Tongren (; ), known to Tibetans as Rebgong () in the historic region of

Amdo Amdo ( �am˥˥.to˥˥ ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being U-Tsang in the west and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Amdo is also the ...

, is the capital and second smallest administrative subdivision by area within

Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (; ) is an autonomous prefecture of Eastern Qinghai, China, bordering Gansu to the east. The prefecture has area of and its seat is in Tongren County. Demographics According to the 2000 census, Huangn ...

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

, China. The city has an area of 3465 square kilometers and a population of ~80,000 (2002), 75%

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 ...

. The economy of the city includes agriculture and

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in AmE, American and CanE, Canadian English) is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately o ...

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

. The city has a number of

Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

temples and

gompa A Gompa or Gönpa ( "remote place", Sanskrit ''araṇya''), also known as ling (), is a Buddhist ecclesiastical fortification of learning, lineage and sādhanā that may be understood as a conflation of a fortification, a vihara and a universi ...

s, including the large and significant

Rongwo Monastery Rongwo Monastery (, formally , ), is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Tongren County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai, China. It is from Xining. Name The monastery is named after the Rongwo River upon which it is located. Histo ...

of the

Gelug 240px, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Bodh_Gaya.html" ;"title="Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya">Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous")Kay, David N. (2 ...

school. It is known as a center of

thangka A ''thangka'', variously spelled as ''thangka'', ''tangka'', ''thanka'', or ''tanka'' (; Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་; Nepal Bhasa: पौभा), is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scen ...

painting.

Regong arts The Regong arts (or Rebgong arts) are the popular arts on the subject of Tibetan Buddhism. They are painting, sculpture, engraving, architecture, and embroidery. They are associated with communities in Tongren County and along the river Rongwo ...

were named on the

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists UNESCO established its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage with the aim of ensuring better protection of important intangible cultural heritages worldwide and the awareness of their significance.Compare: This list is published by the Intergove ...

in 2009. In October, 2010 there were reports of large demonstrations in Tongren by Tibetan students who reportedly shouted the slogans, “equality of ethnic groups” and “freedom of language.""China: Tibetan Students March To Protest Education Policies"
article by Edward Wong in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' October 21, 2010, accessed October 21, 2010

Demographics and languages

The

Amdo Tibetan Amdo Tibetan (; also called ''Am kä'') is the Tibetic language spoken in Amdo (now mostly in Qinghai, some in Ngawa and Gannan). It has two dialects, the farmer dialect and the nomad dialect. Amdo is one of the three branches of traditional ...

is the '' lingua franca'' of Tongren and the surrounding region, which is populated by

and

Hui people The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the ...

, as well as some

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive v ...

and

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

. The

Wutun language The Wutun language () is a Chinese–Tibetan– Mongolian creole language. It is spoken by about 4,000 people, most of whom are classified as Monguor (Tu) by the Chinese government. Wutun speakers reside in two villages (Upper Wutun 上五屯 an ...

, a Chinese- Bonan-Tibetan

mixed language A mixed language is a language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language. It differs from a creole or pidgin language in that, whereas creoles/pidgi ...

, is spoken by some 2,000 people in the two villages of Upper and Lower Wutun, located on the eastern bank of the Rongwo River.

Climate

Tongren has a highland

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(

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

''Dwb'')

References

External links

''A Century in Rebkong, Amdo''
an

primer
Video about Tongren
- the city of Tongren and its most important monasteries with famous Buddhist art schools for Thangka painting
Travel Videos from mickspatz at www.spatz-darmstadt.de
- travel videos about Buddhist Monasteries and Tibetan Art of the Tongren-Rebkong valley and Xiahe
Videos about a great festival in Tongren-Rebkong, July 2006
By Italian writer

Mario Biondi Mario Biondi (born Mario Ranno, on 28 January 1971) is an Italian singer. His pseudonym takes up that of his father Giuseppe Ranno, singer, aka Stefano Biondi. Early life Born in Catania, Italy, Mario Biondi is the son of a popular song si ...

, in Italian
Photographs of Tongren/Repkong Shaman Festival
County-level divisions of Qinghai Amdo Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Cities in Qinghai {{Qinghai-geo-stub

Demographics and languages

Climate

See also

References

External links