Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture
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Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, also known as Aba (Tibetan: Template:Bo-textonly, Wylie: rnga ba bod rigs cha'ang rigs rang skyong khulTemplate:Main other; Qiang: Script error: No such module "Lang".; Template:Lang-zh), is an autonomous prefecture of northwestern Sichuan, bordering Gansu to the north and northeast and Qinghai to the northwest. Its seat is in Barkam, and it has an area of Template:Convert. The population was 895,200 by 2022.[1]
The county of Wenchuan in Ngawa is the site of the epicenter of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, in which over 20,000 of its residents died and 40,000 were injured.
History and names
During the reign of Tibet's king Trisong Detsen in the 8th century, the Gyalrong area was visited by the great translator Vairotsana.
In 1410 Je Tsongkhapa's student Tshakho Ngawang Tapa established the first Tibetan Buddhist Gelug school monastery in the area, called "Gyalrong".
In contemporary history, most of Ngawa was under the 16th Administrative Prefecture of Szechwan (Script error: No such module "Lang".), which was established by the Republic of China (ROC).[2]
The People's Republic of China defeated ROC troops in this area during Chinese Civil war and subsequently established a Tibetan autonomous prefecture by late 1952. It was renamed Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in 1956 and Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in 1987.[3]
On May 12, 2008, a major earthquake occurred in Wenchuan County (Tibetan: Template:Bo-textonly, Wylie: lung dguTemplate:Main other), a county in the southeastern part of this autonomous prefecture. 20,258 people were killed, 45,079 injured, 7,696 missing in the prefecture as of June 6, 2008.[4][5]
Geography
Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Most of the prefecture lies in the Tibetan cultural and historical region of Amdo. The west, and part of Kardze, is also known as Gyalrong. Gyalrong people speak a Qiangic language known as Gyalrong language. The source of the Min River and its tributary Dadu River are to be found in Ngawa.
Demographics
Template:As of, the prefecture's population was 919,987 inhabitants at a density of 10.91 per km2:[6]
| Ethnic group | Population | Proportion of total |
|---|---|---|
| Tibetan | 489,747 | 57.3% |
| Han | 220,353 | 20.6% |
| Qiang | 157,905 | 18.6% |
| Hui | 26,353 | 3.3% |
| Yi | 685 | 0.08% |
| Manchu | 373 | 0.04% |
| Miao | 266 | 0.03% |
| Mongols | 202 | 0.02% |
| Tujia | 182 | 0.02% |
| Bai | 101 | 0.01% |
| Zhuang | 95 | 0.01% |
| others | 278 | 0.03% |
Languages
Major languages spoken in Aba Prefecture include Tibetan, Mandarin Chinese and many vernaculars of the Qiangic languages which vary from county to county:
- Barkam: rGyalrong
- Li County: Southern Qiang, rGyalrong
- Mao County: Northern Qiang, Southern Qiang
- Jiuzhaigou County: Baima
- Jinchuan County: Khroskyabs, rGyalrong
- Xiaojin County: rGyalrong
- Heishui County: Northern Qiang, rGyalrong
- Zamtang County: Amdo Tibetan
In April 2020, classroom instruction was switched from Tibetan to Mandarin Chinese in Ngaba.[7]
Administrative divisions
The region is composed of one county-level city and twelve counties:
| Map | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Name | Hanzi | Pinyin | Tibetan | Wylie | Qiang | Population (2010 Census)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Area (km2) | Density (/km2) |
| 1 | Barkam City (Ma'erkang City) |
Script error: No such module "Lang". | Template:Transliteration | Template:Bo-textonly | 'bar khams rdzong | Muerkvua shi | 58,437 | 6,639 | 8.80 |
| 2 | Wenchuan County | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Template:Transliteration | Template:Bo-textonly / Template:Bo-textonly | lung dgu rdzong / khri tshang rdzong | 100,771 | 4,083 | 24.68 | |
