Purang Town

Purang[3][4] or Burang, known as Puhreng in Tibetan (Tibetan: སྤུ་ཧྲེང་གྲོང་བརྡལ, Wylie: spu hreng grong rdal, THL: pu hreng drong del,[5] IPA: puʂeŋ), (Nepali:ताक्लाकोट) is a town which serves as the administrative center of Purang County, Ngari Prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), China.[6] The town lies at an altitude of 3,900m (12,795 feet) in the valley of the Karnali River.[7] The town spans an area of 3,257.81 square kilometres (1,257.85 sq mi),[1] and has a permanent population 6,047 as of 2010,[2] and a hukou population of 4,477 as of 2018.[1] To the south are Gurla Mandhata (Mount Namonanyi) and the Abi Gamin ranges. Lake Manasarovar and Mount Kailash are to the north. This region is the mythological and actual river nexus of the Himalaya with sources of the Indus, Ganges and Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra all within 110 kilometres (70 mi) of Purang.

Purang
  • སྤུ་ཧྲེང་གྲོང་བརྡལ
  • 普兰镇
Puhreng, Burang
Town
Purang County Health Service Center located in Purang Town
Purang County Health Service Center located in Purang Town
Purang is located in Ngari
Purang
Purang
Location within Tibet Autonomous Region
Coordinates (Purang Town government): 30°17′10″N 81°10′37″E
CountryPeople's Republic of China
Autonomous regionTibet
PrefectureNgari
CountyPurang
Area
[1]
 • Total3,257.81 km2 (1,257.85 sq mi)
Elevation
3,900 m (13,205 ft)
Population
 (2010)[2]
 • Total6,047
 • Density1.9/km2 (4.8/sq mi)
 • Major Nationalities
Tibetan
 • Regional dialect
Tibetan language
Time zoneUTC+8 (CST)
Purang Town
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese普兰镇
Traditional Chinese普蘭鎮
Tibetan name
Tibetanསྤུ་ཧྲེང་གྲོང་བརྡལ

Etymology

The Tibetan name of the town (spu hreng) is a corruption of the Zhang-zhung words pu hrang, meaning 'horse head'. Nepalese call the town Taklakot from Tibetan 'Takla Khar' (Tibetan: སྟག་ལ་མཁར།, Wylie: stag la mkhar, THL: Takla Khar). Takla Khar means Tiger Hill Castle, which is the name of a historic Zhang-zhung fortress in the county.[8]

Saryu Karnali River's Peacock Mouth[9] source is glaciers on the northern slopes of the Himalaya 50 kilometres (30 mi) NW of Purang. The Lion Mouth source of the Indus is 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Mount Kailash and the Elephant Mouth is the source of the Sutlej. Lake Manasarovar is just 2 km from few of the Sarayu heads, and has an ephemeral connection to Rakshastal. The Horse Mouth source of the Yarlung Tsanpo (Brahmaputra) is about 90 km. (55 mi.) SE of Lake Manasarovar.

History and religion

Purang is an ancient trading post. Indian and Nepali communities residing in the mountainous parts of India and Nepal bordering the Purang county have for many generations conducted trade with Tibetan communities at Purang. But the conditions under which this trade presently happens are significantly different from those prevailing before the mid-twentieth century.[10] The government of Nepal issues special border area passes to its citizens who are bona-fide residents of the border district of Humla, which enables them to seek seasonal work in Purang.[11]

On a cliff above the town was the large ancient fort of Tegla Kar (Lying Tiger Fort) and Simbiling Monastery (both totally destroyed in 1967 by Chinese artillery during the Cultural Revolution, but the monastery has since been partially restored). Beneath them is the Tsegu Gompa or the "Nine-Storey Monastery" which was probably originally a Bön establishment.[12] Tsegu covers many terraces and may be reached by ladders, and contains many unique and ancient wall-painting, darkened from centuries of smoke.[13] It seems that the Tegla kar (Lying Tiger fort) was built during the Zhangzhung dynasty which was conquered by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo in the early 7th century CE. It became the main fort of the Purang Kingdom, in the 10th century under King Kori, one of the two sons of Tashi Gon, King of the Guge Kingdom. The Purang kingdom is believed to have ended in the 15th century. In addition, Purang is said to be the place where Sudhana, a previous incarnation of the Buddha, lived.[14]

Purang is the gateway town for travel to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar to the north. These are important destinations for Bon, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and even New Age pilgrims. Traditional cosmology designates Mount Kailash the center of the universe. Great religious merit is attributed to parikrama around the mountain, and to bathing in Lake Manasarovar.

Administrative divisions

The town is divided into six village-level divisions:[15][2]

  • Kyitang/Jirang Community (Tibetan: སྐྱིད་ཐང, Chinese: 吉让社区)
  • Toyo/Doyou (Tibetan: སྟོད་ཡོད, Chinese: 多油村)
  • Rikug/Rengong (Tibetan: རི་ཁུག, Chinese: 仁贡村)
  • Zhidé/Xide (Tibetan: ཞི་བདེ།, Chinese: 西德村)
  • Khorchak/Kejia (Tibetan: འཁོར་ཆགས, Chinese: 科迦村), and
  • Tridé/Chide (Tibetan: ཁྲི་སྡེ, Chinese: 赤德村)

The town's government is seated in the Jirang Neighborhood Committee.[2]

Demographics

As of 2018, the town has a hukou population of 4,477.[1]

Per the 2010 Chinese Census, the town has a permanent population of 6,047, up from 5,026 in the 2000 Chinese Census.[6]

A 1996 estimate placed the town's population at 4,700.[6]

Transport

Road

National Road S207 begins in Purang, heading NE 65 kilometres (40 mi) past Lake Rakshastal and Manasarovar to China National Highway 219.

