Tanggulashan

The town's Tibetan name stands for "mountain that eagles cannot fly over". == History ==

On the eve of the annexation of Tibet by China, a local rebellion broke out in and around the nearby town of Yushu, causing many members of the Duoma tribe (), chiefly herdsmen and sheperds, to flee to present-day Tanggulashan for refuge. In the early 1960s, the administrative divisions of Qinghai and Tibet were reorganized, and the area of Tanggulashan was placed under the jurisdiction of the province of Qinghai. ==Geography==

, 1990) Tanggula Town is an administrative unit that occupies in the southwestern corner of Qinghai province. It borders on the Tibet Autonomous Region in the south and west, and on Qinghai's Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the east and north. The western "panhandle" of Yushu Prefecture separates Tanggula Town from the rest of Haixi Prefecture, making it an exclave of Golmud City and of the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Tanggula Town is around away (straight-line distance) both from the central city of Golmud and from the town of Gyêgu, the seat of Yushu Prefecture, but it has practical road (and rail) connection only with the former. The Tanggula settlement, also known as Marquwo, Tuotuoheyan, or Togtogquwo, is located at above sea level in the central part of Tanggula Mountains, as the town's name indicates. The town's area includes the Geladaindong Peak, Other settlements in the same highway/railway corridor, further south, are Tongtian Heyan ("Tongtian Riverside"), Yanshiping, Wenquan, and Tanggula Bingzhan ("Tanggula Military Post"). Most of the town's area is mountainous, and open grasslands cover much of the town's remaining area. Grazing is prohibited or highly regulated on much of Tanggulashan's grasslands. Tanggula Town is administratively divided into 8 village-level units (seven nomads' committee and one villagers' committee). The region is sparsely populated, with the registered population of 1,286 (year 2006) and the present population estimated at 1,900. Most of these people live in several small villages located along the Golmud-Lhasa highway and railway corridor (China National Highway 109 and Qinghai-Tibet Railway). At Tanggula Pass on the southern border of the province, the railway leaves Qinghai for Tibet, and therefore the Tanggula railway station, which is located a short distance south of the pass, is actually outside of Tanggula Town, and is already within the Tibet Autonomous Region. Climate Tanggulashan has an alpine climate (Köppen ET) with long, frigid, very dry winters and short, cool, damp summers. == Demographics ==

As of 2025, Tanggulashan is home to a population of 1,957, who reside in 652 different households. Tibetans who live in Tanggulashan largely hail from the Duoma tribe (), one of the eight Tibetan tribes in the Amdo region. According to a 2021 publication by the Golmud city government, 247 people in Tanggulashan are members of the Chinese Communist Party. wetland conservation zone, around the mountain peak of the same name ==Economy==

The traditional occupation of the local residents is the raising and breeding of livestock. Specific breeds of sheep and yak, such as the Tanggula yak () and the Tibetan sheep (), have received geographical indication from the Ministry of Agriculture of China. As a result, grazing is restricted and limited in certain areas, The Chinese government had announced in 2016 that it wished to build the 'First ecological town' at the source of the Yangtze, which is in and around the area of Tanggulashan. A water sanitation facility was constructed in 2019, and since 2016, 226 million Yuan has been invested into the region, including the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve, which has been subject to a lot of recent development and protection. The total economic output of Tanggulashan in 2022 was 2.2 million CNY. Besides overgrazing by livestock, the local pasture land also suffers depredation by rats. After some attempts to poison them (with obvious side effects), in 2009 the local authorities started a campaign to attract birds of prey to the area, hoping that they would help to keep the rat population under control. For this purpose, 830 bird perches were erected in the affected areas. In 2007, it was reported that a factory producing traditional Tibetan carpets opened in the area, employing about 80 people. == Transportation ==

The town is served by the Tanggula railway station, which lies along the Qingzang Railway, which runs through Tanggulashan on its way to Lhasa, with the section running through being the highest segment of railway on earth. Additionally, the G109, which leads from Beijing to Lhasa, runs through Tanggulashan. ==References==