Travel Guide - Tibet

To the southwest frontier of China, on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau proper lies Tibet Autonomous Region China tour deals, whose average altitude is 13,200 feet above sea level.It covers a land area of 1.2 million square km,which is about 1/8 of that of the entire China, with a population of 2.26 million in which 95% are Tibetan. Tibet borders SichuanProvince on the east, Shinjiang and Qinghai on the north, Yunnan on the Souhteast, Kashimir on the west and India, Nepal, Burma, Sikkim, Bhutan on the south.
Tibet had various names before Qing Dynasty.It was named Xizhang(west chang in Chinese)in 1663 by the Qing Government .Zhang is given by Han people, the Tibetan people, for centuries, call themselves Bo. It was translated into Chinese as Tubo during Tang Dynasty, thus came the English version–Tibet.
Lhasa(the holy place in Tibetan), Tibet’s political, economic, communicative, cultural and religious center, is the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region.
Being upon the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Tibet boasts 11 of the world’s highest mountain peaks that are above 26,400 feet above sea level. The world ‘s summit, Himalaya, which strides across the border between China and Nepal, claims a height of over 30,000 feet above sea level. It’s also nicknamed as the “the Third Pole of the Globe”. In the middle and the north of Tibet line Gangdis mountains, Nianqing Tanggula mountains, the famous Hengduan mountains lies to the east. Below among these mountains lie plateaus and valleys China best tours.
Tibet is characterized with its unique plateau climate because of its altitude: thin air, 60-70% that of the sea level; less oxygen, 35-40% less than that of the sea level; lower air pressure, only half of that of the sea level; water boiling point is only 84-87 degrees centigrade. So, altitude sickness is common to new comers.
Also, because of its altitude, Tibet bathes more in sunshine than do other places. The yearly average sunny hour is between 1,550 and 3,390 hours in different parts of Tibet. Lhasa enjoys 3,005 hours approximately in a year, that’s why it is called “Sunshine City”.
Lower temprature characterizes Tibet’s yearly temprature differences; the northern Tibetan plateau is -2 degrees centigrade approximately in a year, the southern valley is 8 degrees centigrade, and it’s 10 degrees centigrade in the southeast area. And weather in a year is obviously divided into dry months and rainny months in Tibet; the dry months is from Oct. to next March, and rainny months is from April to Sept.
In Tibet, there are more than 20 rivers whose single drainage area is more than 10,000 square km.and more than 100 smaller ones whose single drainage area is above 2,000 square km. Some of the world famous rivers are from Tibet, such as YarlungtsampoRiver, LujiangRiver, NanchangjiangRiver and JinshajiangRiver.
Plateau lakes dot the whole Tibet proper. There are more than 1,500. The most famous are NamtsoLake, SelingdontsoLake, DangztsoLake, ChaznamtsoLake, BangongtsoLake and YamdrokYumtsoLake popular China travel package.
The glacier area of Tibet has more than half that in China, they concentrate among Tanggula mountains, Gangdis mountains,Nianqing Tanggula mountains and Himalaya Mountains.The whole glacier area totals27,676 square km.
The pastural area of Tibet is one of the five biggest in China,in which sheep, goats and yaks are grazed. Farming crops mainly are highland barley, wheat, bean and rape seeds as well as some apples and walnuts. Tibet has a forest coverage of 60,000 square km, which is the second largest timber deposit in China. Famous and rare animals and herb medicines are world-widely known, such as musk, pilose antler, bear’s gall bladder, Chinese caterpillar fungus, fritilary bulb, the tuber of the elevated gastrodia, and the snow lotus flower. The deposits of hydroelectric and geothermal power are at the top of China’s reserves; solar energy is the second.
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