Rutog County (), (in ) 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 ...

Ngari Prefecture Ngari Prefecture () or Ali Prefecture () is a prefecture of China's Tibet Autonomous Region covering Western Tibet, whose traditional name is Ngari Khorsum. Its administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Shiquanhe. History Ngar ...

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 ...

of the People's Republic of China. The county seat is the new

Rutog Town The Rutog Town (), called Rituzhen in Chinese (;),
KNAB place name database. is a town and the seat of

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...

. Rutog County shares a border with

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The county has a rich history of folk tales, myths, legends, proverbs and folk songs and has many caves, rock paintings and other relics. The Xinjiang-Tibet Highway runs through the Rutog County for . The modern county established in March 1961 covers . It has a very low population density with a population of just over 10,000.

Name

'Rutog' is Tibetan for "mountain shaped like a spear and fork".

Geography and climate

Rutog County is located in northwestern Tibet, Ngari northwest with a number of territorial borders. It is divided into 12 townships and 30 village committees. The

Karakoram Mountains The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under t ...

go through the county. The average altitude of with a maximum altitude of . Lakes in Rutog County include

Bangda Lake Bangda Lake (; ), formerly called Yeshil Kul, is a glacial lake in Ngari Prefecture in the northwest of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It lies south of the western Kunlun Mountains, only a few kilometres to the southeast of Guozha Lake ...

Guozha Lake Kotra Tso (), also known as Guozha Lake (), and Lake Lighten,Michael WardThe Kun Lun Shan: Desert Peaks of Central Asia ''The Alpine Journal'' (1989-90), p. 90. is a glacial lake in Rutog County in the Ngari Prefecture in the northwest of the Tibet ...

Longmu Lake __NOTOC__ Longmu (; ), also Longmu Co or Longmucuo, is a glacial lake in Rutog County in the Ngari Prefecture in the northwest of the Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet o ...

Lumajangdong Co Lumajangdong Co or Lumajiang Dongcuo is a lake in the Ngari Prefecture, 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. ...

Wo Erba Lake Orba Co, also Wo Erba or Wo Erbacuo (; ), is a lake in Rutog County in the Ngari Prefecture in the northwest of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It lies at an elevation of , to the southeast of Longmu Lake __NOTOC__ Longmu (; ), also Longm ...

and

Pangong Tso Pangong Tso or Pangong Lake (; ; hi, text=पैंगोंग झील) is an endorheic lake spanning eastern Ladakh and West Tibet situated at an elevation of . It is long and divided into five sublakes, called ''Pangong Tso'', ''Tso N ...

. Overall Rutog County has a rough subarctic climate with long, very cold, sometimes snowy winters and short, cool, humid summers (''Dfc'') owing its extreme altitude. To the north, Rutog County shares borders with

Hotan County Hotan County (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a county in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Hotan Prefecture. Almost all the residents of t ...

(Hetian),

Qira County Qira County ( Uyghur: ), alternatively Chira or Cele (from Mandarin Chinese), is a county in Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. Almost all the residents of the county are Uyghurs and live around oases situated between the ...

(Cele) and

Keriya County Yutian County ( zh, s= ), also transliterated from Uyghur as Keriya County ( ug, كېرىيە ناھىيىسى; zh, s= ), is a county in Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. It is based at the Keriya Town, and is separate ...

(Yutian) in

Hotan Prefecture Hotan PrefectureThe official spelling is "Hotan" according to (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is located in the Tarim Basin region of southwestern Xinjiang, China, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region ...

(Hetian), Xinjiang. To the east, the county borders

Gêrzê County Gertse County (), Gêrzê County or Gaize County () is a county located in Ngari Prefecture in the northwest of the Tibet Autonomous Region, bordering Xinjiang to the north. Name Gêrzê is the Tibetan word for a special type of local-style dwe ...

History

Rutog was part of the

Maryul Maryul (also called ''Mar-yul'' of ''mNgah-ris''), later the Kingdom of Ladakh, was a west Tibetan kingdom based in modern-day Ladakh and Tibet. The kingdom had its capital at Shey. The kingdom was founded by Lhachen Palgyigon, during the rul ...

kingdom (modern Ladakh), when it was established in the 10th century. It was again consolidated as part of Ladakh during the reign of

Sengge Namgyal Sengge Namgyal (''Sen-ge-rnam-rgyal'', c. 1570–1642) was a 17th-century Namgyal dynasty King of Ladakh, India from 1616 to his death in 1642. A Buddhist, he was noted for his immense work in building monasteries, palaces and shrines in Ladakh ...

, but was later conquered by Lhasa through the Tibet-Ladakh-Mughal War. Rutog and Ladakh continued to have extensive trading relations at all times, with occasional disputes over borders. The headquarters of the region was at Old

Rudok Rudok, also spelt Rutok and Rutog, more properly Rudok Dzong (), is a town that served as the historical capital of the Rudok area in Western Tibet on the frontier with Ladakh. In the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, it is described as being "pict ...

