Daocheng County

Daocheng County
稻城县 · འདབ་པ་རྫོང་།
Dapba, Dabba, Daoba
White Pagoda in Daocheng County
White Pagoda in Daocheng County
Daocheng County (red) within Garzê Prefecture (yellow) and Sichuan
Daocheng County (red) within Garzê Prefecture (yellow) and Sichuan
Daocheng is located in Sichuan
Daocheng
Daocheng
Location of the seat in Sichuan
Daocheng is located in China
Daocheng
Daocheng
Daocheng (China)
Coordinates (Daocheng government): 29°02′16″N 100°17′51″E
Country China
Province Sichuan
Autonomous prefecture Garzê
County seat Jingzhoi (Jinzhu)
Area
 • Total 7,323 km2 (2,827 sq mi)
Elevation
3,753 m (12,313 ft)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total 32,916
 • Density 4.5/km2 (12/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+8 (China Standard)
Website www.daocheng.gov.cn
Daocheng County
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese 稻城县
Traditional Chinese 稻城縣
Historical Chinese name
Simplified Chinese 稻坝
Traditional Chinese 稻壩
Tibetan name
Tibetan འདབ་པ་རྫོང་།

Daocheng County or Dapba in Tibetan (Tibetan: འདབ་པ་རྫོང་།; Chinese: 稻城县) is a county of western Sichuan Province, China, located in the eastern Hengduan Mountains. It is under the administration of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture with an overwhelmingly Tibetan population. Its latitude ranges from 27° 58' to 29° 30' N and longitude 99° 56' to 100° 36', and reaches 174 kilometres (108 mi) in north–south extent and 63 km (39 mi) in east–west width, with elevations ranging from 2,000 to 6,032 m (6,562 to 19,790 ft).

Daocheng Yading Airport, the world's highest airport, is located in Daocheng County.

History

The explorer Joseph Rock departed from Lijiang in 1928 and visited Daocheng.

After the fall of the Qing dynasty, Xiangcheng and Daocheng fell into chaos. Daocheng was controlled by local chiefs centered in Daoba and the Gangkarling (贡噶岭; Gònggálǐng) region from 1930s to 1950s.

Administrative Divisions

Daocheng County is divided into 5 towns and 8 townships.

Name Simplified Chinese Hanyu Pinyin Tibetan Wylie Administrative division code
Towns
Jingzhoi Town
(Jinzhu)
金珠镇 Jīnzhū Zhèn བཅིངས་འགྲོལ་གྲོང་རྡལ། bcings 'grol grong rdal 513337100
Shambala Town
(Xambala, Xianggelila)
香格里拉镇 Xiānggélǐlā Zhèn ཤམ་བྷ་ལ་གྲོང་རྡལ། sham bha la grong rdal 513337101
Sumdü Town
(Sangdui)
桑堆镇 Sāngduī Zhèn གསུམ་འདུས་གྲོང་རྡལ། gsum 'dus grong rdal 513337102
Qugar Town
(Jiga)
吉呷镇 Jígā Zhèn ཆུ་དཀར་གྲོང་རྡལ། chu dkar grong rdal 513337103
Gartang Town
(Gatong)
噶通镇 Gátōng Zhèn སྐར་ཐང་གྲོང་རྡལ། skar thang grong rdal 513337104
Townships
Sammo Township
(Shengmu)
省母乡 Shěngmǔ Xiāng བསམ་མོ་ཤང་། bsam mo shang 513337201
Jangrong Township
(Julong)
巨龙乡 Jùlóng Xiāng འཇང་རོང་ཤང་། 'jang rong shang 513337204
Dêmo Township
(Dengpo)
邓坡乡 Dèngpō Xiāng བདེ་མོ་ཤང་། bde mo shang 513337205
Mangra Township
(Mula)
木拉乡 Mùlā Xiāng མང་ར་ཤང་། mang ra shang 513337206
Qêrog Township
(Chitu)
赤土乡 Chìtǔ Xiāng ཆེ་རོགས་ཤང་། che rogs shang 513337207
Bucang Township
(Mengzi)
蒙自乡 Méngzì Xiāng འབུ་ཚང་ཤང་། 'bu tshang shang 513337209
Kaqa Township
(Gaqag, Geka)
各卡乡 Gèkǎ Xiāng ག་ཆ་ཤང་། ga cha shang 513337210
Goyagtang Township
(Goyatang, Eyatong)
俄牙同乡 Éyátóng Xiāng འགོ་ཡག་ཐང་ཤང་། 'go yag thang shang 513337212

Climate

Daocheng has a Monsoon-influenced warm-summer humid continental climate (Dwb) according to the Köppen Climate classification, with humid and rainy and warm summers, and cold and dry winters due to the high pressure that forms over the Tibetan Plateau during those months. Snowfall is most common during spring and autumn, as there is little precipitation during winter.

Climate data for Daocheng (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1981–2010)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 18.7
(65.7)
18.7
(65.7)
23.5
(74.3)
23.7
(74.7)
25.2
(77.4)
27.0
(80.6)
27.9
(82.2)
24.9
(76.8)
23.8
(74.8)
21.5
(70.7)
19.0
(66.2)
17.2
(63.0)
27.9
(82.2)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 6.3
(43.3)
7.8
(46.0)
10.3
(50.5)
13.6
(56.5)
17.4
(63.3)
19.7
(67.5)
18.6
(65.5)
18.2
(64.8)
17.5
(63.5)
14.6
(58.3)
10.6
(51.1)
7.8
(46.0)
13.5
(56.4)
Daily mean °C (°F) −4.1
(24.6)
−1.9
(28.6)
1.5
(34.7)
5.4
(41.7)
9.8
(49.6)
12.7
(54.9)
12.4
(54.3)
11.9
(53.4)
10.7
(51.3)
6.3
(43.3)
0.7
(33.3)
−3.2
(26.2)
5.2
(41.3)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −12.5
(9.5)
−10.0
(14.0)
−5.7
(21.7)
−1.8
(28.8)
2.8
(37.0)
7.2
(45.0)
8.3
(46.9)
7.9
(46.2)
6.2
(43.2)
0.2
(32.4)
−6.7
(19.9)
−11.4
(11.5)
−1.3
(29.7)
Record low °C (°F) −26.5
(−15.7)
−23.6
(−10.5)
−18.4
(−1.1)
−10.4
(13.3)
−6.7
(19.9)
−1.7
(28.9)
0.1
(32.2)
−0.1
(31.8)
−3.0
(26.6)
−10.2
(13.6)
−21.0
(−5.8)
−27.6
(−17.7)
−27.6
(−17.7)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 1.3
(0.05)
2.0
(0.08)
7.2
(0.28)
14.0
(0.55)
39.5
(1.56)
116.2
(4.57)
193.8
(7.63)
162.7
(6.41)
97.7
(3.85)
20.2
(0.80)
4.6
(0.18)
0.9
(0.04)
660.1
(26)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 1.7 1.4 5.0 7.3 10.2 18.2 24.8 23.8 17.8 6.4 2.3 1.0 119.9
Average snowy days 4.0 5.2 10.1 9.9 2.6 0.3 0.1 0 0.3 2.7 4.0 2.5 41.7
Average relative humidity (%) 37 38 43 47 51 63 74 75 71 60 48 39 54
Mean monthly sunshine hours 261.2 244.8 247.8 230.1 219.8 171.6 130.7 136.4 167.7 227.7 244.8 262.0 2,544.6
Percent possible sunshine 80 77 66 59 52 41 31 34 46 65 77 82 59
Source: China Meteorological Administration