Dêqên County

Dêqên County (Standard Tibetan: བདེ་ཆེན་རྫོང་), or Deqin County (Chinese: 德钦县), is under the administration of Dêqên Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, located in the northwest of Yunnan province, China.

Dêqên County
德钦县 • བདེ་ཆེན་རྫོང་
County
Location of Dêqên County (pink) within Dêqên Prefecture (yellow) and Yunnan
Location of Dêqên County (pink) within Dêqên Prefecture (yellow) and Yunnan
Dêqên is located in Yunnan
Dêqên
Dêqên
Location in Yunnan
Coordinates: 28°12′N 98°59′E
CountryPeople's Republic of China
ProvinceYunnan
PrefectureDêqên
Area
 • Total7,596 km2 (2,933 sq mi)
Elevation
3,300 m (10,800 ft)
Population
 • Total62,400
 • Density8.2/km2 (21/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+8 (China Standard)
Postal code
674500
Area code0887
Websitewww.deqin.gov.cn
Dêqên County
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese德钦县
Traditional Chinese德欽縣
Tibetan name
Tibetanབདེ་ཆེན་རྫོང་

Geography and climate

Dêqên occupies the northwest corner of Dêqên Prefecture, and in latitude has a range of 27° 33'−29° 15' N and in longitude has a range of 98° 36'−99° 33' E, covering an area of 7,596 square kilometres (2,933 sq mi),[1] bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region to the northwest and Sichuan to the northeast. It is located in the central part of the Hengduan Mountains, and contains the valleys of the Salween, Mekong, and Jinsha Rivers.

Being located at an altitude of 3,300 metres (10,800 ft), Dêqên lies in the transition between a subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb) and humid continental climate (Köppen Dwb), which is remarkable for its latitude. Although mean maximum temperatures, as in Lhasa and Shigatse, stay above freezing year-round, minima are below freezing from November to March, and temperatures average −1.4 °C (29.5 °F) in January, 13.6 °C (56.5 °F) in July, while the annual mean is 6.32 °C (43.4 °F). The town is nonetheless a little warmer during the winter than Shangri-La County to the east despite being slightly higher in elevation, due to its more southerly aspect. Rainfall is concentrated between June and September, accounting for nearly 60% of the annual total of 640 mm (25.2 in); snowfall is rare but still causes major transport problems in the winter. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 29% in July to 62% in December, the county seat receives 1,989 hours of bright sunshine annually, with autumn and winter sunnier than spring and summer.

Climate data for Dêqên County (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2010)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 13.9
(57.0)		 14.1
(57.4)		 17.2
(63.0)		 21.2
(70.2)		 22.9
(73.2)		 26.9
(80.4)		 26.9
(80.4)		 23.9
(75.0)		 23.8
(74.8)		 20.4
(68.7)		 15.8
(60.4)		 14.9
(58.8)		 26.9
(80.4)
Average high °C (°F) 5.9
(42.6)		 6.8
(44.2)		 8.6
(47.5)		 11.8
(53.2)		 15.9
(60.6)		 19.2
(66.6)		 19.2
(66.6)		 19.1
(66.4)		 17.7
(63.9)		 14.3
(57.7)		 10.5
(50.9)		 7.4
(45.3)		 13.0
(55.5)
Daily mean °C (°F) −1.5
(29.3)		 0.0
(32.0)		 2.3
(36.1)		 5.5
(41.9)		 9.6
(49.3)		 13.2
(55.8)		 13.7
(56.7)		 13.2
(55.8)		 11.8
(53.2)		 7.3
(45.1)		 2.7
(36.9)		 −0.5
(31.1)		 6.4
(43.6)
Average low °C (°F) −6.4
(20.5)		 −4.7
(23.5)		 −1.9
(28.6)		 1.1
(34.0)		 5.0
(41.0)		 9.2
(48.6)		 10.5
(50.9)		 10.2
(50.4)		 8.7
(47.7)		 3.4
(38.1)		 −1.8
(28.8)		 −5.4
(22.3)		 2.3
(36.2)
Record low °C (°F) −13.3
(8.1)		 −11.5
(11.3)		 −8.4
(16.9)		 −4.7
(23.5)		 −1.6
(29.1)		 2.7
(36.9)		 3.6
(38.5)		 4.0
(39.2)		 −0.1
(31.8)		 −2.8
(27.0)		 −11.5
(11.3)		 −12.0
(10.4)		 −13.3
(8.1)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 8.2
(0.32)		 16.7
(0.66)		 54.7
(2.15)		 62.8
(2.47)		 64.6
(2.54)		 61.5
(2.42)		 142.1
(5.59)		 116.2
(4.57)		 62.5
(2.46)		 43.4
(1.71)		 17.4
(0.69)		 4.0
(0.16)		 654.1
(25.74)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 6.4 9.3 14.4 14.2 13.4 15.3 22.3 21.3 14.5 9.4 4.9 2.3 147.7
Average snowy days 9.7 13.1 15.6 5.8 0.6 0 0 0 0.1 0.9 5.1 4.6 55.5
Average relative humidity (%) 55 61 68 70 71 75 81 83 81 74 63 54 70
Mean monthly sunshine hours 169.3 157.2 162.9 155.5 166.1 146.1 116.9 129.4 138.5 172.5 174.8 175.8 1,865
Percent possible sunshine 52 49 44 40 39 35 28 32 38 49 55 55 43
Source 1: China Meteorological Administration[2][3]
Source 2: Weather China[4]

Administrative divisions

Dêqên County has 2 towns, 4 townships and 2 ethnic townships.[5]

2 towns
  • Shengping (升平镇)
  • Benzilan (奔子栏镇)
4 townships
  • Fushan (佛山乡)
  • Yunling (云岭乡)
  • Yanmen (燕门乡)
  • Yangla (羊拉乡)
2 ethnic townships
  • Tuoding Lisu (拖顶傈僳族乡)
  • Xiaruo Lisu (霞若傈僳族乡)

Demographics

There are many Tibetans who live in Dêqên and they, compared to Tibetans in Tibet, have had longer-lasting trade relations with Han-Chinese and other ethnic minorities.[6]

Composition

Meilishi (梅里石) is in Foshan Township,[7] in the northernmost part of the county.[8]

Transportation

Deqin can be reached by many daily buses traveling North from Kunming - Dali - Lijiang - Zhongdian - Deqin.

The route is a very scenic and most of it is a newly built highway apart from the Zhongdian to Deqin section which is a winding mountain road through the scenic North Yunnan/Tibetan mountains.

See also
  • Bamê, a village in Foshan, Dêqên County
  • Meili Xue Shan (Chinese translation: "Mainri snowy range") or Mainri Snow Mountains (Tibetan: སྨན་རི།).

References

Reference notes
  1. 德钦城市介绍 (in Simplified Chinese). Weather China. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  2. 1981-2010 extremes 中国气象数据网 – WeatherBk Data (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  3. 1991-2020 normals "Climate averages from 1991 to 2020". China Meteorological Administration. 2023-04-20. Archived from the original on 2023-04-17.
  4. 1971-2000 extremes 德钦 - 气象数据 -中国天气网 (in Simplified Chinese). Weather China. Archived from the original on 2023-04-20. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  5. "国家统计局" (in Chinese). National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China. Retrieved 2021-12-07.
  6. Galipeau, p. 7 (PDF 22/148).
  7. Galipeau, p. 6 (PDF 21/148).
  8. Galipeau, p. 5 (PDF 20/148).
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