Gyirong (alternatively romanized as sKyid-grong, Kyirong, ; ) is a county of

Xigazê 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 histori ...

Prefecture,

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 ...

. It is famous because of its mild climatically conditions and its abundant vegetation which is unusual for the Tibetan plateau. The capital lies at Zongga. Its name in Tibetan, Dzongka means "mud walls". It is one of the four counties that comprise the

Qomolangma National Nature Preserve The Qomolangma National Nature Preserve (QNNP), also known as the Chomolungma Nature Reserve (QNP), is a protected area 3.381 million hectares in size in the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. Located on the Roof of the ...

(Gyirong, Dinggyê, Nyalam, and Tingri). In 1945

Peter Aufschnaiter Peter Aufschnaiter (2 November 1899 – 12 October 1973) was an Austrian mountaineer, agricultural scientist, geographer and cartographer. His experiences with fellow climber Heinrich Harrer during World War II were depicted in the 1997 film ' ...

counted 26 temples and monasteries which covered the area of sKyid-grong and the neighboring La-sdebs. The most famous temple of sKyid-grong is the Byams-sprin lha-khang, erected by the famous Tibetan king Srong-btsan sgam-po (

Songtsän Gampo Songtsen Gampo (; 569–649? 650), also Songzan Ganbu (), was the 33rd Tibetan king and founder of the Tibetan Empire, and is traditionally credited with the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, influenced by his Nepali consort Bhrikuti, of Nepa ...

) as one of the four Yang-´dul temples in the 7th century A.D. During the 11th century the famous South Asian scholar Atisha visited sKyi-grong. sKyid-grong was one of the favorite meditation places of the Tibetan Yogin Mi-la ras-pa (

Milarepa Jetsun Milarepa (, 1028/40–1111/23) was a Tibetan siddha, who was famously known as a murderer when he was a young man, before turning to Buddhism and becoming a highly accomplished Buddhist disciple. He is generally considered one of Tibet's m ...

). The local Gyirong language has been researched thoroughly and folk literature of this region was collected and published during the 1980s.

Special places

Of outstanding importance are the Byams-sprin lha-khang temple, which was built in the 7th century A. D., and the ´Phags-pa lha-khang temple. The ´Phags-pa lha-khang formerly contained one of the holiest Avalokiteshvara statues of Tibet, the statue of the Ārya Va-ti bzang-po. This statue was brought to India in 1959 and is now kept in

Dharamsala Dharamshala (; also spelled Dharamsala) is the winter capital of Himachal Pradesh, India. It serves as administrative headquarters of the Kangra district after being relocated from Kangra, a city located away from Dharamshala, in 1855. The ...

. Of some importance is the bKra-shis bdam-gtan gling monastery, founded by yongs-´dzin Ye-shes rgyal-mtshan (1713–1793), who was one of the teachers of the

8th Dalai Lama Jamphel Gyatso (1758–1804) was the 8th Dalai Lama of Tibet. Born in 1758 at Lhari Gang (Tob-rgyal Lha-ri Gang) in the Upper Ü-Tsang region of southwestern Tibet his father, Sonam Dhargye and mother, Phuntsok Wangmo, were originally from Kham ...

Lake Paiku Lake Paiku (or ''Peiku'', Tibetan: ''Paiku-Tso'' or ''-Tsho'') is a lake at elevation on the Tibetan Plateau at , south of the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) River. The lake is long and wide at its narrowest. It is surrounded by mountains reach ...

is in this county. This is a long, slightly salty lake surrounded by snowy peaks high.

Towns and townships

* Zongga Town (, ) *

Gyirong Town Gyirong Town (; ; ne, केरुङ), also referred to as ''Kyirong'' or ''Kerung'', is situated in the southern part of Gyirong County in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The town is situated on the east bank of Gyirong River (Gyirong Zangb ...

(, ) * Zhêba Township (, ) * Kungtang Township(, ) * Chagna Township (, )

Transportation

Up to 1960 one of the main trade routes between Nepal and Tibet passed through this region. Easily accessible from Nepal, it was used several times as an entrance gate for military actions from the site of Nepal against Tibet. In 2017, Chinese soldiers began building a new road on the Tibetan side of the border, and intend to continue construction into Nepal via

Rasuwa Rasuwa District ( ne, रसुवा जिल्ला is one of 13 districts of Bagmati Province and one of seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Dhunche as its district headquarters, covers an area of and has a population (2 ...

pending approval from Kathmandu. A possibility of a transborder railway link along a similar route (Gyirong to Kathmandu via Rasuwa) is considered as well.

Notes

References

* Roland Bielmeier, Silke Herrmann: ''Märchen, Sagen und Schwänke vom Dach der Welt. Tibetisches Erzählgut in Deutscher Fassung, Band 3. Viehzüchtererzählungen sowie Erzählgut aus sKyid-grong und Ding-ri, gesammelt und ins Deutsche übertragen''. Vereinigung für Geschichtswissenschaft Hochasiens Wissenschaftsverlag (= Beiträge zur tibetischen Erzählforschung, 3), Sankt Augustin 1982 * Harrer, Heinrich:

Seven Years in Tibet ''Seven Years in Tibet: My Life Before, During and After'' (1952; german: Sieben Jahre in Tibet. Mein Leben am Hofe des Dalai Lama; 1954 in English) is an autobiographical travel book written by Austrian mountaineer and Nazi SS sergeant Heinrich ...

; ''Beyond Seven Years in Tibet: My Life Before, During, and After (2007)'' * Aufschnaiter, Peter: ''Land and Places of Milarepa''. East and West, 26 (1976):1-2, S. 175-189 * Brauen, Martin: ''Heinrich Harrers Impressionen aus Tibet''. Innsbruck, 1974 * Brauen, Martin: ''Peter Aufschnaiter. Sein Leben in Tibet''. Innsbruck, 1983 * Ehrhard, Franz-Karl: ''Die Statue des Ārya Va-ti bzang-po''. Wiesbaden, 2004 * Huber, Brigitte: The Tibetan Dialect of Lende (Kyi-rong): a grammatical description with historical annotations''. Bonn, 2005 *

Dieter Schuh Dieter Schuh (; born 1942) is a German Tibetologist, entrepreneur and politician. Life Schuh graduated in 1972 from Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn and submitted his habilitation in 1976. He has been a Professor of Tibetan Studies ...

: ''Das Archiv des Klosters bKra-shis bsam-gtan gling von sKyid-grong''. Bonn, 1988 {{Authority control Counties of Tibet Shigatse