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Tibet City Guide

Lhasa
Lhasa, the capital of China's Tibet Autonomous Region, has a history of more than 1,300 years. It is the political, economic, cultural and transport center of the region. Lhasa covers an area of close to 30,000 square km. It has a downtown of 544 square km and a population of 400,000; 140,000 of its people live in the downtown area. Lhasa is home to the Tibetan, Han, and Hui peoples, as well as many other ethnic groups, but the Tibetan ethnic group makes up 87 percent of the total population.

Shigatse
Shigatse connects with three countries of Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim in the south, Ngari in the west, Nagqu in the north and Lhasa and Shannan in the east. It occupies an area of 176,000 square kilometers, the latitude being between 82'E and 92'20''E and longitude between 27'23''N and 31'49''N. It is 800 kilometers from east to west and 220 kilometers from north to south, with a border of 1,354 kilometers.

Gyantse
This small agricultural town is at 13, 050 ft above sea level and is famous for its wool carpets and palkhor choide chorten. The Palkhor Monastery built in 1427, is notable for its superb Kumbum (10,000 images)stupa, which has nice tiers and, according to the Buddhist tradition, 108 chapels. The lower tiers contain excellent murals.

Nagqu
Nagqu lis in the northern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region at longitude 84o55 'E and latitude 29o55 '-36o30 'N. It neighbors qamdo in the east, Ngari in the west, Lhasa, Nyingchi and Xigaze in the south, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province in the north. It is embraced by the Tanggula, Nyainqentanglha and kangdese Mountains, and the snow-capped Dargo Mountain in the west and the Burgyi Mountain in the east, guarding the treasure land like two ferocious lions.

Nyalam
Nyalam is a small Tibetan town near the Nepal border. It is the county seat of Nyalam County in Xigaze Prefecture (part of the historical Tsang Province of the old Tibet). It is 35 km from Zhangmu town in the same county, which is the point of entry of Nepal.
Nyalam is situated at 3,750 metres (12,300ft) above sea level. A town of stone buildings and tin roofs, it is nicknamed 'The Gate of Hell' by the Nepalese traders because the trail between Nyalam and the Nepalese border was so treacherous to negotiate.
Nyalam County  is a county in Tibet's Xigazê Prefecture. It borders on Nepal.

Ngari
The Ngari Prefecture is located in the western part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, at the center of the Changtang Plateau on the northern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It begins at Zhamai Mountain, west of the Tanggula Mountains, in the east, bordering on the Nagqu Prefecture, and stretches to the western section of the Himalayas in the west and southwest, bordering on India and Nepal.

Chamdo
Located in eastern Tibet,the Chamdo Prefecture, tucked away in the Henduan Mountains and dissected by the Jinshajiang, Lancanjiang and Nujiang rivers, covers an area of 108,600 square km. On its eastern side lies Sichuan, with Yunnan to the south and Qinghai in the north.

Nyingchi
Nyingchi, "throne of the sun" in Tibetan, is located in southeast Tibet, where the Himalaya Mountains and Nyainqentanglha Mountains extend from west to east, like parallel huge dragons, to join the Hengduan Mountains in the east.

Shannan
Shannan Prefrecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region is located between 9014'E-9422'E and 2708"N-2947"N, at the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River south of the Kangdese Mountains-called the Nyainqentanglha Mountains on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is bounded by the capital city Lhasa to the north, Xigaze to the west, Nyingchi to the east and India and Bhutan to the south.