page_title: Gyirong Town
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Gyirong Town / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The ancient Rasuwa Fort in Rasuwa District with the Gyirong Port (border crossing) buildings in the background across the river in China.
context_page_description: Gyirong Town, also referred to as Kyirong or Kerung, is situated in the southern part of Gyirong County in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The town is situated on the east bank of Gyirong River, a tributary of the Trishuli River with an elevation of about 2,700 metres. It has a subtropical mountain monsoon climate, with reasonable precipitation and warm weather, unusual for Tibet.
  The town is located 70 kilometres south of the county seat Zongga and roughly 25 km north of Rasuwa Fort on the China-Nepal border where a border crossing into Nepal is located.
  In Gyirong Town, there is a village of ethnic Nepali referred to as Daman people. They are descendants of Nepalese Gurkha army centuries ago. Previously stateless, they were granted Chinese citizenship in 2003.
context_section_description: After the division of the Tibetan Empire, descendants of Songtsen Gampo fled to Gyirong and then founded the Gongtang Kingdom, whose ruins are now in Gyirong. 
  Historically, Gyirong Town has been an important town in the cross border trade between China and Nepal as it was located on a major traditional trade thoroughfare between the two countries. In 1961, Gyirong was established as a port of entry from Rasuwa Fort in Nepal by the Chinese government. In December 2014, the Gyirong port of entry was opened to international users and this route between China and Nepal was considered to be more reliable than one through the Zhangmu-Kodari border crossing.
caption: Rasuwa Fort is a China-Nepal border crossing located 25 km south of Gyirong Town.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "FE320,X835,C540", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Version 1.0", "Image DateTime": "2013:06:08 08:48:47", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "996", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9204", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8558", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "23/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:06:08 08:48:47", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:06:08 08:48:47", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "1", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "163/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1200", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1714", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}