# Gertse County

Gertse County (Tibetan: སྒེར་རྩེ་རྫོང་།), Gêrzê County or Gaize County (Chinese: 改则县) is a county located in Ngari Prefecture in the northwest of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China, bordering Xinjiang to the north.

## Name

Gêrzê is the Tibetan word for a special type of local-style dwelling built on the peak of a mountain.

## History

The area was originally inhabited by nomadic tribes.
In the aftermath of the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China in the early 1950s, People's Liberation Army troops were stationed in Gêrzê.
On May 3, 1960, the Gêrzê County Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was established. On October 1, 1960, the Gêrzê County government was established.
At 2:01 AM on February 21, 2020, a 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck in Gêrzê County (epicenter: 34°34′N 85°41′E﻿ / ﻿34.56°N 85.68°E﻿ / 34.56; 85.68).
At 2:12 AM on March 10, 2020, a 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck in Gêrzê County (epicenter: 32°50′N 85°31′E﻿ / ﻿32.84°N 85.52°E﻿ / 32.84; 85.52) followed by a 3.7 magnitude and a 3.4 magnitude aftershock. No casualties were reported.
On May 8, 2020, eight suspects were arrested and eighty-nine antelope skins were confiscated in connection with reported Tibetan antelope poaching in the county.

## Geography

Gêrzê County is bordered to the north by Keriya County (Yutian) in Hotan Prefecture (Hetian), Xinjiang and to the west by Rutog County. There are numerous lakes in Gêrzê County including Tong Tso. Thermal springs in Gêrzê County include Lugu (70 °C; 33°24′24″N 84°08′12″E﻿ / ﻿33.40667°N 84.13667°E﻿ / 33.40667; 84.13667; altitude 4,528 m (14,856 ft)), Nagezhong (60 °C; 32°18′N 84°12′E﻿ / ﻿32.300°N 84.200°E﻿ / 32.300; 84.200; altitude 4,550 m (14,930 ft)) and Yarlhaingari (60 °C; 33°00′48″N 86°01′36″E﻿ / ﻿33.01333°N 86.02667°E﻿ / 33.01333; 86.02667; altitude 4,880 m (16,010 ft)).

### Climate

Gêrzê County has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSk), with strong dry-winter subarctic climate tendencies (Köppen: Dwc).
Climate data for Gêrzê, elevation 4,279 m (14,039 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1981–2010) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 8.3 (46.9) | 10.5 (50.9) | 14.5 (58.1) | 15.9 (60.6) | 22.0 (71.6) | 26.1 (79.0) | 27.6 (81.7) | 25.0 (77.0) | 22.6 (72.7) | 17.2 (63.0) | 12.9 (55.2) | 8.3 (46.9) | 27.6 (81.7) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −2.7 (27.1) | −0.3 (31.5) | 3.8 (38.8) | 8.5 (47.3) | 13.0 (55.4) | 18.2 (64.8) | 20.4 (68.7) | 18.6 (65.5) | 16.2 (61.2) | 8.6 (47.5) | 3.3 (37.9) | −0.5 (31.1) | 8.9 (48.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −11.1 (12.0) | −8.2 (17.2) | −4.1 (24.6) | 0.7 (33.3) | 5.2 (41.4) | 10.5 (50.9) | 13.2 (55.8) | 11.9 (53.4) | 9.1 (48.4) | 0.6 (33.1) | −5.8 (21.6) | −9.9 (14.2) | 1.0 (33.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −20.3 (−4.5) | −17.6 (0.3) | −13.4 (7.9) | −7.9 (17.8) | −2.7 (27.1) | 3.1 (37.6) | 6.7 (44.1) | 6.2 (43.2) | 2.1 (35.8) | −7.5 (18.5) | −14.6 (5.7) | −19.2 (−2.6) | −7.1 (19.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −44.0 (−47.2) | −42.4 (−44.3) | −32.1 (−25.8) | −20.0 (−4.0) | −15.7 (3.7) | −9.2 (15.4) | −3.3 (26.1) | −3.6 (25.5) | −9.5 (14.9) | −23.5 (−10.3) | −34.9 (−30.8) | −44.6 (−48.3) | −44.6 (−48.3) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 0.9 (0.04) | 0.6 (0.02) | 1.1 (0.04) | 2.2 (0.09) | 8.3 (0.33) | 25.1 (0.99) | 61.8 (2.43) | 71.6 (2.82) | 21.5 (0.85) | 3.7 (0.15) | 0.7 (0.03) | 0.2 (0.01) | 197.7 (7.8) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 1.4 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 3.9 | 7.3 | 13.6 | 15.4 | 6.7 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 55.6 |
| Average snowy days | 3.8 | 3.3 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 7.8 | 4.2 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 37.4 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 27 | 24 | 23 | 27 | 32 | 39 | 47 | 56 | 43 | 29 | 25 | 24 | 33 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 232.4 | 222.9 | 258.2 | 271.1 | 305.2 | 303.0 | 284.1 | 257.4 | 280.4 | 295.7 | 260.1 | 253.0 | 3,223.5 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 72 | 71 | 69 | 69 | 71 | 71 | 66 | 63 | 77 | 85 | 84 | 81 | 73 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration ||||||||||||||

## Administrative divisions

Gêrzê county is divided into 1 town and 6 townships:
| Name | Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan | Wylie |
| Town |||||
| Gêrzê Town | 改则镇 | Gǎizé zhèn | སྒེར་རྩེ་གྲོང་རྡལ། | sger rtse grong rdal |
| Townships |||||
| Oma Township | 物玛乡 | Wùmǎ xiāng | འོ་མ་ཤང་། | 'o ma shang |
| Shenchen Township | 先遣乡 | Xiānqiǎn xiāng | ཤན་ཆེན་ཤང་། | shan chen shang |
| Marmê Township | 麻米乡 | Mámǐ xiāng | མར་མེ་ཤང་། | mar me shang |
| Dongco Township | 洞措乡 | Dòngcuò xiāng | སྟོང་མཚོ་ཤང་། | stong mtsho shang |
| Gomo Township | 古姆乡 | Gǔmǔ xiāng | ཁྲ་མདོངས་ཤང་། | kra mdongs shang |
| Chabug Township | 察布乡 | Chábù xiāng | བྲག་པོ་ཤང་། | brag po shang |

## Demographics

As of 1996, the residents of the county were Tibetan. In 1999, the population of the county was 16,623.

## Economy

The main economic activity in Gêrzê County is animal husbandry which includes the raising of yak, dzo, sheep, goats, and horses. The county also has wild yak, wild donkeys, wild sheep, bears and Tibetan antelope.

## Transportation

* Nagqu–Ngari Highway (黑阿公路)

## Historical maps

Historical maps including Gêrzê:
* Map of the expeditions of Sven Hedin (1906–8) including the modern-day Gêrzê County area (RGS, early 20th century)
* Map including Gêrzê (labeled as Kai-tse) (DMA, 1975)
* Map including Gêrzê (Kai-tse) (DMA, 1980)
* Map of the Gêrzê area (DMA, 1990)