Dêqên County ( bo, བདེ་ཆེན་རྫོང་), or Deqin County (), is under the administration of

Dêqên Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Dêqên Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, also known as Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (; ) is an autonomous prefecture in Northwestern Yunnan Province, China. It has an area of . Its capital, which is also the largest city in the prefecture, ...

, located in the northwest of

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

province, China.

Geography and climate

Dêqên occupies the northwest corner of Dêqên Prefecture, and in latitude has a range of 27° 33'−29° 15' N and in longitude has a range of 98° 36'−99° 33' E, covering an area of , bordering the

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of � ...

to the northwest and

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 ...

to the northeast. It is located in the central part of the Hengduan Mountains, and contains the valleys of the

Salween , ''Mae Nam Salawin'' ( , name_etymology = , image = Sweet_View_of_Salween_River_in_Tang_Yan_Township,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Salween River in Shan State, Myanmar , map ...

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...

, and

Jinsha River The Jinsha River (, Tibetan: Dri Chu, འབྲི་ཆུ) is the Chinese name for the upper stretches of the Yangtze River. It flows through the provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan in western China. The river passes through Tiger L ...

s. Being located at an altitude of , Dêqên lies in the transition between a

subtropical highland 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 Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Cwb'') and

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(Köppen ''Dwb''), which is remarkable for its latitude. Although mean maximum temperatures, as in

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 Lhas ...

and

Shigatse Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê (; Nepali: ''सिगात्से''), 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 , corresponds to the histor ...

, stay above freezing year-round, minima are below freezing from November to March, and temperatures average in January, in July, while the annual mean is . The town is nonetheless a little warmer during the winter than

Shangri-La County Shangri-La (, Tibetan: Gyalthang) is a county-level city in Northwestern Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China and is the location of the seat of the Dêqên Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, bordering Sichuan to the northwest, north, and ea ...

to the east despite being slightly higher in elevation, due to its more southerly aspect. Rainfall is concentrated between June and September, accounting for nearly 60% of the annual total of ; snowfall is rare but still causes major transport problems in the winter. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 29% in July to 62% in December, the county seat receives 1,989 hours of bright sunshine annually, with autumn and winter sunnier than spring and summer.

Administrative divisions

Dêqên County has 2 towns, 4 townships and 2 ethnic townships. ;2 towns * Shengping () * Benzilan () ;4 townships ;2 ethnic townships * Tuoding Lisu () * Xiaruo Lisu ()

Demographics

There are many Tibetans who live in Dêqên and they, compared to Tibetans in Tibet, have had longer-lasting trade relations with Han-Chinese and other ethnic minorities.

Composition

Meilishi () is in Foshan Township, in the northernmost part of the county.Galipeau, p. 5 (PDF 20/148).

Transportation

China National Highway 214 China National Highway 214 (G214) runs from Xining, Qinghai to Jinghong, Yunnan. It is 3,256 kilometres in length and runs south from Xining towards Tibet, and ends in Yunnan Province. Route and distance See also * China National Highways Ext ...

Deqin can be reached by many daily buses traveling North from Kunming - Dali - Lijiang - Zhongdian - Deqin. The route is a very scenic and most of it is a newly built highway apart from the Zhongdian to Deqin section which is a winding mountain road through the scenic North Yunnan/Tibetan mountains.

References

* Galipeau, Brendan A.
Socio-Ecological Vulnerability in a Tibetan Village on the Lancang River, China

Archive
(master's thesis).

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...

. July 6, 2012.

Reference notes

External links

*
Deqin County Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deqen County County-level divisions of Dêqên Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture