Sêrxü County

Sêrxü County (Tibetan: སེར་ཤུལ་རྫོང་།; Chinese: 石渠县), also known as Sershul, Dzachuka, Serxu, or Shiqu is a county of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the northwest of Sichuan Province, China, bordering Qinghai to the west and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the southwest.

Geography

Sêrxü (sershul) County is situated at the northwest corner of Sichuan province, and is also the westernmost county-level division of the province. Its area is approximately 25,000 km², mainly covered by grasslands. The average elevation is 4,200 m above sea level.

The area is predominantly covered by grasslands used for nomadic herding. The population is around 68,000, 96% of whom are ethnic Tibetan.

By the end of 1997, there was an estimated livestock population of 581,470. These were mainly yaks, sheep, goats, and horses, but there was a small number of pigs. The human population of Shiqu County was approximately 63,400, 96.8% of which were ethnic Tibetans. There were 49,100 herdsmen, representing 77.6% of the population.

Sershul District villages include: Ariksar, Bumser, Changma, Dezhongma, Dzagyel, Geming, Gotsa, Junyung, Jowo, Kabshi, Kilung, Kyewu, Sershul Gompa, Serxu Dzong, Shaksa, Tromsa Genma, Tseboum Soumdo, Tsemkhog, Ombo and Wathul.

Sershul District has several monasteries, including: Ju Mohar, Sershul Monastery, Bumser Gonpo, Ariksar, Dzagyel, Changma, Trikar, Kabshi and Jowo; and the Gsumge Mani Stone Castle, a religious complex built out of mani stone tablets.

Administrative divisions

Sêrxü County is divided into 7 towns and 14 townships:

Demographics

The population of the district was 62,408 inhabitants in 1999.

There are about 52,660 nomads in the district, or 77.6% of the population.

Climate

Sêrxü County has an alpine climate (Köppen ETH) with short, mild and rainy summers, frigid and dry winters and a large diurnal temperature range in all seasons. Mean minima are below freezing for eight months of the year and frosts occur even in summer, whilst at the depth of winter mean minima approach −20 °C or −4 °F and can reach −30 °C or −22 °F.