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Gyirong County

Gyirong County
吉隆县སྐྱིད་གྲོང་རྫོང་།
County
Gyirong welcome.JPG
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Location of Gyirong County within Tibet
Location of Gyirong County within Tibet
Gyirong County is located in Tibet
Gyirong County
Gyirong County
Location in Tibet
Coordinates: 28°51′16″N 85°17′48″E / 28.85444°N 85.29667°E / 28.85444; 85.29667Coordinates: 28°51′16″N 85°17′48″E / 28.85444°N 85.29667°E / 28.85444; 85.29667
Country China
Province Tibet
Prefecture-level city Xigazê
Capital Zongga
Time zone China Standard (UTC+8)

sKyid-grong (Gyirong, Kyirong, Tibetan: སྐྱིད་གྲོང་, Wylie: sKyid-grong, Chinese: 吉隆县; Pinyin: Jílóng Xiàn) is a former district (རྫོང་, rDzong) in the south-west of Tibet and is from 1960 onwards a county of the newly established Xigazê of the newly established Tibet Autonomous Region. It is famous because of its mild climatically conditions and its abundant vegetation which is unusual for the Tibetan plateau. The capital lies at Zongga. Its name in Tibetan, Dzongka means "mud walls".

It is one of the four counties that comprise the Qomolangma National Nature Preserve (Gyirong, Dinggyê, Nyalam, and Tingri).

Up to 1960 one of the main trade routes between Nepal and Tibet passed through this region. Easily accessible from Nepal, it was used several times as an entrance gate for military actions from the site of Nepal against Tibet.

In 1945 Peter Aufschnaiter counted 26 temples and monasteries which covered the area of sKyid-grong and the neighboring La-sdebs. The most famous temple of sKyid-grong is the Byams-sprin lha-khang, erected by the famous Tibetan king Srong-btsan sgam-po (Songtsän Gampo) as one of the four Yang-´dul temples in the 7th century A.D. During the 11th century the famous Indian scholar Atisha visited sKyi-grong. sKyid-grong was one of the favorite meditation places of the Tibetan Yogin Mi-la ras-pa (Milarepa).

The local dialect of sKyid-grong has been researched thoroughly and folk literature of this region was collected and published during the 1980s.

Of outstanding importance are the Byams-sprin lha-khang temple, which was built in the 7th century A. D., and the ´Phags-pa lha-khang temple. The ´Phags-pa lha-khang formerly contained one of the holiest Avalokiteshvara statues of Tibet, the statue of the Ārya Va-ti bzang-po. This statue was brought to India in 1959 and is now kept in Dharamsala.


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