Zhangmu (also from

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken diale ...

as Dram or Zham, from

Nepali Nepali or Nepalese may refer to : Concerning Nepal * Anything of, from, or related to Nepal * Nepali people, citizens of Nepal * Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...

as Khasa) is a customs town and

port of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. Internat ...

located in

Nyalam County Nyalam County (; Tibetan: gnya' lam rdzong) is a county in Tibet's Shigatse Prefecture. It borders on Nepal. The land area of the county is . The population as of 2003 was 10,000. The postal code for the county is 858300. The county seat is in ...

on the

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

border, just uphill and across the

Bhote Koshi Bhote Koshi in Nepal and Poiqu in Tibet, both names roughly mean "Tibetan river," is the name given to the upper course (main tributary) of the Sun Kosi river. It is part of the Koshi River system in Nepal.Shrestha, A. B., Eriksson, M., Mool, ...

River from the

ese town of Kodari. At

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

, Zhangmu has mild and humid subtropical climate, which is a rarity for Tibet.

History

In ancient times, Kodari, the Nepalese village on the other side, was the starting point of a trans-Himalayan caravan route. Newar traders headed north from Kodari and after crossing Kuti pass turned east to continue their journey across the Tibetan Plateau to

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhasa ...

. The construction of the Kathmandu-Kodari Road occurred during the 1963–67 period. It was named

China National Highway 318 China National Highway 318 (G318) runs from Shanghai to Zhangmu on the China-Nepal border. It is the longest China National Highway at in length and runs west from Shanghai towards Zhejiang, Anhui, Hubei, Chongqing, Sichuan, and ends in Tibet Au ...

in China and

Araniko Highway The Araniko Highway () connects Kathmandu with Kodari, northeast of the Kathmandu Valley, on the Nepal-China border. It is among the most dangerous of highways in Nepal due to extremely steep slopes on each side of the road from Barabise onwa ...

in Nepal. China has long planned and discussed building a railway connecting Lhasa with Zhangmu on the Nepal-China border, from 2008 onwards. It would be an extension of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. However, as of late 2018, its quite clear China is waiting for Nepalese government to actually seriously commit to a railway from there to Kathmandu through mountainous terrain, which is anticipated to take at least 9 years to build. (The Chinese side of the route, 500 km, is essentially unpopulated) Therefore, any railway connecting the current terminus at Xigaze to Kathmandu would be unlikely before 2030. In 2012, China signed agreement with Nepal to make this one of six ports of entries between Nepal and China. Zhangmu was evacuated after being damaged by the 2015 earthquakes, which also closed the route between Nepal and China (TAS region). It became a ghost town as trading could not return to previous levels. When the crossing was still closed, traffic began diverting to the border crossing at

Gyirong Town Gyirong Town (; ; ne, केरुङ), 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 (Gyirong Zangb ...

and (on the Nepalese side) past

Rasuwa Fort Rasuwa Fort or Rasuwa Gadhi ( Nepali: ) is a historical fort ruin in the Rasuwa District of Nepal roughly at the border with Tibet, China. It is located along the Trishuli River north of the Nepalese town of Timure in Langtang National Park, yet ...

further west along the border. Chinese and Nepali officials met in December 2016 to discuss potential reopening of Zhangmu port in 2017, which was blocked by progress of road construction. The checkpoint finally reopened on 29 May 2019.

Transport

Zhangmu is just north of and above the Friendship Bridge

border crossing Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...

where

becomes

and immediately passes Kodari village in

Sindhupalchok District Sindhupalchowk District ( ne, सिन्धुपाल्चोक जिल्ला ) is a part of Bagmati Province and one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal, with an area of . The district's headquarters is in Chautara. In 2006, 336, ...

en route to

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

. Before the earthquake, tourists traveling between Nepal and the

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

made substantial use of this crossing, and there was also substantial trans-border trade. Chinese trucks traveling on the Tibet-Nepal Friendship Highway offload goods at Zhangmu and transfer them to Nepalese trucks. Even though the drive between Zhangmu and Kathmandu is only 5 hours, the sourcing logistics and bureaucracy of cross-border trade takes around 2 weeks, as such in 2013 it takes each Nepalese truck almost half a month for a round trip.

Gallery

File:Zhangmu Town, Tibet.jpg, Zhangmu town File:TIB-shangmu-hauptstr.jpg, Zhangmu main street, which is part of the Tibet-Nepal Highway (

). File:Zangmu frontiere.JPG, The Tibet-Nepal Bridge below Zhangmu, which is the border crossing between Tibet and Nepal. To the right is the Zhangmu Port Control Point. File:The Friendship Bridge at the Tibet-Nepal border.jpg, Gateway to China at the Tibet-Nepal Bridge below Zhangmu.

References

External links

Zhangmu town tourist information
{{China–Nepal border crossings Populated places in Shigatse China–Nepal border crossings Township-level divisions of Tibet Nyalam County