# Deqin County

Deqin County is county of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, located in northwest Yunnan province, China.

## Etymology

The prefecture's name is derived from the Tibetan word བདེ་ཆེན (dêqên), which means "auspicious place". In Chinese, the name is written with the characters 德 (dé) and 钦 (qīn), which mean "benevolence" and "to respect", respectively.

## Geography and climate

Deqin occupies the northwest corner of Diqing 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 7,596 square kilometres (2,933 sq mi), bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region to the northwest and Sichuan to the northeast. It is located in the central part of the Hengduan Mountains, and contains the valleys of the Salween, Mekong, and Jinsha Rivers.
Being located at an altitude of 3,300 metres (10,800 ft), Deqin lies in the transition between a subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb) and humid continental climate (Köppen Dwb), which is remarkable for its latitude. Although mean maximum temperatures, as in Lhasa and Shigatse, stay above freezing year-round, minima are below freezing from November to March, and temperatures average −1.4 °C (29.5 °F) in January, 13.6 °C (56.5 °F) in July, while the annual mean is 6.32 °C (43.4 °F). The town is nonetheless a little warmer during the winter than Shangri-La County 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 640 mm (25.2 in); 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.
Climate data for Deqin County, elevation 3,319 m (10,889 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2010) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 13.9 (57.0) | 14.1 (57.4) | 17.2 (63.0) | 21.2 (70.2) | 22.9 (73.2) | 26.9 (80.4) | 26.9 (80.4) | 23.9 (75.0) | 23.8 (74.8) | 20.4 (68.7) | 15.8 (60.4) | 14.9 (58.8) | 26.9 (80.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 5.9 (42.6) | 6.8 (44.2) | 8.6 (47.5) | 11.8 (53.2) | 15.9 (60.6) | 19.2 (66.6) | 19.2 (66.6) | 19.1 (66.4) | 17.7 (63.9) | 14.3 (57.7) | 10.5 (50.9) | 7.4 (45.3) | 13.0 (55.5) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −1.5 (29.3) | 0.0 (32.0) | 2.3 (36.1) | 5.5 (41.9) | 9.6 (49.3) | 13.2 (55.8) | 13.7 (56.7) | 13.2 (55.8) | 11.8 (53.2) | 7.3 (45.1) | 2.7 (36.9) | −0.5 (31.1) | 6.4 (43.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −6.4 (20.5) | −4.7 (23.5) | −1.9 (28.6) | 1.1 (34.0) | 5.0 (41.0) | 9.2 (48.6) | 10.5 (50.9) | 10.2 (50.4) | 8.7 (47.7) | 3.4 (38.1) | −1.8 (28.8) | −5.4 (22.3) | 2.3 (36.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −13.3 (8.1) | −11.5 (11.3) | −8.4 (16.9) | −4.7 (23.5) | −1.6 (29.1) | 2.7 (36.9) | 3.6 (38.5) | 4.0 (39.2) | −0.1 (31.8) | −2.8 (27.0) | −11.5 (11.3) | −12.0 (10.4) | −13.3 (8.1) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 8.2 (0.32) | 16.7 (0.66) | 54.7 (2.15) | 62.8 (2.47) | 64.6 (2.54) | 61.5 (2.42) | 142.1 (5.59) | 116.2 (4.57) | 62.5 (2.46) | 43.4 (1.71) | 17.4 (0.69) | 4.0 (0.16) | 654.1 (25.74) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 6.4 | 9.3 | 14.4 | 14.2 | 13.4 | 15.3 | 22.3 | 21.3 | 14.5 | 9.4 | 4.9 | 2.3 | 147.7 |
| Average snowy days | 9.7 | 13.1 | 15.6 | 5.8 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 55.5 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 55 | 61 | 68 | 70 | 71 | 75 | 81 | 83 | 81 | 74 | 63 | 54 | 70 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 169.3 | 157.2 | 162.9 | 155.5 | 166.1 | 146.1 | 116.9 | 129.4 | 138.5 | 172.5 | 174.8 | 175.8 | 1,865 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 52 | 49 | 44 | 40 | 39 | 35 | 28 | 32 | 38 | 49 | 55 | 55 | 43 |
| Source 1: China Meteorological Administration ||||||||||||||
| Source 2: Weather China ||||||||||||||

## Administrative divisions

Deqin County has 2 towns, 4 townships and 2 ethnic townships.
| Name | Simplified Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan | Wylie | Administrative division code |
| Towns ||||||
| Deqen Town (Shengping) | 升平镇 | Shēngpíng zhèn | བདེ་ཆེན་གྲོང་རྡལ། | bde chen grong rdal | 533422101 |
| Gongzêra Town (Benzilan) | 奔子栏镇 | Bēnzǐlán zhèn | ཀོང་རྩེད་ར་གྲོང་རྡལ། | kong rtsed ra grong rdal | 533422102 |
| Towns ||||||
| Foshan Township | 佛山乡 | Fóshān xiāng | | | 53342220 |
| Yunling Township | 云岭乡 | Yúnlǐng xiāng | | | 53342221 |
| Yanmen Township | 燕门乡 | Yànmén xiāng | | | 53342223 |
| Yagra Township (Yala) | 羊拉乡 | Yánglā xiāng | གཡག་རྭ་ཤང་། | g.yag rwa shang | 53342226 |
| Ethnic townships ||||||
| Tangdoi Lisu Ethnic Township (Tuoding) | 拖顶傈僳族乡 | Tuōdǐng Lìsùzú xiāng | ཐང་སྟོད་ལི་སུའུ་རིགས་ཤང་། | thang stod li su'u rigs shang | 533422204 |
| Zhag'o Lisu Ethnic Township (Xiaruo) | 霞若傈僳族乡 | Xiáruò Lìsùzú xiāng | ག་འོག་ལི་སུའུ་རིགས་ཤང་། | brag 'og li su'u rigs shang | 533422205 |

## Demographics

The Tibetans of Deqin, compared to Tibetans in Tibet, have had longer-lasting trade relations with the Han Chinese and other ethnic groups.

## Composition

Meilishi (梅里石) is in Foshan Township, in the northernmost part of the county.

## Transportation

* China National Highway 214
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.