| 3 | Li County | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Template:Transliteration | Template:Bo-textonly | bkra shis gling | pauɕuq | 46,556 | 4,318 | 10.78 |
| 4 | Mao County | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Template:Transliteration | Template:Bo-textonly | ma'o wun | ʂqini | 104,829 | 4,075 | 25.72 |
| 5 | Songpan County | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Template:Transliteration | Template:Bo-textonly | zung chu rdzong | 72,309 | 8,486 | 8.52 | |
| 6 | Jiuzhaigou County | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Template:Transliteration | Template:Bo-textonly | gzi rtsa sde dgu rdzong | 81,394 | 5,286 | 15.39 | |
| 7 | Jinchuan County | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Template:Transliteration | Template:Bo-textonly | chu chen rdzong | 65,976 | 5,524 | 11.94 | |
| 8 | Xiaojin County | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Template:Transliteration | Template:Bo-textonly | btsan lha rdzong | 77,731 | 5,571 | 13.95 | |
| 9 | Heishui County | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Template:Transliteration | Template:Bo-textonly | khro chu rdzong | khǝtʂǝp | 60,704 | 4,154 | 14.61 |
| 10 | Zamtang County (Rangtang County) |
Script error: No such module "Lang". | Template:Transliteration | Template:Bo-textonly | 'dzam thang rdzong | 39,173 | 6,836 | 5.73 | |
| 11 | Ngawa County (Aba County) |
Script error: No such module "Lang". | Template:Transliteration | Template:Bo-textonly | rnga ba rdzong | Ggabba | 72,391 | 10,435 | 6.93 |
| 12 | Zoigê County (Ruo'ergai County) |
Script error: No such module "Lang". | Template:Transliteration | Template:Bo-textonly | mdzod dge rdzong | 74,619 | 10,437 | 7.14 | |
| 13 | Hongyuan County | Script error: No such module "Lang". | Template:Transliteration | Template:Bo-textonly / Template:Bo-textonly | rka khog rdzong / khyung mchu rdzong | 43,818 | 8,398 | 5.21 | |
Though situated within Wenchuan County, Wolong National Nature Reserve and Wolong Special Administrative Region are administered separately by the Forestry Department of Sichuan.
Transportation
The prefecture is served by Hongyuan Airport in the west and Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport in the east. Private taxis can be hired from these airports. Jiuzhaigou Train Station is under construction Template:Convert north-west of Jiuzhaigou County's town. The railway is to run between Chengdu and Lanzhou.
Tourism
Tourism produced 71.0% of the GDP of the prefecture in 2006.[8] There are many places of interest in the prefecture, including
- Wolong National Nature Reserve in Wenchuan County, a well-known giant panda reserve where the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda was established in 1980
- Kirti Gompa, a 15th-century Tibetan Buddhism monastery
- Nangzhik Gompa monastery, founded in the 12th century
- Huanglong Scenic and Historic Interest Area in Songpan County
- Jiuzhaigou, Jiuzhaigou County, a nature reserve known for its many multi-level waterfalls and colorful lakes, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992
- Mount Siguniang (Template:Lang-zh Tibetan: Template:Bo-textonly, Wylie: sku blaTemplate:Main other "Sku Mountain"; formerly Template:Lang-zh, a transcription), the highest point of the Qionglai Mountains, on the border between Xiaojin County (Template:Lang-zh; Tibetan: Tibetan: Template:Bo-textonlyTemplate:Main other) and Wenchuan County.
References
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Further reading
- A. Gruschke (2001) The Cultural Monuments of Tibet's Outer Provinces: Amdo - Volume 2. The Gansu and Sichuan Parts of Amdo. Bangkok: White Lotus Press Template:ISBN
- Tsering Shakya (1999) The Dragon in the Land of Snows.: a history of modern Tibet since 1947, London: Pimlico, 1999, Template:ISBN
External links
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