# Banma County

Banma County or Baima County is a county of southeastern Qinghai Province, China, bordering Sichuan to the south. It is the southernmost county-level division under the administration of Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party passed through Banma in 1936 during the Long March. The seat of Baima county is in Sêlêtang.
It is home to Bennak, a Nyingma monastery of the Pelyul tradition, founded in 1824, which was visited by noted female teacher Sera Khandro. A 1992 work indicates that the 22 monasteries in the county are predominantly Nyingma.

## Administrative divisions

Banma is divided into one town and eight townships:
| Name | Simplified Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan | Wylie | Administrative division code |
| Town ||||||
| Sêlêtang Town (Sailaitang, Sêraitang) | 赛来塘镇 | Sàiláitáng Zhèn | སེ་ལེ་ཐང་གྲོང་བརྡལ། | se le thang grong brdal | 632622100 |
| Townships ||||||
| Dokongma Township (Duogongma) | 多贡麻乡 | Duōgòngmá Xiāng | མདོ་གོང་མ་ཞང་། | mdo gong ma zhang | 632622200 |
| Markog Township (Makehe) | 马可河乡 | Mǎkěhé Xiāng | སྨར་ཁོག་ཞང་། | mdo gong ma zhang | 632622201 |
| Gyimkar Township (Jika, Kyimkar) | 吉卡乡 | Jíkǎ Xiāng | གྱི་མཁར་ཞང་། | gyi mkhar zhang | 632622202 |
| Dagkar Township (Daka) | 达卡乡 | Dákǎ Xiāng | སྟག་མཁར་ཞང་། | stag mkhar zhang | 632622203 |
| Chubqên Township (Zhiqin) | 知钦乡 | Zhīqīn Xiāng | གྲུབ་ཆེན་ཞང་། | grub chen zhang | 632622204 |
| Jagritang Township (Jiangritang) | 江日堂乡 | Jiāngrìtáng Xiāng | ལྕགས་རི་ཐང་ཞང་། | lcags ri thang zhang | 632622205 |
| Yartang Township (Ya'ertang) | 亚尔堂乡 | Yà'ěrtáng Xiāng | ཡར་ཐང་ཞང་། | yar thang zhang | 632622206 |
| Dimda Township (Dengta) | 灯塔乡 | Dēngtǎ Xiāng | དྷི་མདའ་ཞང་། | dhi mda' zhang | 632622207 |

## Climate

Climate data for Banma, elevation 3,530 m (11,580 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) | 15.9 (60.6) | 16.9 (62.4) | 19.4 (66.9) | 23.6 (74.5) | 26.1 (79.0) | 24.7 (76.5) | 28.6 (83.5) | 27.5 (81.5) | 26.3 (79.3) | 23.7 (74.7) | 15.9 (60.6) | 15.0 (59.0) | 28.6 (83.5) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 3.6 (38.5) | 5.7 (42.3) | 8.7 (47.7) | 12.4 (54.3) | 15.6 (60.1) | 18.0 (64.4) | 20.1 (68.2) | 20.1 (68.2) | 17.3 (63.1) | 12.1 (53.8) | 8.0 (46.4) | 4.6 (40.3) | 12.2 (53.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −7.0 (19.4) | −4.0 (24.8) | −0.1 (31.8) | 4.1 (39.4) | 7.7 (45.9) | 10.8 (51.4) | 12.4 (54.3) | 11.8 (53.2) | 9.1 (48.4) | 3.9 (39.0) | −2.0 (28.4) | −6.3 (20.7) | 3.4 (38.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −15.3 (4.5) | −11.9 (10.6) | −7.0 (19.4) | −2.5 (27.5) | 1.6 (34.9) | 5.5 (41.9) | 6.9 (44.4) | 6.2 (43.2) | 3.9 (39.0) | −1.5 (29.3) | −9.0 (15.8) | −14.2 (6.4) | −3.1 (26.4) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −27.1 (−16.8) | −26.2 (−15.2) | −18.9 (−2.0) | −15.7 (3.7) | −5.7 (21.7) | −2.8 (27.0) | −1.2 (29.8) | −3.8 (25.2) | −6.0 (21.2) | −11.5 (11.3) | −21.3 (−6.3) | −26.8 (−16.2) | −27.1 (−16.8) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 5.0 (0.20) | 9.2 (0.36) | 19.0 (0.75) | 35.8 (1.41) | 85.8 (3.38) | 131.5 (5.18) | 112.0 (4.41) | 101.5 (4.00) | 103.0 (4.06) | 49.6 (1.95) | 6.8 (0.27) | 2.8 (0.11) | 662 (26.08) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 4.3 | 6.6 | 10.4 | 13.5 | 20.0 | 22.4 | 20.6 | 18.7 | 20.1 | 15.2 | 4.9 | 2.8 | 159.5 |
| Average snowy days | 6.5 | 9.3 | 14.9 | 13.5 | 5.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 10.0 | 7.5 | 4.7 | 73 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 46 | 46 | 51 | 55 | 61 | 69 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 67 | 53 | 46 | 59 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 196.7 | 177.5 | 198.8 | 211.1 | 198.4 | 167.7 | 188.2 | 190.5 | 164.9 | 171.9 | 198.4 | 204.2 | 2,268.3 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 62 | 57 | 53 | 54 | 46 | 39 | 43 | 47 | 45 | 49 | 64 | 66 | 52 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration ||||||||||||||