Bianba County in Tibet

Bianba County in Tibet – Brief Introduction

Bianba County is located in the west part of Qamdo Prefecture and the northeast part of Tibet Region. It lies in the south part of Nyenchen Tanglha Mountain, east longitude 95°and northern latitude 31°. The average elevation of Bianba County is approximately 3500 meters high. The highest elevation is over 5500 meters. Bianba County is about 400 kilometers far from the center of Qamdo Prefecture and about 800 kilometers far from Lhasa City.

Due to the plateau temperate semi-humid climate of Bianba County, the forest acreage covers an area of 2400 square kilometers which accounts for 26.98% of the coverage of the entire region. Bianba County is rich in the rare flora and fauna resource. In addition, there is only one highway lead to outside of Bianba County. It is Qamdo – Bianba Highway. Therefore the scenery of Bianba County is primitive and virgin, and the people are pure. Even though they are poor, they are very happy to get along with the wild nature.

Bianba County in Tibet – Geography

Bianba County is situated in the canyon area of Nu River, Jinsha River and Lancang River in the southeast part of Tibet. The terrain of Bianba County is higher in the south but lower in the north. Meanwhile, as the aggravating activities of Eurasia Plate Bianba County has formed the landform of high mountains and deep valleys. The elevation of both is between 3500 meters and 5000 meters. The elevation difference could be 1000 meters. The average elevation is about 3600 meters high.

What'd more, Bianba County lies in the junction of Chayu pleistoseismic zone and Modog pleistoseismic zone, the felt earthquake happened frequently.

Bianba County in Tibet – Climate

Bianba County is characteristic of the plateau temperate semi-humid climate. The temperature is lower but the sunshine is rich. The temperature difference of day and night is extremely large. The annual lowest temperature is about -40 ? and the average temperature is about -1 ?. There is a lot of wind in winter and spring, and many thunderstorms and hailstones in autumn and summer. The frostless period is short. The annual precipitation is about 600mm.

Bianba County in Tibet – Transportation and Local Food

Bianba County mainly features the national handicraft industry. Besides the Qamdo – Bianba Highway, there are some other general roads in Bianba County. The traffic mileage is about 300 kilometers in the entire region.

The famous local food includes highland barley wine, butter tea, Chinese caterpillar fungus, Rheum officinale, and Fritillaria thun-bergli, etc.

Bianba County in Tibet – History

In Tibetan language, Bianba literally symbolizes the auspicious light. In 1265, in order to strengthen the management of Tibet region, the first imperial great master of Yuan Dynasty - Phags-pa lama got back to Lhasa City from Beijing by way of Shalin Village. He put a torch in this village and built a monastery nearby it. Since then on, the area has been named Bianba. Bianba has the similar meaning of the torch in Tibetan language.

In 1960, Bianba County has been established. Shaling Village is the center of Bianba County at that time. Later on the county center has been moved to Dongmatong.