Chengguan (; ) is a major town in the historical region of

Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibet, Tibetan regions, the others being Domey also known as Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The official name of this Tibetan region/province is Dotoe (). The original residents of ...

in the eastern

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), often shortened to Tibet in English or Xizang in Pinyin, Hanyu Pinyin, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China. It was established in 1965 to replace the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It is the seat of

Karub District Karub District also known as Kharro or Karuo, is a district in Qamdo, in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, and the seat of government of Qamdo. Karuo has an area of 10,700 km2 and a population of 78,000, of which 90% are Tibetan. Th ...

and

Chamdo Prefecture Chamdo, officially Qamdo () and also known in Chinese as Changdu (), is a prefecture-level city in the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Its seat is the town of Chengguan in Karuo District. Chamdo is Tibet's third largest c ...

, and had a population of 45,861 in 2010. It is located about east of

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

. By road, the distance is via the southern route or via the northern route. It is at an altitude of at the confluence of the rivers Za Qu and Ngom Qu which form the

Lancang River The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia with an estimated length of and a drainage area of , discharging of wat ...

(Mekong). At the turn of the 20th century it had a population of about 12,000, a quarter of whom were monks.Buckley and Straus 1986, p. 215.

Galden Jampaling Monastery

Chengguan was visited by

Je Tsongkhapa Tsongkhapa ( Tibetan: ཙོང་ཁ་པ་, '','' meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley", c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the format ...

in 1373 who suggested a monastery be built there. Galden Jampaling Monastery was constructed between 1436 and 1444 by a disciple of

Tsongkhapa Tsongkhapa ( Tibetan: ཙོང་ཁ་པ་, '','' meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley", c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the format ...

, Jansem Sherab Zangpo. It is also known as the Changbalin or Qiangbalin Si Monastery. At its height it contained five main temples and housed some 2,500 monks. It was destroyed in 1912 but the main hall (which was used as a prison) and two other buildings survived, and it was rebuilt in 1917 after the Tibetan army retook Chengguan. It now houses about 800 monks.Mayhew and Kohn 2005, p. 241.

Climate

Chengguan experiences a climate that is a transition between a

humid continental Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

and

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring c ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dwb'' and ''Cwb''), with warm, wet summers and very dry, frosty winters. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July, with an annual mean of . Due to the high elevation, the

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag, also known as thermal inertia, is an important factor in diur ...

is large throughout the year, averaging annually.

Transportation

China National Highway 214 China National Highway 214 (G214) runs from Xining, Qinghai to Jinghong, Yunnan. It is 3,256 kilometres in length and runs south from Xining towards Tibet, and ends in Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwe ...

China National Highway 317 China National Highway 317 (G317) runs broadly west to east from Chengdu, Sichuan to Gar County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. It is 2,028 kilometres in length and forms an important transportation route in Tibet. As of 2017, Highway 317 passes throug ...

Qamdo Bangda Airport Changdu Bangda Airport , also known as Qamdo Bamda Airport, is an airport serving Qamdo (Changdu), Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is located in the village of Bamda (Bangda). Background At an elevation of above sea level, Qamdo Airport wa ...

Notable people

Qiangba Puncog Qiangba Puncog, also spelled Champa Phuntsok (; ; born in May 1947) was the chairman of the government of Tibet Autonomous Region of China from 2003 until January 2010. He is of Tibetan ethnicity. He was most visible in public during the 2008 Ti ...

, politician

Galden Jampaling Monastery

Climate

Transportation

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading