Mêdog County
| Mêdog County མེ་ཏོག་རྫོང་ | |
|---|---|
| County | |
| Tibetan transcription(s) | |
| Chinese transcription(s) | |
.png) Location of Mêdog County within Tibet | |
  Mêdog County Location in Tibet | |
| Coordinates: 29°29′N 95°30′E / 29.483°N 95.500°E | |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Region | Tibet |
| Prefecture | Nyingchi Prefecture |
| County seat | Metog |
| Area | |
| • Total | 34,000 km2 (13,000 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,500-3,500 m (−10,000 ft) |
| Population (2010 Census) | |
| • Total | 10,963[1] |
| Time zone | China Standard (UTC+8) |
Mêdog, Metok, or Motuo County (Tibetan: མེ་ཏོག་རྫོང་,, Wylie: Metog Rdzong ; simplified Chinese: 墨脱县; traditional Chinese: 墨脫縣; pinyin: Mòtuō Xiàn) is a county of the Nyingtri Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region of People's Republic of China. Chinese claims include parts of Arunachal Pradesh, south of the McMahon Line, what was casus belli for the 1962 Sino-Indian War.
Geography
Medog County is located in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region and at the lower branch of Yarlung Tsangpo River. Medog County covers an area of 30,553 km2 (11,797 sq mi). The average altitude of the county is 1,200 m (3,900 ft) above sea level.་Metok county is also called Pemakö. The route for hiking to Medog: Paizhen(派镇)-Songlinkou(松林口)-Lage(拉格)-Hanmi(汗密)-Aniqiao(阿尼桥)-Beibengxiang(背崩)-Modog(墨脱)
Climate and wildlife
Medog has a favourable climate caused by the relatively low elevations in parts of the county (down to just 600 m above sea level in the Yarlung Zangbo river valley) and by the South Asian monsoon, which brings moisture from the Indian Ocean. The area is lush and covered with trees and includes the Medog National Animal and Plant Reserve Area. It has more than 3,000 species of plants, 42 species of rare animals under special state protection, and over a thousand hexapod species.
Highway
In December, 2010 the Chinese government announced completion of a highway to Mêdog County, the last county in China which did not have road access.[2]
Economy
Farming is the main industry in Medog County. It is abundant with paddy, soybean, cotton and gingeli, etc. Hairy deerhorn, gastrodia tuber, muskiness, and hedgehog hydnum, etc. are special products of the area.
Demography
Medog county has a population of 10,963 according to 2010 census,[3] and most people who live in the county are of Tshangla, Khamba people and Lhoba ethnic group. The most renowned part of Medog is known as Pemako. Its inhabitants speak a form of Tshangla (Chinese: 仓洛, Cāngluò) related to that spoken in eastern Bhutan. They practice the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
Population according to 2009 in Various villages:
Medog Towship/Metog with a total population of 1,878
Baibung Village/Bepung with a total population of 2,138
Dexing Village/Beshing with a total population of 1,549
Damu Village/Tamu with a total population of 729
Phomshen Village with a total population of 1,266
Gyalhasa Village with a total population of 812
Gandain Village with a total population of 647
Gedang Village with a total population of 680[4]
Medog county is surely not a homogeneous society, different ethnic people lived here from many years, people like Pemakopas (Tsangla), Kongpowas, Poba Tibetans and Lopas (Adi, mishis etc.) live here but Pemakopas make up the majority about 65-70% of the total population of 10,000-15,000, remaining are Khampas, kongpowas and Lopas. (According to 2001 census in Metok county (Dzong) there are about 10,000 people ). In exile Pemakopa people spread through the world, but mainly concentrated in Tibetan Settlement of Miao choephelling, Tezu Dhargyeling, Tuting and area, Orissa-Jerang camp, Tibetan Women Centre - Rajpur, Clementown, Delhi area, some in Europe and North America.
Frank Kingdon-Ward was the first Westerner to describe the area in his 1925 book, Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges. In his 1994 "Tibet Handbook", Hong Kong-born Victor Chan describes the extremely difficult trek from Pemakö Chung to the beyul Gonpo Ne, one of the remotest spots on earth. A modern journey by Ian Baker and his National Geographic-sponsored team to Pemakö received book-length treatment in his 1994 The Heart of the World.
See also
External links
The website of Mêdog Government: http://www.motuo.gov.cn/
Notes
- ↑ http://www.citypopulation.de/php/china-xizang-admin.php?adm2id=542624. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ Edward Wong (December 16, 2010). "Isolated County in Tibet Is Linked to Highway System". The New York Times. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
- ↑ http://www.citypopulation.de/php/china-xizang-admin.php?adm2id=542624. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ http://eng.tibet.cn/Features2009/09mtgl/zjmt/200904/t20090423_471714.html. Missing or empty
|title=(help)
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Coordinates: 29°29′N 95°30′E / 29.483°N 95.500°E