Soxan County in Tibet

Soxan County in Tibet – Brief Introduction

In Tibetan language, "So" literally means Mongolia. It was called "Sog" in Yuan Dynasty. Soxan County is located in the northeast part of Ngari Prefecture in the northern Tibet Plateau. It is available in the Soqyu River Basin in the upper reach of Nu River. It belongs to the southern Qyangtang Lake Basin area, too. It covers an area of 5986 square kilometers. Soxan County is mainly characteristic of the mountain lands and the terrain is higher in the west but lower in the east. The average elevation is about 3572 meters high.

According to the historical record, most of Soxan people believed in Bon Sect and Red Sect (Nyingma Sect). During the period of Qing Dynasty, Gelug Sect was in power in Tibet Region. Since then on Gelug Sect was believed in most of the areas of Tibet Region. The famous monastery of Gelug Sect is Zengdeng Monastery. Besides, there are about 190 additional monasteries of other religious sects in Soxan County.

There is lots of rain and snow in Soxan County and the air is very thin. The daily temperature difference is obviously large. There is lots of strong wind in spring and winter.

Soxan County in Tibet – History

In Yuan Dynasty, Soxan was called "Sog". In Ming Dynasty, it was called Sozhuang. During the period of the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, it was governed by Gushi Khan, the leader of the most powerful tribe of Inner Mongolian army at that time. In 1732, it was managed by local government of Tibet. In 1751 it was managed by the officers of Qing Dynasty. The officers were ordered to settle in Tibet to manage the affairs of Tibet region at that time. In 1960, Soxan Government was established.

Soxan County in Tibet – Resource

The mineral resource includes the lead, coal, sulfur, and gypsum. The agricultural crops mainly include highland barley, spring wheat, peas, rape, potato and carrot, etc. The wild animals are deer, leopard, black bear, monkey, blue sheep, antelope, and otter, etc. The rare medical materials include Chinese caterpillar fungus, fritillaria, rhizoma anemarrhenae, rhizoma coptidis, snow lotus, tuckahoe, and dangshen, etc.

Soxan County in Tibet – Transportation

Heilongjiang – Qamdo Prefecture Highway was established in 1959. It is available throughout the northwest part of Soxan County. In recent years some rough roads were constructed in Soxan County, too. The transportation of Soxan County becomes more and more convenient, but the road condition is not good.

Soxan County in Tibet – Climate

The frostless period is only about 40 days in a year in Soxan County. The duration of sunshine is about 2478.3 hours. The annual precipitation is about 575.9mm. The frequent natural disasters are strong wind, torrential rain, snow disaster, hail and frost hazard, etc.

Soxan County in Tibet – Ngari Prefecture

Soxan County is one of the regions of Ngari Prefecture in Tibet. Ngari Prefecture is highly praised as the "ancestor of the mountains in Tibet", as Himalaya Mountain Range and Gangdisê Mountains and some other famous high mountains are available here. Besides, it is also regarded as the birthplace of Yarlung Zangbo River, Indus River and the Ganges River.