Ruoergai County or Zoigê County (; ) is a
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
of
Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture
Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, also known as Aba (; Qiang: ; ), is an autonomous prefecture of northwestern Sichuan, bordering Gansu to the north and northeast and Qinghai to the northwest. Its seat is in Barkam, and it has an ar ...
in
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
, China, bordering
Gansu
Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province.
The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...
to the north. It is the northernmost county of the province. It is part of the Tibetan traditional region of Amdo.
It has an area of and a population of , 90.4% of which are Tibetan people.
Geography
Ruoergai County is found in the easternmost sections of the Tibetan Plateau. The county is primarily a highland basin made up of the Ruoergai Marsh between the Min Mountains and Amne Machin. The western border of the county, shared with Maqu County in Gansu, is formed by the first major bend of the Yellow River where it changes course nearly 180 degrees and heads back towards Qinghai.
Climate
Ruoergai has an alpine subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification, Köppen ''Dwc''), featuring very cold nights even in summertime, and very cold winters with extreme diurnal temperature ranges. Snow can fall any time of the year and usually does not melt until summer due to repeated nightly freezing even when maxima are above . Therefore, access to Ruoergai is heavily restricted during the winter months from late October to early May. Sitting at an altitude of more than 11,000 feet, high-altitude sickness is another common problem for tourists.
Transport
*China National Highway 213
Administrative divisions
Ruoergai County has four Town (China), towns and 13 Townships of the People's Republic of China, townships:
*Town:
**Dazhasi ()
**Tangke ()
**Xiaman ()
**Hongxing ()
*Townships:
**Banyou ()
**Axi ()
**Maixi Township, Sichuan, Maixi ()
**Nenwa ()
**Donglie ()
**Chong'er ()
**Re'er ()
**Zhanwa ()
**Jiangzha ()
**Baxi ()
**Axirong ()
**Qiuji ()
**Baozuo ()
References
"China Ruoergai" - County Government site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruoergai County
County-level divisions of Sichuan
Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture