Nagqu, Nagchu in original Tibetan or Naqu (), also known as Nagchuka or Nagquka, is a town in northern

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

, seat of the

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of Chi ...

Nagqu Nagqu (also Naqu, Nakchu, or Nagchu; ; ) is a prefecture-level city in the north of the Chinese autonomous region of Tibet. On May 7, 2018, the former Nagqu Prefecture was officially declared the sixth prefecture-level city in Tibet after Lhasa, ...

, approximately by road north-east of the capital

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhasa ...

, within the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

Nagqu railway station Nagqu railway station (), also spelled Naqu and Nagchu, is a station on the Chinese railway to Tibet serving Nagqu, Tibet. Station layout The station has a crossing loop and several goods sidings adjacent to the passenger station. The goods s ...

to the town's west sits on the Qingzang railway at . "Nagchu (...) is an important stop on both the road and railway line between Qīnghǎi and Tibet. In fact, this is where Hwy 317 ends as it joins the Qīnghǎi–Tibet Hwy (Hwy 109) on its way to Lhasa." At the time of the visit in 1950 of Thubten Jigme Norbu, the elder brother of Tenzin Gyatso the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

, Nagchukha was a small town with only a few clay huts but was also the headquarters of the District Officer, the Dzongpön. It was on the main caravan route coming from

Amdo Amdo ( �am˥˥.to˥˥ ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being U-Tsang in the west and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Amdo is also the bi ...

to Central Tibet. China is planning to build

Nagqu Airport Nagqu Dagring Airport () is a planned airport that will serve Seni in the Nagqu of Tibet. If built it will be the highest airport in the world at , surpassing Daocheng Yading Airport Daocheng Yading Airport ( zh, 稻城亚丁机场, bo, འད ...

, the highest airport in the world at an altitude of . The construction is planned to start in 2011 and expected to take three years to complete. When completed, it will overtake the current highest, Qamdo Bangda Airport, with an elevation of ."Tibet to be location of highest airport in the world." 12 Jan. 2010
/ref> With all months having a mean temperature below , due to the town's very high altitude, Nagqu has an

alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical weather (climate) for elevations above the tree line, where trees fail to grow due to cold. This climate is also referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. Definition There are multiple definitions o ...

( Köppen: ''ETH''), with long, very cold and dry winters, and short, cool summers.

Footnotes

Populated places in Nagqu Township-level divisions of Tibet {{Tibet-geo-stub