Maqu County (Chinese: 玛曲县; Tibetan: རྨ་ཆུ་རྫོང་།) is a county of the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the south of Gansu province of China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the east and southeast, and Qinghai to the southwest, west and northwest. Its postal code is 747300, and in 1999 its population was 36,213 people. The word "Maqu" derived from the Tibetan name of Yellow River. The area of Maqu County is 10,191 km2 with an average altitude of 3,700 meters. Maqu County receives high rainfall and is located at the northern edge of the Zoigê Marshes on the Yellow River where conditions are optimal for alpine meadow vegetation.

Administrative divisions

Maqu County is divided to 6 towns and 2 townships.

NameSimplified ChineseHanyu PinyinTibetanWylieAdministrative division code
Towns
Nyinma Town (Nima)尼玛镇Nímǎ Zhènཉིན་མ་གྲོང་རྡལ།nyin ma grong rdal623025100
Maima Town (Manrima)曼日玛镇Mànrìmǎ Zhènསྨད་མ་གྲོང་རྡལ།smad ma grong rdal623025101
Waibaincang Town (Bainaincang, Awancang)阿万仓镇Āwàncāng Zhènདབལ་བན་ཚང་གྲོང་རྡལ།dbal ban tshang grong rdal623025102
Qukama Town (Qihama)齐哈玛镇Qíhāmǎ Zhènཆུ་ཁ་མ་གྲོང་རྡལ།chu kha ma grong rdal623025103
Cêruma Town (Cairima)采日玛镇Cǎirìmǎ Zhènམཚེ་རུ་མ་གྲོང་རྡལ།mtshe ru ma grong rdal623025104
Ngüra Town (Oula)欧拉镇Ōulā Zhènདངུལ་རྭ་གྲོང་རྡལ།dngul rwa grong rdal623025105
Townships
Ngüraxoima Township (Oulaxiuma)欧拉秀玛乡Ōulāxiùmǎ Xiāngདངུལ་རྭ་ཞོལ་མ་ཤང་།dngul rwa zhol ma shang623025201
Murqêg Township (Murqê, Muxihe)木西合乡Mùxīhé Xiāngམུར་བྱེག་ཤང་།mur byeg shang623025203

Climate

Climate data for Maqu, elevation 3,471 m (11,388 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1981–present)
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Record high °C (°F)14.5 (58.1)14.8 (58.6)18.4 (65.1)23.6 (74.5)22.4 (72.3)23.4 (74.1)25.1 (77.2)24.7 (76.5)23.5 (74.3)19.8 (67.6)17.2 (63.0)13.6 (56.5)25.1 (77.2)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)0.5 (32.9)3.2 (37.8)6.4 (43.5)10.3 (50.5)13.0 (55.4)15.2 (59.4)17.6 (63.7)17.5 (63.5)14.3 (57.7)9.5 (49.1)5.3 (41.5)1.5 (34.7)9.5 (49.1)
Daily mean °C (°F)−8.3 (17.1)−5.3 (22.5)−1.3 (29.7)3.0 (37.4)6.4 (43.5)9.7 (49.5)11.8 (53.2)11.3 (52.3)8.0 (46.4)2.7 (36.9)−2.9 (26.8)−7.2 (19.0)2.3 (36.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)−15.4 (4.3)−12.2 (10.0)−7.2 (19.0)−2.7 (27.1)1.1 (34.0)4.9 (40.8)6.8 (44.2)6.2 (43.2)3.4 (38.1)−2.0 (28.4)−8.8 (16.2)−14.1 (6.6)−3.3 (26.0)
Record low °C (°F)−28.0 (−18.4)−27.3 (−17.1)−20.9 (−5.6)−13.6 (7.5)−8.9 (16.0)−3.4 (25.9)−2.7 (27.1)−4.0 (24.8)−7.0 (19.4)−12.9 (8.8)−22.4 (−8.3)−26.8 (−16.2)−28.0 (−18.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches)5.8 (0.23)6.3 (0.25)15.2 (0.60)29.0 (1.14)71.8 (2.83)101.0 (3.98)126.0 (4.96)116.9 (4.60)88.1 (3.47)43.7 (1.72)6.7 (0.26)1.8 (0.07)612.3 (24.11)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm)4.95.39.612.317.819.819.317.918.514.54.12.6146.6
Average snowy days6.57.412.912.67.71.30.20.12.010.36.04.271.2
Average relative humidity (%)45465258667174757670554661
Mean monthly sunshine hours229.4207.9228.5230.1219.3186.9217.6219.9173.7195.8229.1234.12,572.3
Percentage possible sunshine72676159514350544857747759
Source: China Meteorological Administration all-time Nov high

See also