Têwo County 迭部县

Setting and landscape

The Bailong River runs west to east through the county, with the Die range to its north and the Min range to its south. Sunny slopes carry grass and fields, while shaded slopes are covered in dense old-growth forest. Farmland lies mainly in the valley at about 1,600 to 1,800 metres; the main Die ridge rises to 4,488 metres, and nine lakes formed by collapse and damming sit among the peaks. Rare wildlife includes the giant panda and the snow leopard.

In Tibetan, Têwo means "thumb": a local story says a deity called Niegan Dawa (涅甘达娃) pushed a passage through the mountains here with his thumb.

History

In the Han period the area was known as Tazhong (沓中). The Shu Han general Jiang Wei (姜维) set up military farms here to keep away from his quarrel with the court eunuch Huang Hao (黄皓). Under the Republic it was part of the domain of the Yang family, the Tibetan chieftains of Choni (卓尼). The State Council approved the creation of Têwo County on 15 December 1961.

The Red Army's First, Second and Fourth Front Armies passed through in September 1935 and August 1936. At Ejie (俄界), now Gaoji village in Dala township (达拉乡), the Party Central Committee held the Ejie Meeting, and on 16 September 1935 troops under Yang Chengwu (杨成武) took the Lazikou Pass from the Nationalist blockhouses guarding it.

What to see

Zhagana (扎尕那), a village in Yiwa town (益哇镇), takes its name from a Tibetan phrase meaning "stone box". The explorer Joseph Rock collected plants in Têwo in the summer of 1925. Zhagana's mixed farming, forestry and herding system is listed by the Food and Agriculture Organization as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System, and in 2023 the village was named one of UN Tourism's Best Tourism Villages.

Lazikou (腊子口) is a pass in the Min Mountains on the route between northern Sichuan and southern Gansu. The Ejie Meeting site and Mao Zedong's former lodging in Dacirina village (达茨日那村), where he directed the Lazikou battle, are destinations for red tourism, travel to Communist revolutionary sites. The county also has 23 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries of the Gelug, Sakya and Bon traditions, and archaeological sites of the Majiayao, Qijia and Siwa cultures.

Food and local products

Juema pork (蕨麻猪肉) from Têwo has been chosen as one of ten leading agricultural-heritage brands. Other local brands include Ni'ao black fungus (尼傲黑木耳), Cirina apples (茨日那苹果) and highland barley liquor from Zhagana, and wild morels grow in the county.

Highlights

• Zhagana 扎尕那: Village whose name means 'stone box'; its farming-forestry-herding system is a FAO agricultural heritage site.
• Lazikou Pass 腊子口: Min Mountains pass taken by Red Army troops on 16 September 1935.
• Ejie Meeting site 俄界会议旧址: Place of the 1935 party meeting, now Gaoji village in Dala township.
• Juema pork 蕨麻猪肉: Meat of the local juema pig, chosen as one of ten leading agricultural-heritage brands.