Ngamring County (Tibetan: ངམ་རིང་རྫོང་།; Chinese: 昂仁县) is a county of Xigazê in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. "Ngamring County, sometimes referred to as the gateway to Mount Kailash and Far West Tibet, is the barren area which divides the Raga Tsangpo and the Brahmaputra."[2]

Ngamring County
昂仁县ངམ་རིང་རྫོང་།
Jucang Village along the G219 highway
Jucang Village along the G219 highway
Location of Ngamring County (red) within Xigazê City (yellow) and Tibet
Location of Ngamring County (red) within Xigazê City (yellow) and Tibet
Ngamring is located in Tibet
Ngamring
Ngamring
Location of the seat in Tibet
Ngamring is located in China
Ngamring
Ngamring
Ngamring (China)
Coordinates: 29°16′22″N 87°10′57″E / 29.27278°N 87.18250°E / 29.27278; 87.18250
CountryChina
Autonomous regionTibet
Prefecture-level cityXigazê
County seatKagar
Area
 • Total
28,205.88 km2 (10,890.35 sq mi)
Population
 (2020)[1]
 • Total
55,108
 • Density2.0/km2 (5.1/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+8 (China Standard)
Websitewww.arx.gov.cn
Ngamring County
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese昂仁县
Traditional Chinese昂仁縣
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinÁngrén Xiàn
Tibetan name
Tibetanངམ་རིང་རྫོང་།
Transcriptions
Wyliengam ring rdzong
Tibetan PinyinNgamring Zong

The office place of the county is located in Kagar, population 1,700, at an elevation of 4,380 m (14,370 ft).[3][4]

Administration divisions

edit

Ngamring County is divided into 2 towns and 15 townships.

Name Chinese Hanyu Pinyin Tibetan Wylie
Towns
Gegang Town
(Kagar, Kaika)
卡嘎镇 Kǎgā zhèn གད་སྒང་གྲོང་རྡལ། gad sgang grong rdal
Sangsang Town 桑桑镇 Sāngsāng zhèn བཟང་བཟང་གྲོང་རྡལ། bzang bzang grong rdal
Townships
Darog Township 达若乡 Dáruò xiāng རྟ་རོག་ཤང་། rtag rog shang
Goin'gyibug Township 贡久布乡 Gòngjiǔbù xiāng དགོན་སྐྱིད་སྦུག་ཤང་། dgon skyid sbug shang
Comë Township 措迈乡 Cuòmài xiāng ཚོ་སྨད་ཤང་། mtsho smad shang
Xungba Township 雄巴乡 Xióngbā xiāng གཞུང་བ་ཤང་། gzhung ba shang
Cazê Township 查孜乡 Cházī xiāng ཚྭ་རྩེ་ཤང་། tswa rtse shang
Amxung Township 阿木雄乡 Āmùxióng xiāng ཨམ་གཞུང་ཤང་། am gzhung shang
Rusar Township 如萨乡 Rúsà xiāng རུ་གསར་ཤང་། ru gsar shang
Kunglung Township 孔隆乡 Lǒnglóng xiāng གུང་ལུང་ཤང་། gung lung shang
Nyigo Township 尼果乡 Níguǒ xiāng ཉི་སྒོ་ཤང་། nyi sgo shang
Riwoqê Township 日吾其乡 Rìwúqí xiāng རི་བོ་ཆེ་ཤང་། ri bo che shang
Dobê Township 多白乡 Duōbái xiāng མདོ་སྤེ་ཤང་། mdo spe shang
Kairag Township 切热乡 Qiērè xiāng གད་རགས་ཤང་། gad rags shang
Qu'og Township 秋窝乡 Qiūwō xiāng ཆུ་འོག་ཤང་། chu 'og shang
Dagyu Township 达居乡 Dájū xiāng རྟ་རྒྱུད་ཤང་། stag rgyud shang
Yagmo Township 亚木乡 Yàmù xiāng ཡག་མོ་ཤང་། yag mo shang