Border crossings

Purang is near the borders with India and Nepal. A road leads some 56 kilometres (35 mi) down the Karnali River to the border crossing at the village of Xie'erwa (Tibetan: Sher) into Hilsa in Nepal (Humla District, Karnali Zone) where a historic trail and now a rough motor road continuing to Simikot. There is also a border crossing into India (Pithoragarh district, Uttarakhand State) over Lipulekh Pass.

Geography and climate

Purang has a cold arid climate (Köppen BWk), with long, cold winters and mild summers. The normal monthly mean temperature ranges from −7.6 °C (18.3 °F) in January to 14.4 °C (57.9 °F) in July, and the annual mean is 3.64 °C (38.6 °F). Annual precipitation is only around 150 mm (5.9 in).

Climate data for Burang, 3,900 m (12,795 ft) amsl (1981−2010 normals)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 0.2
(32.4)		 1.2
(34.2)		 5.2
(41.4)		 10.1
(50.2)		 14.9
(58.8)		 19.2
(66.6)		 21.3
(70.3)		 20.7
(69.3)		 17.9
(64.2)		 12.2
(54.0)		 7.7
(45.9)		 3.6
(38.5)		 11.2
(52.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) −7.6
(18.3)		 −6.2
(20.8)		 −2.0
(28.4)		 2.9
(37.2)		 7.6
(45.7)		 12.1
(53.8)		 14.4
(57.9)		 13.9
(57.0)		 10.8
(51.4)		 4.1
(39.4)		 −1.1
(30.0)		 −5.2
(22.6)		 3.6
(38.5)
Average low °C (°F) −14.2
(6.4)		 −12.8
(9.0)		 −8.4
(16.9)		 −3.2
(26.2)		 1.3
(34.3)		 5.9
(42.6)		 8.8
(47.8)		 8.4
(47.1)		 4.7
(40.5)		 −2.7
(27.1)		 −8.2
(17.2)		 −12.1
(10.2)		 −2.7
(27.1)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 9.5
(0.37)		 12.4
(0.49)		 20.3
(0.80)		 12.5
(0.49)		 11.1
(0.44)		 7.1
(0.28)		 20.8
(0.82)		 24.4
(0.96)		 14.3
(0.56)		 8.6
(0.34)		 4.0
(0.16)		 5.5
(0.22)		 150.5
(5.93)
Average relative humidity (%) 42 46 47 46 47 51 59 61 56 43 35 35 47
Source: China Meteorological Administration[16]

References
  1. 中国县域统计年鉴·2019（乡镇卷） (in Chinese). Beijing: 中国统计出版社, 国家统计局农村社会经济调查司. May 2020. p. 607. ISBN 9787503791390.
  2. 普兰镇. xzqh.org (in Chinese). 2016-04-05. Archived from the original on 2020-06-17. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  3. Strachey, Physical Geography of Western Tibet (1854), pp. 12–13.
  4. Dorje, Footprint Tibet (1999), p. 328.
  5. "Ngari prefecture". Geographical names of Tibet AR (China). Institute of the Estonian Language. 2018-06-03. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  6. 普兰县概况地图. xzqh.org (in Chinese). 2016-03-01. Archived from the original on 2020-06-17. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  7. "Burang, the Major Border Linking Ngari to Nepal and India". Tibet Travel and Tours - Tibet Vista. Retrieved 2022-08-05.
  8. SHANTI (Sciences, Humanities and Arts Network of Technological Initiatives). "Takla Khar". SHANTI Place Dictionary. University of Virginia. Retrieved 18 February 2022. Takla Khar is a fortress and monastic complex in Kyitang township, Purang county. According to the Bon tradition, a fortress was founded on the hilltop site in the prehistoric Zhang Zhung period.
  9. .Snelling, John. (1990). The Sacred Mountain: The Complete Guide to Tibet's Mount Kailas. 1st edition 1983. Revised and enlarged edition, including: Kailas-Manasarovar Travellers' Guide. Forwards by H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet and Christmas Humphreys, pp. 74, photo on p. 238. East-West Publications, London and The Hague. ISBN 0-85692-173-4.
  10. Pandey, Abhimanyu; Pradhan, Nawraj; Chaudhari, Swapnil; Ghate, Rucha (2017-01-02). "Withering of traditional institutions? An institutional analysis of the decline of migratory pastoralism in the rangelands of the Kailash Sacred Landscape, western Himalayas". Environmental Sociology. 3 (1): 87–100. doi:10.1080/23251042.2016.1272179.
  11. Bubriski, Kevin; Pandey, Abhimanyu (2018). Kailash Yatra: a Long Walk to Mt Kailash through Humla. New Delhi: Penguin Random House. p. 107.
  12. Allen, Charles. (1999) The Search for Shangri-La: A Journey into Tibetan History, p. 55. Little, Brown and Company. Reprint: 2000 Abacus Books, London. ISBN 0-349-11142-1.
  13. Tibet Handbook, p. 351. (1999). Edited by Sarah Thorowgood. Passport Books, Chicago. ISBN 0-8442-2190-2.
  14. Tibet Handbook, p. 350. (1999). Edited by Sarah Thorowgood. Passport Books, Chicago. ISBN 0-8442-2190-2.
  15. Burang Town, National Bureau of Statistics, 2022.
  16. 中国气象数据网 - WeatherBk Data (in Chinese (China)). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 2020-04-21.

Bibliography
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