Lhasa River Scenery

Lhasa River is located about 13 kilometers away from the Lhasa City center. It is also called Gyiqu in Tibetan language. It originates from the Mount Nyenchen Tanglha, which the southwest part flows through Lhasa City, Qushui County and then flows into Yarlung Zangbo River. The valley of lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo River is the major farming area in Tibet region.

Lhasa River - Brief Introduction

Lhasa River is also called Gyiqu, which literally means "the happy river" in Tibetan language. It is situated in the south part of Tibet. Lhasa River flows into Yarlung Zangbo River in the south suburb of Lhasa city.

The main stream of Lhasa River stretches from the east to the west about 568 kilometers long, which look like a shape of "S". It covers an area of 31760 square kilometers and ranks one of the top 5 branches of Yarlung Zangbo River. The mountains of both sides of Lhasa River are mostly 3600-5500 meters, so that it is the highest river throughout the world. The climate is gentle here and the terrain is flat, too. With the thick soil texture and abundant water resource, there are a lot of plateau flora and fauna around Lhasa River basin. It is one of the main food producing area of Tibet.

Lhasa River is the mother river of Lhasa city so that it plays very important role of city development. In AD 633, after the establishment of Tubo Dynasty by Songtsen Gampo, the capital has been established in Lhasa valley. Later on Lhasa River basin has been quickly developed and gradually became the political, economic, cultural, traffic and religious center.

Lhasa River - Climate

The environmental climate is cold and dry, which the mean annual precipitation is only 400-500mm. The most of amount of rainfall appears in summer (May to September). There is little snow in winter in Lhasa City. But there are a lot of windstorms around Lhasa River, which happens frequently in spring and late winter.

The average temperature of January is about 0 ? and 17? of July. The coldest temperature is -14?, and the highest temperature is 31 ?.

Lhasa River - Highlights

Lhasa River Bridge is the landmark project of Qinghai-Tibet Railway. It is 928.85 meters long, which the largest span is 108m long. The technology of the construction of Lhasa River Bridge is first time to use in China. The bridge pier of the main bridge of Lhasa River Bridge is bicylinder pier designed based on the idea of yak leg.

The design of the whole bridge is characteristic of national feature and modern style. The white color of the bridge looks like a flying Hada opposite to Potala Palace.

Lhasa River - Features

Tibetan people love Lhasa River very much. On weekends or during the festival, larges numbers of people will gather here for walk, fishing, swimming, or picnic. With a bowl of butter tea, Tibetans share the legends or stories of this holy land each other while enjoy the mountains on both sides and the quiet water pass by.

Lhasa River - Best Time to Travel to Lhasa River

The best time to travel to Lhasa River is March. In March, Lhasa River is the heaven of wild duck, which attracts lots of Tibetans and people to visit.