(Rutog Dzong; ), a hill top location, which boasted a fort as well as several monasteries. During the period of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

in India, European visitors were expressly prohibited from visiting the Rudok, but the British official E. B. Wakefield managed to visit it in 1939. With the 1950

Chinese annexation of Tibet Tibet came under the control of People's Republic of China (PRC) after the Government of Tibet signed the Seventeen Point Agreement which the 14th Dalai Lama ratified on 24 October 1951, but later repudiated on the grounds that he rendered hi ...

, Rutog became part of the

of China. In October 1983, the county seat was moved from Old Rudok to the village of Derub (; ). The present

Rutog Town The Rutog Town (), called Rituzhen in Chinese (;),
KNAB place name database. is a town and the seat of

Administrative divisions

The only town is

Rutog Town The Rutog Town (), called Rituzhen in Chinese (;),
KNAB place name database. is a town and the seat of

Townships * Dungru Township (Tungru; ) * Domar Township (Duoma; , ) * Risong Township (Risum; , ) * Rabang Township (Rebang; , ).

Demographics and economy

, the residents of the county were

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

. Rutog County's economy is based around farming and animal husbandry. Aside from wool, butter, hides, cattle cashmere, etc. are produced. In Rutog County, the main growing crop is barley and yaks, sheep, goats, horses and other livestock are important to the economy. Rutog County has many wild animals and plants, including the

black-necked crane The black-necked Crane (''Grus nigricollis'') is a medium-sized crane in Asia that breeds on the Tibetan Plateau and remote parts of India and Bhutan. It is 139 cm (55 in) long with a 235 cm (7.8 ft) wingspan, and it weighs ...

goose A goose ( : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and '' Branta'' (the black geese). Some other birds, mostly related to the ...

, wild

yak The domestic yak (''Bos grunniens''), also known as the Tartary ox, grunting ox or hairy cattle, is a species of long-haired domesticated cattle found throughout the Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent, the Tibetan Plateau, Kachin Sta ...

Tibetan antelope The Tibetan antelope or chiru (''Pantholops hodgsonii'') (, pronounced ; ) is a medium-sized bovid native to the northeastern Tibetan plateau. Most of the population live within the Chinese border, while some scatter across India and Bhutan in ...

Mongolian gazelle The Mongolian gazelle (''Procapra gutturosa''), or dzeren (russian: Дзерэн), is a medium-sized antelope native to the semiarid Central Asian steppes of Mongolia, as well as some parts of Siberia and China. The name ''dzeren'' is Russian mis ...

black sheep In the English language, black sheep is an idiom that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a family member who does not fit in. The term stems from sheep whose fleece is colored black rather than the more comm ...

kiang The kiang (''Equus kiang'') is the largest of the '' Asinus'' subgenus. It is native to the Tibetan Plateau, where it inhabits montane and alpine grasslands. Its current range is restricted to the plains of the Tibetan plateau; Ladakh; and nort ...

, and

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

. A number of rare animals are protected by the government and are of high value. Known mineral resources are

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

chromite Chromite is a crystalline mineral composed primarily of iron(II) oxide and chromium(III) oxide compounds. It can be represented by the chemical formula of FeCr2O4. It is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. The element magnesium can s ...

borax Borax is a salt (ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular form, ...

, and

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

. In the five years from 2006–2011, Rutog County produced 72 tons of cashmere wool worth 16 million yuan ($2.5 million USD in 2011). China produces 75% of the world's cashmere wool. In 1984, the average per capita income of Rutog County residents was 478 yuan. The

China National Highway 219 China National Highway 219 (G219; Chinese: '' Guódào219'') is a highway which runs along the entire western and southern border of the People's Republic of China, from Kom-Kanas Mongolian ethnic township in Xinjiang to Dongxing in Guangxi. ...

passes through Rutog County.

Incidents

At around 11 AM on July 17, 2016, nine people, 350 sheep and 110 yaks were buried in an

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...

near the Aru Lake (at ), about from Rutog Town . The avalanche fell on a grazing area and the snow was as much as deep. The local government dispatched rescuers and equipment to the site of the avalanche. The avalanche was described by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

as one of the largest avalanches in history. On September 21, 2016, another similarly large avalanche occurred just to the south.

Historical maps

Historical maps including Rutog: File:China West 1906-08 Sven Hedin.jpg, Map of the expeditions of

Sven Hedin Sven Anders Hedin, KNO1kl RVO,Wennerholm, Eric (1978) ''Sven Hedin – En biografi'', Bonniers, Stockholm (19 February 1865 – 26 November 1952) was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer and illustrator ...

(1906-8) including Rutog (labeled as Rudok) ( RGS, early 20th century) File:Txu-oclc-6654394-ni-44-3rd-ed.jpg, Map including Rutog (labeled as Rudok) (

AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions * A ...

, 1950) File:Operational Navigation Chart G-7, 6th edition.jpg, Map including the Rutog County area ( DMA, 1980) File:Txu-pclmaps-oclc-22834566 g-7d.jpg, Map including Rutog (Jih-t'u) ( DMA, 1995)

Notes

References

External links

"China Tibet Information Centre" * https://web.archive.org/web/20200522001714/http://rt.al.gov.cn/info/1073/4800.htm {{Ngari Prefecture Counties of Tibet Ngari Prefecture

Name

Geography and climate

History

Administrative divisions

Demographics and economy

Incidents

Historical maps

See also

Notes

References

External links