Pasho County or Baxoi County (Tibetan: དཔའ་ཤོད་རྫོང་།; simplified Chinese: 八宿县; traditional Chinese: 八宿縣; pinyin: Bāsù Xiàn) is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Chamdo in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The county seat is at Pema, which is also called the "Pasho Town". It contains the Pomda Monastery and Rakwa Tso lake. As of the 2020 Chinese Census, Pasho County has a population of 43,538.

History

The area of present-day Pasho County belonged to the Tibetan Empire, around the same time as the Tang dynasty's existence.

During the Yuan dynasty, the area was incorporated as part of the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs.

During the Ming dynasty, the area was organized under the tusi of Mo'erkan[zh].

The Pasho Larang[zh] was established in 1694. The Tibetan Kashag placed it under the control of the Kundeling Monastery, located in Lhasa, in 1725. Later, under the administration of the Qing dynasty, the area was placed under the jurisdiction of Enda County[zh].

In 1912, Pasho was established as a zong[zh].

In 1951, the People's Republic of China established a local government in the area. In May 1959, the area was reorganized as Pasho County. The county seat was moved from Tanggar to Baima in 1964, where it remains today.

Geography

Pasho County is located within Chamdo, in the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The county itself is located within the south of Chamdo. It borders Zogong County and Zhag'yab County to the east, Zayu County to the south, Lhorong County and Bomê County to the west, and Karub District and Riwoche County to the north. Pasho County has a maximum east–west distance of 112 kilometres (70 mi) and a maximum north–south distance of 150 kilometres (93 mi).

The county is highly mountainous, with an average elevation of about 3,260 metres (10,700 ft) above sea level. Pasho County contains the BrahmaputraSalween water divide. The Ngajuk La pass (29°40′07″N 96°43′05″E/29.6687°N 96.7181°E/ 29.6687; 96.7181(Ngajuk La)) is on the divide. To the north, Ling Chu flows north and east draning into Salween. To the south, Parlung Tsangpo flows south and west to drain into the Tsangpo River (the Tibetan section of Brahmaputra). Pasho County hosts the Rakwa Tso lake and the Laigu Glacier[zh].

Climate

Pasho town, owing to the strong rain shadow of local mountains surrounding the deep gorge in which it lies, has a cool semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk), being slightly warmer due to less high altitude and substantially drier than most of the eastern "river region" of Tibet – for instance its annual rainfall is only about half that of Lhasa. Summers are warm and showery, whilst winters are cool by day, freezing by night, and extremely dry.

Climate data for Pasho, elevation 3,260 m (10,700 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1981–2010)
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Record high °C (°F)18.4 (65.1)19.6 (67.3)25.0 (77.0)25.4 (77.7)30.3 (86.5)31.9 (89.4)33.4 (92.1)31.6 (88.9)32.0 (89.6)27.9 (82.2)22.0 (71.6)17.7 (63.9)33.4 (92.1)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)9.1 (48.4)11.2 (52.2)13.8 (56.8)17.2 (63.0)21.6 (70.9)25.5 (77.9)26.1 (79.0)25.3 (77.5)24.1 (75.4)19.2 (66.6)14.1 (57.4)10.3 (50.5)18.1 (64.6)
Daily mean °C (°F)1.3 (34.3)4.0 (39.2)6.9 (44.4)10.5 (50.9)15.2 (59.4)19.0 (66.2)19.3 (66.7)18.4 (65.1)17.1 (62.8)12.1 (53.8)6.2 (43.2)2.0 (35.6)11.0 (51.8)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)−5.3 (22.5)−2.4 (27.7)1.2 (34.2)5.1 (41.2)9.7 (49.5)14.0 (57.2)14.4 (57.9)13.6 (56.5)11.9 (53.4)6.4 (43.5)−0.3 (31.5)−4.7 (23.5)5.3 (41.6)
Record low °C (°F)−14.9 (5.2)−10.9 (12.4)−8.5 (16.7)−3.6 (25.5)0.6 (33.1)4.5 (40.1)7.4 (45.3)5.1 (41.2)1.0 (33.8)−4.3 (24.3)−9.5 (14.9)−16.9 (1.6)−16.9 (1.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches)0.3 (0.01)1.9 (0.07)8.5 (0.33)18.6 (0.73)21.5 (0.85)29.0 (1.14)62.6 (2.46)58.6 (2.31)31.9 (1.26)14.3 (0.56)2.6 (0.10)1.3 (0.05)251.1 (9.87)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm)0.51.43.86.26.68.915.015.48.94.91.30.573.4
Average snowy days1.22.44.02.00.200000.51.60.812.7
Average relative humidity (%)26273340394352564941322939
Mean monthly sunshine hours212.9223.8252.8245.7260.9232.9201.4199.4218.9233.1216.8207.62,706.2
Percentage possible sunshine65716863615547496067696662
Source: China Meteorological Administration

Administrative divisions

Pasho County is divided into 4 towns and 10 townships.

NameChineseHanyu PinyinTibetanWylie
Town
Baima (Pema, Pasho)白玛镇Báimǎ zhènཔད་མ་གྲོང་རྡལ།pad ma grong rdal
Bangda帮达镇Bāngdá zhènསྤང་མདའ་གྲོང་རྡལ།spang mda' grong rdal
Rawu然乌镇Ránwū zhènརྭ་འོག་གྲོང་རྡལ།rwa 'og grong rdal
Tanggar同卡镇Tóngkǎ zhènཐང་དཀར་གྲོང་རྡལ།thang dkar grong rdal
Townships
Korqên Township[zh]郭庆乡Guōqìng xiāngའཁོར་ཆེན་ཤང་།'khor chen shang
Lagê Township[zh]拉根乡Lāgēn xiāngགླ་སྐེ་ཤང་།gla ske shang
Yiqên Township[zh]益庆乡Yìqìng xiāngཡིད་ཆེན་ཤང་།yid chen shang
Jirong Township[zh]集中乡Jízhōng xiāngདཀྱིལ་གྲོང་ཤང་།dkyil grong shang
Karwa Pêkyim Township[zh]卡瓦白庆乡Kǎwǎbáiqìng xiāngམཁར་བ་འཕེལ་ཁྱིམ་ཤང་།mkhar ba 'phel khyim shang
Gyêda Township[zh]吉达乡Jídá xiāngསྐྱེ་མདའ་ཤང་།skye mda' shang
Gyari Township夏里乡Xiàlǐ xiāngསྐྱ་རི་ཤང་།skya ri shang
Yangpa Township[zh]拥乡Yōng xiāngཡངས་པ་ཤང་།yangs pa shang
Wa Township[zh]瓦乡Wǎ xiāngཝ་ཤང་།wa shang
Lingka Township林卡乡Línkǎ xiāngགླིང་ཁ་ཤང་།gling kha shang

Demographics

Per the 2020 Chinese Census, Pasho County has a population of 43,538, up from the 39,021 recorded in the 2010 Chinese Census. Pasho County had a population of 38,170 as of the 2000 Chinese Census.

Transport

Pomda, Baxoi County

Maps

  • Su-tun (Shugden Gompa) (AMS, 1954)
  • Janwu China (DMA)

Notes

Bibliography

  • Dorje, Gyurme (2004), (3rd ed.), Bath: Footprint Handbooks, ISBN 1-903471-30-3 – via archive.org
  • Kingdon Ward, F.; Smith, Malcolm (November 1934), "The Himalaya East of the Tsangpo", The Geographical Journal, 84 (5): 369–394, doi:, JSTOR

External links

  • , OpenStreetMap, retrieved 12 October 2022.
  • , OpenStreetMap, retrieved 12 October 2022.