Landmarks and monasteries

edit

The Chung Riwoche Stupa is located on the north bank of the Brahmaputra. "A narrow iron bridge spans the river here, alongside an original iron-chain footbridge attributed to Tangtong Gyelpo,"[2] the founder of Tibetan opera, who was born in Ngamring County. "Legend has it that the iron chain bridge over the Xiongqoi River ... was built with funds collected by Tongdong Gyaibo through performances."[5][6]

Another point of interest is the Ralung Chutse hot spring, which has camping and a guest house.[2]

Zangzang Lhadrak Cave in Ngamring County was where Padmasambhava hid the "Northern Treasures," which consisted of "a number of texts and various sacred objects in a maroon leather casket." These texts and objects were removed in 1366 by Vidyadhara Gödem, and became known as the Dzö Nga (mdzod lnga) or Five Treasuries. The "Northern Treasures" were taught at the Dorje Drak Monastery, and include the Künzang Gongpa Zangtha teachings, a collection of Dzogchen instructions.[7]

Ngamring Monastery[8] or Ngamring Chöde (Wylie: ngam ring chos sde[9] ) produced many important scholars.[10] It was founded in 1225 as a Sakya monastery when "the Ngamring ruler Drakpa Dar (Grags pa dar), also known as Yöntsun (Yon btsun), invited the Sakya master Shākya Sengé (Shākya seng ge) to Ngamring and founded the monastery there."[11]

It was later expanded by the governor Tai En Namkha Tenpa (Ta'i dben Nam mkha' brtan pa, b. 1316) with the assistance of his teacher, the Omniscient Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (Dol po pa Shes rab rgyal mtshan, 1292-1361).[11]

The monastery also followed the Jonang and Bodongpa traditions. It became a Gelugpa monastery at the time of the 5th Dalai Lama. "Tangtong Gyalpo's teacher Ka Ngapa Paljor Sherab (Bka' lnga pa Dpal 'byor shes rab) was the ninth abbot."[11]

Transport

edit

Notable persons

edit
  • Thang Tong Gyalpo (1385–1464 or 1361–1485), builder of iron bridges and father of Tibetan opera
edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Tibet: Prefectures, Cities, Districts and Counties
  2. ^ a b c "Ngamring County". TibetMaster. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
  3. ^ Map of locations in Namling County, China Tibet Information Center
  4. ^ Croddy, E. (2022). China’s Provinces and Populations: A Chronological and Geographical Survey. Springer International Publishing. p. 698. ISBN 978-3-031-09165-0. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  5. ^ "Xigaze". China Tibet Information Center. Archived from the original on 2013-10-20. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
  6. ^ Stearns, Cyrus; Gyur-med-bde-chen, Lo-chen (2007). King of the empty plain: the Tibetan iron-bridge builder Tangtong Gyalpo. Tsadra Foundation series. Ithaca, N.Y: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 9781559392754.
  7. ^ "History of the Künzang Gongpa Zangthal Transmissions". Mindrolling International. 2010-04-26. Archived from the original on 2013-10-20. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
  8. ^ pinyin: Angren si
  9. ^ pinyin: Angren Qude si Gelu pai simiao - Angren Quede si I, II
  10. ^ For information about the debate between Bodong Chögle Namgyel (Bo dong Phyogs las rnam rgyal; 1376-1451) of the Bodong school and the Sakya scholar Khedrub Je Geleg Pelsang (mkhas grub rje dge legs dpal bzang; 1358-1438), see: Monika Schrempf (editor): Soundings in Tibetan medicine (Leiden 2007) and Bstan-'dzin-rgya-mtsho (Dalai Lama XIV), Jeffrey Hopkins: Kālachakra tantra: rite of initiation : for the stage of generation (1999).
  11. ^ a b c Chakzampa Thangtong Gyalpo Chakzampa Thangtong Gyalpo: Architect, Philosopher and Iron Chain Bridge Builder. Manfred Gerner. Translated by Gregor Verhufen. (2007). Center for Bhutan Studies. ISBN 99936-14-39-4.
edit