Tingri County (; zh, s=定日县, t=定日縣, p=Dìngrì Xiàn) is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

under the administration of the

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province of China, province and above a Counties of the People's Republic of China, county in China's ...

of Xigazê in the

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), often shortened to Tibet in English or Xizang in Pinyin, Hanyu Pinyin, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China. It was established in 1965 to replace the ...

of China. The county comprises the upper valley of the Bum-chu or Arun River, with the valleys of its tributaries, the valleys of the Rongshar Tsangpo and the Lapchi Gang Tsanpo which flow south into

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. It is bordered on the south by the main range of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

, including

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

(Tib. Jomolangma), Makalu and Cho Oyu. The present county administration is located at Shelkar, about east of Tingri (town). Tingri is one of the four counties (the other three being Dinjie, Nyalam, and Kyirong) that comprise the Qomolangma National Nature Preserve, a protected area spanning 3.381 million hectares.

Toponymy

Tingri County is named after a nearby hill, which itself is reportedly named after the sound a falling stone made when it hit the hill.

History

Shelkar Dzong was built in the area of the present-day

during the time of the Kashag. In 1960, Dingri County was established, and in June of that year, a local county government was established. The county headquarters were originally established in Shelkar, but were moved to Gangga in August. In July 1968, the local government moved back to Shelkar, where it remains today. In 1992, the

was added to the Qomolangma National Nature Preserve. On 7 January 2025 at 09:05 CST ( UTC+8), an earthquake measuring or struck Tingri County. Several villages experienced near-total destruction and at least 126 people died and hundreds more were injured.

Geography

Dingri County is a

under the jurisdiction of

of Xigazê. It is located in the southern part of the

and the south-central part of Xigazê. It borders Dinggyê County and Sa'gya County to the east, Nyalam County to the west, Ngamring County to the north, Lhatse County to the northeast, and

to the south. It is long from east to west and wide from north to south, with a total area of about . Tingri County is located at the northern foot of the middle section of the

, and at the northern foot of

. The county's landscape is extremely mountainous, with an average altitude of more than above sea level, and the county seat situated at an altitude of above sea level. The world's highest peak, Mount Everest, and the world's sixth-highest mountain, Cho Oyu, are located in the county. The Arun River flows eastward out of the country.

Climate

Tingri County's climate has large temperature differences between day and night, a high amount of sunshine hours, and little annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

. On January 7, 1966, Tingri County recorded the lowest temperature ever recorded in Tibet at .

Administrative divisions

Tingri County is divided into 2 towns and 11 townships.

Demographics

Per the 2020 Chinese Census, Tingri County has a population of 58,173, up from the 50,818 recorded in the 2010 Chinese Census. The 2000 Chinese Census recorded a population of 46,585.

Economy

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and pastoralism are major sources of employment in Tingri County.

Transport

* China National Highway 318 * Shigatse Tingri Airport

Gallery

File:Padampa Sanggye.jpg, Dampa Sangye, author of the ''Dingri One Hundred'' and founder of Dingri Langkhor File:Machik Labdron.jpg, Machig Labdrön (1055–1149), student of Padampa Sanggye at Dingri Langkhor File:Map China 1-250,000 Tile NH 45-14 Tingri Dzong.jpg, Map including Tingri (labelled as TINGRI DZONG) (1954) File:NH-45-14 Nyalam China.jpg, Map including Tingri (T'ing-jih) ( DMA, 1981) File:Zhangton chobar.jpg, Zhangton Chobar, Lamdre practitioner, b. 1053 in Tingri County