The town spans an area of approximately 48,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi), and has a population of 1,750 as of 2020.[1]
Toponymy
The town's name is Tibetan for "mountain that eagles cannot fly over".[1]
History
On the eve of the annexation of Tibet by China, a local rebellion broke out in nearby Yushu, causing many members of the Duoma tribe (Chinese: 多玛部落; pinyin: Duōmǎ bùluò), a tribe of Tibetans, to flee to present-day Tanggulashan.[1]
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.[1]
Tanggula Town is around 500 kilometres (310 mi) 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.[citation needed]
The Tanggula settlement, also known as Marquwo, Tuotuoheyan, or Togtogquwo, is located at 4,535 metres (14,879 ft) above sea level in the central part of Tanggula Mountains, as the town's name indicates.[2] The town's area includes the Geladaindong Peak,[1] a mountain which stands at 6,621 metres (21,722 ft) in elevation. The mountain is notable for its proximity to the source of the Tuotuo River, which itself is one of the sources of the Yangtze River.[1] The area around the peak is protected as part of the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve, which the town is located near.[1] The main settlement is located near the highway and railway crossing of the Tuotuo River, which is one of the headwaters of the Yangtze.[citation needed] This settlement is served by the Togtogquwo railway station.[3] Other settlements in the same highway/railway corridor, further south, are Tongtian Heyan ("Tongtian Riverside"), Yanshiping, Wenquan, and Tanggula Bingzhan ("Tanggula Military Post").[4]
Most of the town's area is mountainous, and open grasslands cover much of the town's remaining area.[1]Grazing is prohibited or highly regulated on much of Tanggulashan's grasslands.[1]
Tanggula Town is administratively divided into 8 village-level units (seven nomads' committee and one villagers' committee).[2] The region is sparsely populated, with the registered population of 1,286 (year 2006) and the present population estimated at about 1,900.[citation needed] 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).[citation needed]
The map of the Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve lands in southern Qinghai. Prefecture borders are shown in black; the area labeled "Haixi" and "Ge'ermu" (Golmud) in the southwest is Tanngulashan Town. The reserve section within the town is the Geladandong wetland conservation zone, around the mountain peak of the same name
As of 2020, Tanggulashan is home to a population of 1,750, who reside in 581 different households.[1]
Tibetans who live in Tanggulashan largely hail from the Duoma tribe (Chinese: 多玛部落; pinyin: Duōmǎ bùluò), one of the eight Tibetan tribes in the Amdo region.[1]
According to a 2021 publication by the Golmud city government, 247 people in Tanggulashan are members of the Chinese Communist Party.[1]
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 (Chinese: 唐古拉牦牛; pinyin: Tánggǔlā máoniú) and the Tibetan sheep (Chinese: 藏羊; pinyin: Zàng yáng), have received geographical indication from the Ministry of Agriculture of China.[1] As of 2020, the average annual income for a herder in Tanggulashan totaled 29,020 renminbi (RMB).[1] According to the local authorities in Golmud, overgrazing is a concern in the area,[7] as it is throughout the southwestern Qinghai.[8] As a result, grazing is restricted and limited in certain areas,[1] and projects are underway to reduce the livestock population in Tanggulashan to what is thought to be the "scientifically sound" target of 53,600.[7]
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.[9]
In 2007, it was reported that a factory producing traditional Tibetan carpets opened in the area, employing about 80 people.[10]
^ abcdefghijklmnop唐古拉山镇基本情况 [Tanggulashan Basic Overview]. www.geermu.gov.cn (in Chinese). The People's Government of Golmud. 2021-06-24. Archived from the original on 2021-10-21. Retrieved 2021-10-21.
^ ab唐古拉山镇以科学发展观为统领努力打造长江源头生态第一镇 (Tanggula Town to follow scientific development guidelines to become the first environmentally sound town in the headwaters of the Yangtze), Golmud City Government web site, 2010-03-23
^ ab格尔木唐古拉山镇：转变发展方式打造生态第一镇 (Tanggula Town, Golmud: Changing the modes of development, to create the first environmentally sound town). Golmud City Government web site, 2010-03-29
^M. Zhao, O. Schell. "Tibet: Plateau in Peril" World Policy Journal, 2008. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
