Chamdo, officially Qamdo () and also known in Chinese as Changdu, is a

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 ...

in the eastern part of 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 ...

, China. Its seat is the town of Chengguan in

Karuo District Karuo District (other spellings: Karub District, Kharro District (after THL transliteration of Tibetan)) is a district in Qamdo, the district is synonymous referred to as Chamdo, Qamdo, or Chengguan in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, a ...

. Chamdo is Tibet's third largest city after

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 ...

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 histo ...

.Buckley and Straus 1986, p. 215. Chamdo is divided into 11 county-level divisions: one district and ten counties. The main district is Karuo District. Other counties include Jonda County, Gonjo County, Riwoche County, Dengqen County, Zhag'yab County, Baxoi County, Zognang County, Maarkam County, Lhorong County, and Banbar County.

History

On 11 July 2014 Chamdo Prefecture was upgraded into a

Languages

Languages spoken in Chamdo include

Khams Tibetan Khams Tibetan () is the Tibetic language used by the majority of the people in Kham. Khams is one of the three branches of the traditional classification of Tibetic languages (the other two being Amdo Tibetan and Ü-Tsang). In terms of mutual i ...

and the

Chamdo languages The Chamdo languages are a group of recently discovered, closely related Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Chamdo Prefecture, Tibet.Suzuki, Hiroyuki and Tashi Nyima. 2018Historical relationship among three non-Tibetic languages in Chamdo, TAR ''P ...

of Lamo, Larong, and Drag-yab.

Transportation

Air

Qamdo Bamda Airport, opened in 1994, is located from Chengguan Town in

Karub District Karuo District (other spellings: Karub District, Kharro District (after THL transliteration of Tibetan)) is a district in Qamdo, the district is synonymous referred to as Chamdo, Qamdo, or Chengguan in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, a ...

. The long commute (2.5 hours by mountain road) is the result of no flat land closer to the city being available to construct an airport.

Road

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 ...

and

China National Highway 317 China National Highway 317 (G317) runs broadly west to east from Chengdu, Sichuan to Gar County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. It is 2,028 kilometres in length and forms an important transportation route in Tibet. As of 2017, Highway 317 passes throu ...

are the main roads in and out of Chamdo.

Subdivisions

The city is subdivided into 11 county-level divisions: 1

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

and 10

counties 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 ...

Climate

Chamdo has a

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 freez ...

(

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 ...

: ''Dwb'') in the Karub District and an alpine

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, g ...

(

: ''Dwc'') in other counties.

References

External links

* {{authority control Prefecture-level divisions of Tibet