# Xiahe County

Xiahe County (Chinese: 夏河县; Tibetan: བསང་ཆུ་རྫོང་།) is a county in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu province, China, bordering Qinghai province to the west. The name (both Chinese and Tibetan), which literally means "Xia River", refers to the Daxia River which runs through the county. It is home to the famed Labrang Tibetan Buddhist monastery, one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. The town is populated largely by ethnic Tibetans, as well as some Hui and Han Chinese. The area is highly rural and pastoral (including yak and other animal rearing). The geography is mountainous. In recent years it has become a tourist attraction. The county was named Xiahe in 1928, after the Daxia River that flows through its territory.

## History

Xiahe (Sangqu) used to be part of Qinghai when it was under the control of Chinese Muslim General Ma Qi. It was the site of bloody battles between Muslim and Tibetan forces.
In 1980, Xiahe mandible, a hominin fossil jaw, was discovered in Baishiya Karst Cave, Xiahe County.

## Location

Xiahe (Sangqu) is found in the southern portion of Gansu province, along the western border with Qinghai province. It lies along the Daxia and Zhao rivers. It is on the northeast edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The average elevation is 2,900 to 3,100 m (9,500 to 10,200 ft) with the highest being 4,636 m (15,210 ft) and the lowest 2,160 m (7,087 ft).

### Climate

Xiahe County has an alpine subarctic climate (Köppen Dwc) that grades into an alpine climate (ETH) at the highest elevations. The climate is characterised by mild, rainy summers and frigid, but dry and sunny, winters.
Climate data for Xiahe, elevation 2,948 m (9,672 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) | 16.0 (60.8) | 18.8 (65.8) | 23.8 (74.8) | 29.1 (84.4) | 26.4 (79.5) | 28.2 (82.8) | 30.7 (87.3) | 29.2 (84.6) | 28.6 (83.5) | 23.8 (74.8) | 18.4 (65.1) | 14.5 (58.1) | 30.7 (87.3) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 2.2 (36.0) | 4.8 (40.6) | 8.6 (47.5) | 13.1 (55.6) | 15.9 (60.6) | 18.7 (65.7) | 20.9 (69.6) | 20.6 (69.1) | 16.7 (62.1) | 12.0 (53.6) | 7.9 (46.2) | 3.8 (38.8) | 12.1 (53.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −8.0 (17.6) | −4.9 (23.2) | −0.3 (31.5) | 4.7 (40.5) | 8.5 (47.3) | 11.9 (53.4) | 13.9 (57.0) | 13.3 (55.9) | 9.5 (49.1) | 4.0 (39.2) | −1.8 (28.8) | −6.7 (19.9) | 3.7 (38.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −15.2 (4.6) | −11.9 (10.6) | −6.6 (20.1) | −1.6 (29.1) | 2.7 (36.9) | 6.4 (43.5) | 8.5 (47.3) | 8.1 (46.6) | 4.8 (40.6) | −1.0 (30.2) | −8.1 (17.4) | −13.8 (7.2) | −2.3 (27.8) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −24.8 (−12.6) | −22.9 (−9.2) | −19.9 (−3.8) | −11.8 (10.8) | −9.4 (15.1) | −1.4 (29.5) | 1.3 (34.3) | −0.4 (31.3) | −5.5 (22.1) | −12.4 (9.7) | −19.0 (−2.2) | −26.0 (−14.8) | −26.0 (−14.8) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 2.9 (0.11) | 4.2 (0.17) | 11.1 (0.44) | 26.1 (1.03) | 60.7 (2.39) | 65.3 (2.57) | 96.4 (3.80) | 81.5 (3.21) | 72.4 (2.85) | 31.6 (1.24) | 4.3 (0.17) | 1.3 (0.05) | 457.8 (18.03) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 3.6 | 4.8 | 7.9 | 10.2 | 15.5 | 17.5 | 17.2 | 15.7 | 16.3 | 11.6 | 3.3 | 2.0 | 125.6 |
| Average snowy days | 5.7 | 7.2 | 11.2 | 9.7 | 3.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 6.5 | 5.5 | 3.8 | 54.4 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 45 | 47 | 51 | 55 | 61 | 67 | 71 | 73 | 74 | 68 | 53 | 44 | 59 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 192.5 | 187.4 | 215.2 | 218.1 | 208.2 | 189.7 | 207.4 | 203.2 | 164.7 | 184.8 | 196.1 | 194.8 | 2,362.1 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 61 | 60 | 58 | 55 | 48 | 44 | 47 | 49 | 45 | 54 | 64 | 64 | 54 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration ||||||||||||||

## Administrative divisions

Xiahe County is divided to 8 towns and 5 townships.
| Name | Simplified Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan | Wylie | Administrative division code |
| Towns ||||||
| Labrang Town (Lazhang, Labuleng) | 拉卜楞镇 | Lābǔléng Zhèn | བླ་བྲང་གྲོང་རྡལ། | bla brang grong rdal | 623027100 |
| Panggurtang Town (Wangge'ertang) | 王格尔塘镇 | Wánggé'ěrtáng Zhèn | བང་གུར་ཐང་གྲོང་རྡལ། | bang gur thang grong rdal | 623027101 |
| Amqog Town (Amuquhu) | 阿木去乎镇 | Āmùqùhū Zhèn | ཨ་མཆོག་གྲོང་རྡལ། | a mchog grong rdal | 623027102 |
| Sangkog Town (Sangke) | 桑科镇 | Sāngkē Zhèn | བསང་ཁོག་གྲོང་རྡལ། | bsang khog grong rdal | 623027103 |
| Gain'gya Town (Ganjia) | 甘加镇 | Gānjiā Zhèn | རྒན་གྱ་གྲོང་རྡལ། | rgan gya grong rdal | 623027104 |
| Martang Town (Madang) | 麻当镇 | Mádāng Zhèn | མར་ཐང་གྲོང་རྡལ། | mar thang grong rdal | 623027105 |
| Bora Town (Bola) | 博拉镇 | Bólā Zhèn | འབོ་ར་གྲོང་རྡལ། | 'bo ra grong rdal | 623027106 |
| Kocê Town (Kecai) | 科才镇 | Kēcái Zhèn | ཁོ་ཚེ་གྲོང་རྡལ། | kho tshe grong rdal | 623027107 |
| Townships ||||||
| Damê Township (Damai) | 达麦乡 | Dámài Xiāng | མདའ་མེད་ཤང་། | mda' med shang | 623027202 |
| Qu'ngoin Township (Qu'ao) | 曲奥乡 | Qū'ào Xiāng | ཆུ་སྔོན་ཤང་། | chu sngon shang | 623027204 |
| Tanggarnang Township (Tangga'ang) | 唐尕昂乡 | Tánggǎ'áng Xiāng | ཐང་དཀར་ནང་ཤང་། | thang dkar nang shang | 623027205 |
| Jayü Township (Zhayou) | 扎油乡 | Zhāyóu Xiāng | ཅ་ཡུས་ཤང་། | ca yus shang | 623027206 |
| Gyicang Township (Jicang) | 吉仓乡 | Jícāng Xiāng | སྐྱིས་ཚང་ཤང་། | skyis tshang shang | 623027208 |