Phari or Pagri (; ) is a town in

Yadong County Yadong County (), also known by its Tibetan name Dromo/Tromo County () is a frontier county and trade-market of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, part of its Shigatse Prefecture. Yadong County is coextensive with the Chumbi valley that ext ...

in the

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 near the border with

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

. The border can be accessed through a secret road/trail connecting Tsento Gewog in Bhutan () known as Tremo La. the town had a population of 2,121. It is one of the highest towns in the world, being about above sea-level at the head of the

Chumbi Valley The Chumbi Valley, called Dromo or Tromo in Tibetan, is a valley in the Himalayas that projects southwards from the Tibetan plateau, intervening between Sikkim and Bhutan. It is coextensive with the administrative unit Yadong County in the T ...

History

Thomas Manning, the first Englishman to reach Lhasa, visited Pagri from 21September until 5November 1811 and had this to say about his room in the town: "Dirt, dirt, grease, smoke. Misery, but good mutton." The Pagri Fortress (''Dzong'') was located here and was important for the government as it stood between Tibet and

. Pagri was a staging area en route to

Gyantse Gyantse, officially Gyangzê Town (also spelled Gyangtse; ; ), is a town located in Gyantse County, Shigatse Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It was historically considered the third largest and most prominent town in Tibet (after Lha ...

and ultimately

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 ...

. Thubten Ngodup, the current

Nechung Oracle The Nechung Oracle () is the personal oracle of the Dalai Lama since the second Dalai Lama. The Medium (spirituality), medium currently resides in Nechung, Nechung Monastery established by the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, Dharamsa ...

, was born in Phari in 1957.

Gallery

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 135-S-06-06-22, Tibetexpedition, Blick auf Phari Dzong.jpg File:Phari Dzong in 1903.jpg, Phari Dzong in 1903 during British Younghusband invasion of Tibet File:Bundesarchiv Bild 135-BB-044-01, Tibetexpedition, Haus und Tibeter in Phari Dzong.jpg, Phari Dzong, 1938 File:Map India and Pakistan 1-250,000 Tile NG 45-4 Phari Dzong.jpg, "Phari Dzong" sheet- topographic map printed by the US Army Map Service, Corps of Engineers, February, 1963

Climate

Owing to its extreme altitude, Pagri has an

alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical climate for elevations above the tree line, where trees fail to grow due to cold. This climate is also referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. Definition There are multiple definitions of alpine cli ...

(

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 ...

''ETH'') that is too cold to permit the growth of trees, even though the altitude is still marginally too low for the formation of

permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...

. Example

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano located on the Japanese island of Honshu, with a summit elevation of . It is the highest mountain in Japan, the second-highest volcano on any Asian island (after Mount Kerinci on the Indonesian island of Sumatra), a ...

in Japan,

Uelen Uelen is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a ''village#Russia, selo'') in Chukotsky District, just south of the Arctic Circle in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the Russian Far East. As of the Russian Census (2010), 2010 C ...

in Russia and

Longyearbyen Longyearbyen (, , "Longyear Town") is the world's northernmost settlements, northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000, and the capital and the largest inhabited area of Svalbard. It stretches along the foot of the left bank ( ...

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

Norway. The winter is severe in spite of the fact that no month has daytime maxima below , and also very dry and long, extending as late as May. Snowfall, however, is rare because of the dryness. Summers, during which the great majority of precipitation occurs, are cool even at their warmest and consistently damp, even though the Himalayas prevent falls from ever being heavy.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Shigatse Bhutan–China border crossings Township-level divisions of Tibet Yadong County