Xiahe County 夏河县

Setting and landscape

The land falls from north-west to south-east, and the climate is cold and humid with a marked highland-continental character; the mean annual temperature is 2.6°C. The rivers drain to the Yellow River, chiefly the Daxia River (大夏河), which runs 104 kilometres through the county, and the Tao (洮河). Grassland of good quality covers about 72 per cent of the county's land, and yaks, Ganjia sheep and Juema pigs (蕨麻猪) are among the livestock breeds raised here.

History

Labrang Monastery was founded in 1709, in the reign of the Kangxi emperor. It grew into a large monastery with six colleges, including those of medicine and the Kalachakra, 108 branch monasteries and up to 4,000 monks at its height, according to the county government. In 1927 a Labrang administrative bureau was carved out of parts of three counties, and in 1928 it became a county named Xiahe, after the Daxia River that crosses it and runs past the county town.

What to see

Labrang Monastery is one of the six principal monasteries of the Gelug school, a national 4A scenic area, and has been a national key protected site since 1982; it opened to outside visitors in 1985. Its name derives from the Tibetan labrang, glossed as "a palace of monks". About 10 kilometres from the county town, the Sangke grassland (桑科草原) is meadow grassland at an average altitude above 3,000 metres, where rapeseed fields flower in summer. Ganjia town (甘加镇), in the north-west, reaches 4,630 metres at its highest point; on the eastern part of the Ganjia plain stands the Bajiao city site (八角城遗址), a walled town with eight corners and a hollow cross-shaped plan, listed by Gansu in 1981. The county government also lists the Baishiya karst cave (白石崖溶洞) and the sacred lake of Darzong (达尔宗圣湖) among its early-developed sights.

Food and local products

The county government lists beef jerky, qula (曲拉, dried curd), juema (蕨麻, silverweed root), tsampa (糌粑), yoghurt, cheese and Tibetan pastries, made in traditional Tibetan ways, along with yak-milk powder, eight-treasure tea and Tibetan tea.

Highlights

• Labrang Monastery 拉卜楞寺: Gelug monastery founded in 1709; national key protected site since 1982.
• Sangke Grassland 桑科草原: Meadow grassland at an average altitude above 3,000 metres, 10 km from the county town, with rapeseed in flower in summer.
• Bajiao City Site 八角城遗址: Eight-cornered walled town with a cross-shaped plan in Ganjia; listed by Gansu in 1981.
• Qula 曲拉: Dried curd listed by the county among its highland products.