Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê () or Rikaze ( zh, s=日喀则, p=Rìkāzé), is a

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province of China, province and above a Counties of the People's Republic of China, county in China's ...

of 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 ...

of the People's Republic of China. Its area of jurisdiction, with an area of , corresponds to the historical

Ü-Tsang Ü-Tsang (དབུས་གཙང་། Wylie; dbus gtsang) is one of the three Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo to the northeast and Kham to the east. Geographically Ü-Tsang covers the Yarlung Tsanpo drainage basin, the western dist ...

region of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

Overview

The administrative center of the

is the Samzhubzê District. It is roughly equivalent to the historical Shigatse urban center, the second-largest city in Tibet, located about southwest of Lhasa and home to the Tashilhunpo Monastery, traditionally the seat of the

Panchen Lama The Panchen Lama () is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to the Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high la ...

. Some of the towns in the prefecture are: Gyantse ( Gyantse County), Tingri ( Tingri County), and Nyalam ( Nyalam County). On 11 July 2014 Shigatse Prefecture was upgraded into a

(the same status as

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 ...

History

In the eighth century, the

Tibetan Empire The Tibetan Empire (,) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. It expanded further under the 38th king, Trisong De ...

of Tibetan King Chisong Dezan invited Indian monk

Padmasambhava Padmasambhava ('Born from a Lotus'), also known as Guru Rinpoche ('Precious Guru'), was a legendary tantric Buddhist Vajracharya, Vajra master from Oddiyana. who fully revealed the Vajrayana in Tibet, circa 8th – 9th centuries... He is consi ...

into Tibet to build the Samye Mighur Lhundrub Tsula Khang, passing through the place of Rikaze where the practice of preaching, and predicated Lhasa as the center of snowy plateau followed by Nianmai (Shigatse). In the eleventh century the Sakya dynasty, Nianmai has initially begun urbanization. In October 1959, Rikaze prefecture was established. In 1970, Rikaze Prefecture was abolished and Rikaze District was established. On 26 June 2014, by the

State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...

agreed, the original Rikaze area abolished, the establishment of prefecture-level Shigatse city, the original county-level Shigatse city merged into the Sangzhuzi District. This was the second prefecture-level city established in the

. On 18 December 2014, prefecture-level Shigatse City was officially established.

Population

According to the

2020 Chinese census The Seventh National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (), also referred to as the 2020 Chinese Census, was the seventh National Population Census of the People's Republic of China, national census conducted by the National Bure ...

, the resident population of the city was 798,153. Compared to 703,292 in the 6th Chinese Census, there was a total increase of 94,861 or 13.49% in ten years, with an average annual growth rate of 1.27%. Among them, the male population was 416,384, accounting for 52.17% of the total population, while the female population was 381,769, accounting for 47.83% of the total population. The sex ratio of the total population (100 females) was 109.07. The population aged 0–14 years was 209,900, accounting for 26.3% of the total population; the population aged 15–59 years was 516,838, accounting for 64.75% of the total population; and the population aged 60 years and above was 71,415, accounting for 8.95% of the total population, of which the population aged 65 years and above was 8.95%. 8.95% of the total population, of which 44,772 were aged 65 and above, accounting for 5.61% of the total population. The population living in towns and cities was 184,323, or 23.09% of the total population, while the population living in villages was 613,830, or 76.91% of the total population.

Ethnicity

Of the city's resident population, 42,501, or 5.32%, were

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

; 748,443, or 93.77%, were

Tibetans Tibetans () are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 7.7 million. In addition to the majority living in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans live in t ...

; and 7,209, or 0.9%, were other

ethnic minorities The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...

. Compared with the 2010 Chinese Census, the Han population increased by 16,691, or 64.67%, and accounted for 1.66 percentage points of the total population; the populations of various ethnic minorities increased by 78,170, or 11.54%, and accounted for 1.66 percentage points of the total population. Among them, the Tibetan population increased by 76,779, an increase of 11.43%, accounting for a decrease of 1.73 percentage points in the proportion of the total population.

Transport

Rail

The Lhasa–Shigatse Railway connects Shigatse Railway Station with

and further connects with Qinghai via Qinghai–Tibet Railway. It takes about three hours to travel between Lhasa and Shigatse by train. It is possible to get back to Lhasa within the same day by train.Travel" ChinaTour.net
Accessed 21 April 2013

Air

Shigatse Peace Airport began operations on 30 October 2010 after an

Airbus A319 The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a maximum range of . Final ass ...

landed safely, making it Tibet's fifth commercial airport. It is located 43 kilometres from Samzhubzê District at Jangdam Township at an elevation of 3,782 metres. The airport will be capable of supporting 230,000 passengers annually by 2020. Shigatse Tingri Airport opened in December 2022.

Road

China National Highway 318 and China National Highway 219 are the main roads in and out of Shigatse.

Counties

Climate

Shigatse has an elevation-influenced

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 cold ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: ''Dwb'', Trewartha ''Dclo'').

Gallery

File:Sakya monastery.jpg, Sakya Monastery File:Shigatse Prefecture.jpg, Mountains in Shigatse Prefecture File:A monastery in tibet.jpg, Monastery along the road from Shigatse to

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

File:Chooyu.jpg, Cho Oyu from Tingri File:Shigatse abbot 1910.png, Photo of the Shigatse abbot taken around 1910 File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_135-S-17-14-34,_Tibetexpedition,_Shigatse,_Truppenparade.jpg, Tibetan Army soldiers circa 1938 on parade. They are equipped with Lee-Enfield rifles. File:We will give you the best service you will ever dream. CITS Shigatse Individual Travel Sign.jpg, Advertisement for a travel arrangement business in Shigatse

References

External links

* {{authority control Prefecture-level divisions of Tibet National Famous Historical and Cultural City