# Zhanang County

Zhanang County or Dranang (Tibetan: གྲ་ནང་རྫོང, Chinese: 扎囊县) is a county of Shannan (Lhokha) in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The capital town of county is Dratang town, with a monastery named Dratang.

## Geography

Dranang County is home to Samye Monastery, the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet, and many other monasteries, including Mindrolling Monastery.
Dranang County is separated into northern and southern parts by the Yarlung Tsangpo River. In 2015, a bridge near Dratang Town was finished, connecting the northern and southern parts of the county.

## History

Historically a strategic hub since the Tibetan Empire (7th–9th centuries CE), it served as a cultural and administrative center under the patronage of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. The county's name, Dranang, meaning "thorn grove" in Tibetan, reflects its early settlement patterns in the arid valleys.
Zhanang was established as a county in April 1960 following Tibet's democratic reforms, initially under the Lhoka Special Administrative Region. Its boundaries were formalized in 1987, encompassing 5 townships and 3 towns by 2015. A major restructuring in 2021 merged rural townships into urban units, reducing divisions to 3 towns and 2 townships. The county's 2,173 km² area blends agricultural plains with rugged mountains, sustaining barley farming and traditional crafts like Tibetan incense production.

## Administrative divisions

Dranang County contains 2 towns and 3 townships.
| Name | Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan | Wylie |
| Towns |||||
| Dratang Town | 扎塘镇 | ‹See RfD› Zhātáng zhèn | གྲ་ཐང་གྲོང་རྡལ། | ‹See RfD› grang thang grong rdal |
| Samye Town | 桑耶镇 | ‹See RfD› Sāngyē zhèn | བསམ་ཡས་གྲོང་རྡལ། | ‹See RfD› bsam yas grong rdal |
| Townships |||||
| Drachi Township | 扎其乡 | ‹See RfD› Zhāqí xiāng | གྲ་ཕྱི་ཤང་། | ‹See RfD› gra phyi shang |
| Ngadra Township | 阿扎乡 | ‹See RfD› Āzhā xiāng | ལྔ་གྲ་ཤང་། | ‹See RfD› lnga gra shang |
| Gyiru Township | 吉汝乡 | ‹See RfD› Jírǔ xiāng | དཀྱིལ་རུ་ཤང་། | ‹See RfD› dkyil ru shang |

## Climate

Climate data for Dranang (1981−2010) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8.7 (47.7) | 10.7 (51.3) | 14.2 (57.6) | 17.3 (63.1) | 20.9 (69.6) | 24.1 (75.4) | 23.2 (73.8) | 22.0 (71.6) | 20.6 (69.1) | 17.9 (64.2) | 13.1 (55.6) | 9.2 (48.6) | 16.8 (62.3) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −0.6 (30.9) | 2.4 (36.3) | 6.4 (43.5) | 9.5 (49.1) | 13.3 (55.9) | 16.7 (62.1) | 16.4 (61.5) | 15.7 (60.3) | 13.9 (57.0) | 9.6 (49.3) | 3.2 (37.8) | −0.7 (30.7) | 8.8 (47.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −8.2 (17.2) | −5.4 (22.3) | −1.4 (29.5) | 2.3 (36.1) | 6.3 (43.3) | 10.4 (50.7) | 11.3 (52.3) | 11.0 (51.8) | 9.0 (48.2) | 3.4 (38.1) | −4.2 (24.4) | −7.9 (17.8) | 2.2 (36.0) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 0.4 (0.02) | 0.3 (0.01) | 1.6 (0.06) | 6.9 (0.27) | 20.3 (0.80) | 49.6 (1.95) | 119.4 (4.70) | 122.5 (4.82) | 66.4 (2.61) | 8.8 (0.35) | 0.4 (0.02) | 0.5 (0.02) | 397.1 (15.63) |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 35 | 29 | 30 | 38 | 44 | 51 | 63 | 67 | 64 | 51 | 43 | 43 | 47 |
| Source: Weather China ||||||||||||||

## Gallery

* Samye monastery
* Black stupa of Samye
* Near Samye monastery
* Yarlung Tsangpo
* Yarlung Tsangpo
* Yarlung Tsangpo