# Tongren, Qinghai

Tongren (Tibetan: ཐུན་རིན་, Wylie: thun rin; Chinese: 同仁; pinyin: Tóngrén), known to Tibetans as Rebgong (Tibetan: རེབ་གོང་, རེབ་ཀོང་ or རེབ་སྐོང་) in the historic region of Amdo, is the capital and second smallest administrative subdivision by area within Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai, China.
The city has an area of 3465 square kilometers and a population of ~80,000 (2002), 75% Tibetan. The economy of the city includes agriculture and aluminium mining.

## Administrative divisions

Tongren is made up of 3 towns and 8 townships:
| Name | Simplified Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan | Wylie | Administrative division code |
| Towns ||||||
| Longwu Town (Rongwo Town) | 隆务镇 | Lóngwù Zhèn | རོང་བོ་གྲོང་རྡལ། | rong bo grong rdal | 632301100 |
| Bao'an Town (Tokya Town) | 保安镇 | Bǎo'ān Zhèn | ཐོ་ཀྱཱ་གྲོང་རྡལ། | tho kyā grong rdal | 632301101 |
| Dowa Town | 多哇镇 | Duōwā Zhèn | མདོ་བ་གྲོང་རྡལ། | mdo ba grong rdal | 632301102 |
| Townships ||||||
| Lancai Township (Loinqê Township) | 兰采乡 | Láncǎi Xiāng | བློན་ཆོས་ཞང་། | blon chos zhang | 632301200 |
| Shuangpengxi Township (Xo'ongjê Township) | 双朋西乡 | Shuāngpéngxī Xiāng | ཞོ་འོང་དཔྱེལ་ཞང་། | zho 'ong dpyel zhang | 632301201 |
| Zainmo Township (Zhamao Township) | 扎毛乡 | Zhāmáo Xiāng | བཙན་མོ་ཞང་། | btsan mo zhang | 632301202 |
| Hornag Township (Huangnaihai Township) | 黄乃亥乡 | Huángnǎihài Xiāng | ཧོར་ནག་ཞང་། | hor nag zhang | 632301203 |
| Qokog Township (Qukuhu Township) | 曲库乎乡 | Qǔkùhū Xiāng | ཆུ་ཁོག་ཞང་། | chu khog zhang | 632301204 |
| Nyaintog Township (Nianduhu Township) | 年都乎乡 | Niándūhū Xiāng | གཉན་ཐོག་ཞང་། | gnyan thog zhang | 632301205 |
| Garzê Township (Guashize Township) | 瓜什则乡 | Guāshízé Xiāng | འགར་རྩེ་ཞང་། | 'gar rtse zhang | 632301206 |
| Gyaiwo Township (Jiawu Township) | 加吾乡 | Jiāwú Xiāng | རྒྱལ་བོ་ཞང་། | rgyal bo zhang | 632301207 |

## Demographics and languages

The Amdo Tibetan is the lingua franca of Tongren and the surrounding region, which is populated by Tibetan and Hui people, as well as some Han Chinese and Mongols.
The Wutun language, a Chinese-Bonan-Tibetan mixed language, is spoken by some 2,000 people in the two villages of Upper and Lower Wutun, located on the eastern bank of the Rongwo River.

## Culture

The city has a number of Tibetan Buddhist temples and gompas, including the large and significant Rongwo Monastery of the Gelug school. It is known as a center of thangka painting. Regong arts were named on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists in 2009.
In October 2010 there were reports of large demonstrations in Tongren by Tibetan students who reportedly shouted the slogans, “equality of ethnic groups” and “freedom of language."

## Climate

Tongren has a highland humid continental climate (Köppen Dwb).
Climate data for Tongren, elevation 2,475 m (8,120 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) | 15.1 (59.2) | 21.6 (70.9) | 27.0 (80.6) | 32.7 (90.9) | 30.9 (87.6) | 31.3 (88.3) | 35.0 (95.0) | 34.2 (93.6) | 32.5 (90.5) | 23.4 (74.1) | 19.8 (67.6) | 13.9 (57.0) | 35.0 (95.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 1.5 (34.7) | 5.5 (41.9) | 11.0 (51.8) | 16.4 (61.5) | 19.3 (66.7) | 22.0 (71.6) | 24.1 (75.4) | 23.7 (74.7) | 19.0 (66.2) | 14.0 (57.2) | 8.5 (47.3) | 3.0 (37.4) | 14.0 (57.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −6.1 (21.0) | −2.5 (27.5) | 2.9 (37.2) | 8.5 (47.3) | 12.2 (54.0) | 15.3 (59.5) | 17.4 (63.3) | 16.7 (62.1) | 12.5 (54.5) | 6.8 (44.2) | 0.6 (33.1) | −4.7 (23.5) | 6.6 (43.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −11.6 (11.1) | −8.4 (16.9) | −3.1 (26.4) | 2.1 (35.8) | 6.3 (43.3) | 9.9 (49.8) | 12.0 (53.6) | 11.5 (52.7) | 8.1 (46.6) | 1.9 (35.4) | −4.7 (23.5) | −10.1 (13.8) | 1.2 (34.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −22.6 (−8.7) | −19.5 (−3.1) | −15.0 (5.0) | −9.3 (15.3) | −3.7 (25.3) | 1.2 (34.2) | 4.3 (39.7) | 2.3 (36.1) | −0.9 (30.4) | −10.5 (13.1) | −16.4 (2.5) | −21.5 (−6.7) | −22.6 (−8.7) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 2.8 (0.11) | 4.2 (0.17) | 10.5 (0.41) | 24.5 (0.96) | 56.9 (2.24) | 59.4 (2.34) | 84.3 (3.32) | 77.8 (3.06) | 68.6 (2.70) | 25.4 (1.00) | 4.1 (0.16) | 1.0 (0.04) | 419.5 (16.51) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 3 | 3.3 | 5.2 | 7.8 | 12.8 | 15.1 | 16.0 | 13.9 | 14.3 | 8.5 | 2.4 | 1.3 | 103.6 |
| Average snowy days | 4.4 | 5.3 | 6.7 | 3.7 | 0.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 2.4 | 29 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 41 | 41 | 42 | 45 | 53 | 60 | 64 | 65 | 68 | 61 | 48 | 41 | 52 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 205.4 | 197.1 | 219.9 | 228.2 | 220.8 | 203.3 | 219.3 | 210.0 | 172.0 | 197.1 | 210.6 | 211.9 | 2,495.6 |
| Percentage possible sunshine | 66 | 63 | 59 | 58 | 51 | 47 | 50 | 51 | 47 | 57 | 69 | 70 | 57 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration ||||||||||||||