Pome County
()
or Bomê County ()
is a county of
Nyingchi Prefecture
Nyingchi (), also known as Linzhi and as Nyingtri, is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. The administrative seat of Nyingchi is Bayi District.
Nyingchi is the location of Buchu Monastery.
Econom ...
in the south-east of the
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...
.
Historically known as Powo or Poyul, it was the seat of a quasi-independent kingdom until the early 20th century when troops of the Dalai Lama's Lhasa government integrated it into the central Tibetan realm.
The population was 25,897 in 2004.
Geography
The region of Powo or Poyul, which is now constituted as the Pome County, lies to the northeast of the Tsangpo gorge, where the
Yarlung Tsangpo
The Yarlung Tsangpo, also called Yarlung Zangbo () is the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is the longest river of Tibet and the fifth longest in China. The upper section is also called D ...
(Brahmaputra) river turns abruptly to the south on its course towards India.
Two major rivers Yi'ong Tsangpo and Parlung Tsangpo flow into the Pome County from opposite directions to join near Tang-me. The combined river (called Yi'ong Tsangpo) exits the Pome County to the south to join Yarlung Tsangpo near Mount
Gyala Peri
Gyala Peri ( Chinese: 加拉白垒, Pinyin: ''Jiālābáilěi'') is a peak just beyond the eastern end of the Himalayas at the entrance to Tsangpo gorge. It is part of Nyenchen Tanglha Shan, although it is sometimes included in Namcha Barwa Hi ...
.
OpenStreetMap, retrieved 22 September 2022.
The lower reaches of these two rivers constitute ''Po-me'' or Lower Powo.
History
The Kingdom of Powo
The Kingdom of Powo or sPo bo () was a kingdom located in present-day Bomê County, Tibet. The ruler of Powo used the title Kanam Gyelpo (''kaH gnam rgyal po'') or Kanam Depa (''kaH gnam sde pa'').
It was said that the monarchs of Powo were desc ...
, or ''sPo yul'' (“country of ''sPo''”) was an offshoot of the ancient dynasty of the first Tibetan kings of the Yarlung Valley. Its inhabitants had a reputation as fearsome savages which meant most travellers kept clear of it and so it was one of the least known areas in the Tibetan traditional feudal establishment.
Its isolation was also enhanced by the belief by a great number of Tibetans that in its borders was one of the 'hidden lands' or beyul
According to the beliefs of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, Beyul () are hidden valleys often encompassing hundreds of square kilometers, which Padmasambhava blessed as refuges. Tertöns may reveal them from terma at specific and appro ...
( bo, sbas-yul) referred to in the prophecies of Guru Rinpoche
Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...
. Poba's area of control far exceeded the boundaries of Pome County. The kingdom acted as a protecting power for the streams of Tibetan pilgrims searching for this Promised Land in the East Himalayas from the Lopa
Lohjan Pallo (abbreviated LoPa) is a football club from Lohja, Finland. The club was formed in 1966 and their home ground is at the Harjun urheilukenttä. The men's first team currently plays in the Kakkonen (Second Division). The chairman is R ...
tribes (Assam Himalaya
Assam Himalaya is a traditional designation for the portion of the Himalaya range between the eastern border of Bhutan, on the west, and the Great Bend of the Tsangpo River, on the east. The highest peak of this range is Namcha Barwa. Other hi ...
n tribes) from the mid-seventeenth century. Its power extended south over the Doshong La pass, to include the location of one of these earthly paradises called Padma bkod (written variously Pema köd, Pemakö and Pemako), literally 'Lotus Array', a region in the North-Eastern Province of Upper Siang
Upper Siang (Pron:/ˈsjæŋ or ˈsɪæŋ/) is an administrative district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in India. It is the fourth least populous district in the country (out of 640).
History
The majority of the people are of the Adi trib ...
of Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...
. Accounts of this terrestrial paradise influenced James Hilton's Shangri-La
Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel '' Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ...
.
A period of instability overtook the kingdom after Chinese incursions in 1905 and 1911. By 1931 the Lhasa government had expelled the last ''Ka gnam sde pa'' ('king') and established two garrisons.
Climate
Pome has a monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
-influenced oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
(Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
''Cwb''). The average annual temperature in Pome is . The average annual rainfall is with December as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around , and lowest in January, at around .
Settlements
* Alamdo
* Tramog (capital)
Transport
*China National Highway 318
China National Highway 318 (G318) runs from Shanghai to Zhangmu on the China-Nepal border. It is the longest China National Highway at in length and runs west from Shanghai towards Zhejiang, Anhui, Hubei, Chongqing, Sichuan, and ends in Tibet Au ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Pome County
OpenStreetMap, retrieved 21 September 2022.
Yi'ong Tsangpo basinParlung Tsangpo basin
and both the rivers as part of th
Yarlung Tsangpo basin
OpenStreetMap, retrieved 21 September 2022.
*
Official Website of Pome County
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bome County
Counties of Tibet
Nyingchi