# Nangqên County

Nangqên County, or Nangchen (Tibetan: ནང་ཆེན་རྫོང་།, Chinese: 囊谦县), is currently a county of the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and is the southernmost county-level division of Qinghai province, China, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region to the south. Until 1951, the region was known as the Kingdom of Nangchen. It was one of the five kingdoms of the historical region of Do Kham.
The county seat is Xangda, built in a side valley and on the right bank of the Dza Chu (upper reaches of the Mekong). In 2000, the county's population amounted to 57,387 people, inhabiting a surface of 11,539 km$^2$ (4,455 sq mi).

## History

The county's name is derived from the former king (nang chen rgyal po) and Kingdom of Nangchen, a tribal confederation that emerged as a unified Buddhist kingdom in the 13th century. The present-day's county comprises the core area of the old kingdom of Nangchen.
Memories of the Kingdom of Nangchen play a role in local politics, and among Tibetan refugees who came to India from the area. Scholar Maria Turek reported that in 2015 she heard about “a man who went to various Tibetan communities in India, introducing himself as ‘the king of Nangchen’ not without some success, even though he had no credentials to prove his claim.”
A Yelpa Kagyu monastery, Tana Monastery (Jang Tana), was founded by Yelpa Yeshe Tsek in 1068. It is considered a branch monastery of Tsurpu.

## Administrative divisions

Nangqên County is divided to 1 town and 9 townships.
| Name | Simplified Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan | Wylie | Administrative division code |
| Town ||||||
| Xangda Town (Xarda, Xiangda) | 香达镇 | Xiāngdá Zhèn | ཤར་མདའ་གྲོང་རྡལ། | shar mda' grong rdal | 632725100 |
| Townships ||||||
| Zhêca Township (Baizha, Bêca) | 白扎乡 | Báizhā Xiāng | སྤྲེལ་ཚྭ་ཞང་། | sprel tshwa zhang | 632725200 |
| Jiqu Township | 吉曲乡 | Jíqǔ Xiāng | ལྕི་ཆུ་ཞང་། | lci chu zhang | 632725201 |
| Nyagla Township (Niangla) | 娘拉乡 | Niánglā Xiāng | ཉག་ར་ཞང་། | nyag ra zhang | 632725202 |
| Mozhong Township (Maozhuang) | 毛庄乡 | Máozhuāng Xiāng | མོའོ་གྲོང་ཞང་། | mo'o grong zhang | 632725203 |
| Gyozhag Township (Juela) | 觉拉乡 | Juélā Xiāng | སྐྱོ་བྲག་ཞང་། | skyo brag zhang | 632725204 |
| Domba Township (Dongba) | 东坝乡 | Dōngbà Xiāng | སྡོམ་པ་ཞང་། | sdom pa zhang | 632725205 |
| Gaxung Township (Gayang) | 尕羊乡 | Gǎyáng Xiāng | ཀ་གཞུང་ཞང་། | ka gzhung zhang | 632725206 |
| Ji'nyinsib Township (Jinisai) | 吉尼赛乡 | Jínísài Xiāng | ལྕི་ཉིན་སྲིབ་ཞང་། | lci nyin srib zhang | 632725207 |
| Zhongxog Township (Zhogxog, Zhuoxiao) | 着晓乡 | Zhuóxiǎo Xiāng | འབྲོང་ཤོག་ཞང་། | 'brong shog zhang | 632725208 |

## Climate

Climate data for Nangqên, elevation 3,644 m (11,955 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) | 18.3 (64.9) | 17.1 (62.8) | 23.8 (74.8) | 24.2 (75.6) | 25.7 (78.3) | 28.7 (83.7) | 29.0 (84.2) | 28.3 (82.9) | 25.4 (77.7) | 24.6 (76.3) | 18.5 (65.3) | 16.1 (61.0) | 29.0 (84.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 4.0 (39.2) | 6.5 (43.7) | 9.7 (49.5) | 13.4 (56.1) | 17.0 (62.6) | 19.4 (66.9) | 21.3 (70.3) | 21.2 (70.2) | 18.8 (65.8) | 13.4 (56.1) | 8.9 (48.0) | 5.4 (41.7) | 13.3 (55.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −5.2 (22.6) | −2.0 (28.4) | 1.7 (35.1) | 5.3 (41.5) | 9.1 (48.4) | 12.3 (54.1) | 14.1 (57.4) | 13.7 (56.7) | 10.9 (51.6) | 5.3 (41.5) | −0.3 (31.5) | −4.3 (24.3) | 5.1 (41.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −12.3 (9.9) | −9.0 (15.8) | −5.0 (23.0) | −1.2 (29.8) | 2.9 (37.2) | 7.0 (44.6) | 8.7 (47.7) | 8.2 (46.8) | 5.6 (42.1) | −0.1 (31.8) | −6.8 (19.8) | −11.3 (11.7) | −1.1 (30.0) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −23.2 (−9.8) | −20.8 (−5.4) | −16.8 (1.8) | −10.7 (12.7) | −8.1 (17.4) | −1.7 (28.9) | −0.6 (30.9) | −1.8 (28.8) | −3.6 (25.5) | −10.6 (12.9) | −17.2 (1.0) | −25.8 (−14.4) | −25.8 (−14.4) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 3.1 (0.12) | 3.8 (0.15) | 8.7 (0.34) | 18.6 (0.73) | 59.0 (2.32) | 122.3 (4.81) | 112.4 (4.43) | 99.9 (3.93) | 86.5 (3.41) | 34.3 (1.35) | 4.5 (0.18) | 1.4 (0.06) | 554.5 (21.83) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 2.8 | 3.4 | 5.5 | 10.5 | 16.5 | 22.5 | 20.7 | 18.1 | 19.2 | 12.5 | 2.9 | 1.5 | 136.1 |
| Average snowy days | 5.0 | 6.5 | 9.9 | 12.4 | 5.0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0 | 0.4 | 8.3 | 4.8 | 3.1 | 55.8 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 39 | 37 | 40 | 47 | 55 | 65 | 67 | 66 | 68 | 63 | 48 | 40 | 53 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 210.6 | 189.1 | 206.7 | 208.9 | 226.0 | 198.4 | 212.7 | 211.0 | 204.9 | 208.1 | 223.0 | 226.8 | 2,526.2 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 66 | 60 | 55 | 53 | 53 | 47 | 49 | 52 | 56 | 60 | 72 | 73 | 58 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration ||||||||||||||

## Transportation

* China National Highway 214