week of the 5th lunar month (around June/July), Tashilhunpo Monastery is the scene of a 3-day festival and a hugethangka is displayed.[15]
The imposing castle,Samdrubtse Dzong or "Shigatse Dzong", was probably built in the 15th century. It looked something like a smaller version of thePotala Palace in Lhasa, and had turret-like fortifications at the ends and a central Red Palace. It used to be the seat of the kings ofÜ-Tsang and the capital of the province of Ü-Tsang or Tsang.[16]
The castle was totally dismantled, rock by rock, by hundreds of Tibetans at the instigation of the Chinese in 1961.[17][18] Between 2005 and 2007, the building was reconstructed, financed by donations from Shanghai. Such "Preservation and Reparation Project of Sangzhutse Fortress of Shigatse City" was completed in May 2007 and was designed by the Construction Design Institute of ShanghaiTongji University. Old photographs served as a basis for the reconstruction, which was executed in concrete.[19] Afterwards, the exterior was to be wainscotted with natural stones. Thedzong, which in the 17th century served as a model for the construction of the Potala Palace, is set to become a museum forTibetan culture.[20][21]
Nearby attractions include:
Shigatse (Xigazê) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County-level divisions |
|  | |||||||||
| Settlements | |||||||||||
| Landmarks | |||||||||||
| Geography |
| ||||||||||
| Transport | |||||||||||
| Economy & Development | |||||||||||
| Hotels & Parks | |||||||||||
| Sciences | |||||||||||
| Cultures | |||||||||||
Authority control databases: National |
|---|
