Tibet, a rich and beautiful land,
is located at the main part of Qinghai-Tibet plateau,
south-West frontier of China. Tibet borders with
Sichuan, Yuannan, Qinghai And Xinjiang; to the south
contiguous to India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Burma,
and bounded by Kashmir on the west.
When the word Tibet is mentioned something icy chills
the readers' nerves. In fact it snows only once or twice
in a year and owing to the perpetuity of bright
sunshine, it is not at all cold during the daytime even
in the coldest of the winter. Tibet is so sunny that it
produces a year-round sunshine of over 3,000 hours in a
year. Its old name-"land of snow" - the name by which
Tibet is almost popularly known as, is always thickly
covered with snow with hardly any signs Of inhabitation.
In fact, it is correct only when it is referred to the
world greatest ranges located in Ima, the Tisi, and
like. These ranges, run by leaps and bounds across the
country showing their beautiful snow covered peaks
against the bluest of skies.
Geographically, Tibet can be divided into three major
parts, the east, north and south. The eastern part is
forest region, occupying approximately one-fourth of the
land. Virgin forests run The entire breadth and length
of this part of Tibet. The northern part is open
grassland, where nomads and yak and sheep dwell here.
This part occupies approximately half of Tibet. The
southern and central part is agricultural region,
occupying about one-fourth of Tibet's land area. with
all major Tibetan cities and towns such as Lhasa,
Shigatse, Gyantse ad Tsetang located in this area, it is
considered the cultural center of Tibet. The total area
of the Tibet Autonomous Region is 1,200,000 square
kilometers and its population is 1,890,000. The region
is administratively divided into one municipality and
six prefectures. The municipality is Lhasa, while the
six prefectures are Shigatse, Ngari, Lhaoka, Chamdo,
Nakchu and Nyingtri (kongpo). The People's Government of
the Tibet Autonomous Region exercises the highest
administrative authority in Tibet. |
