Qamdo

　　Qamdo Prefecture possesses a strategic geographical position. With a broad land and relatively large population, it is regarded as the East Gate of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Situated between 93 6 -99 2 east longitude and 28 5 -32 6 north latitude, it faces Dege, Baiyu, Shiqu and Batang counties of Sichuan Province across the river to the east, borders Deqen County of Yunnan Province to the southeast, neighbors the Nyingchi Prefecture to the southwest, links with the Nagqu Prefecture to the northwest and joins the Yushu Prefecture of Qinghai Province to the north. It covers a total area of 110,000 square km, accounting for 8.9 percent of Tibet's total. Now it administers 11 counties: Qamdo, Gyamda, Gongjo, Riwoqe, Dingqen, Chagyab, Baxoi, Zogang, Mangkang, Lhorong and Palbar (Yanjing, Senda, Togba and Bitug have been approved by the State Council, but haven't been set up yet), 13 districts, nine towns, 168 townships (including nine towns) and 1,622 administrative villages. Twenty-one ethnic groups including Tibetan, Han (Chinese), Hui, Zhuang, Naxi, Lhoba, Monba and Bai live here. The total population is over 550,000, of which 98.26 percent are Tibetan.

Snowy mountains in east Tibet

　　The Qamdo Prefecture has an average altitude of over 3,500 meters, with a unique topography and wonderful landscapes. It is in the plateau continental climate zone. The terrain lowers down from northwest to southeast, and the valley deepens from north to south. The mountains in the northwest are integrated, creating wide plateaus in the watershed area; while the hills and valleys are more frequently found in the south, and the mountains become more precipitous, and the river valleys deeper. The mountain body is divided into many parts. Most of the peaks are way above the snow line, the highest of which is the Nyainqentanglha on the border of Palbar rising to 6,956 meters. Divided by the three-river water system, the Qamdo Prefecture forms a multi-layer plateau, with a complicated geomorphologic structure, different topographies, climate types and plant growing environments. The average annual sunshine is 2,100-2,700 hours, and the non-frost period ranges from 46 to 162 days. Here one can find broad and rich pastures, undulating farmland, endless forests on peaks, abundant minerals, water and solar energy, diversified wide fauna and flora and sub-tropical scenes. Here the mountains, water, trees, birds, beasts, insects, fish, flowers and grass prosper together, forming a beautiful, varied, tranquil, primitive and magnificent picture of nature.

Resource Advantages

　　Among the high Hengduan Mountains and deep valleys grow many kinds of plants and live countless precious wild animals. Foreign experts said the Hengduan Mountains are one of the centers with the most fauna and flora in the world. Statistics from relevant departments show there are 17 species of first-grade national priority protection animals and 54 species second-grade national priority protection animals and another 400 species of common animals in the Qamdo Prefecture. Also, there are over 1,000 species of high-grade plants. What should be noted are the two wild animal protection areas at prefectural level. The nature reserve of Yunnan snubnosed monkeys in Mangkang covers an area of 1,853 square km. Of the 1,000 Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys existing in the world today, 600 now live in the Mangkang nature reserve. Besides the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, another 59 wild animals subjugated to State or regional protection also find their homes here. There are also over 100 commonly seen animals. The Changmao nature reserve of red deer in Riwoqe has a total area of 637 square km and houses nearly 30 species of wild animals at national or regional priority protection levels. Wild red deer number over 1,000. To tame the red deer, the first natural taming field of red deer in Tibet was set up as early as in the 1970s in the prairie leading to Nadaintong.

Forests in southeast Tibet

In the Zhojor Mountain about 40 km away from Qamdo, German experts discovered ancient cypresses in a large area. The study shows these cypresses are about 1,200 years old. They are of great significance to the research of climate and biological development at that time. In 1976, the ancient vertebrate animal group under the comprehensive investigation team of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with the Chinese Academy of Sciences unearthed five places with dinosaur fossils in the Daye Township of Qamdo County, which filled Tibet's blank in this field and provided precious material for the study of the geographical and climatic conditions in ancient Qamdo.
　　Because of its special geographical structure, Qamdo has formed a rich nonferrrous metal zone. There are over 70 minerals that have been verified by geological departments including gold, silver, bronze, iron, chromium, molybdenum, uranium, cobalt, arsenic, coal, crystal stone, Iceland spar, jade and limestone. The Yulong bronze mine in Gyamda has been recently verified to have a deposit of 6.5 million tons. The quality of the bronze is high, accompanied by certain amounts of gold, silver, molybdenum and iron. It is one of the largest bronze mines in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The Machala coalmine has proven to have a recent deposit of 1.7 million tons. The salt deposits of the Yozha mine in Zogang are over 400 million tons. The arsenic deposit of the Wolho mine in Qamdo totals 280,000 tons. The Laoran gold mine in Mangkang also has rich deposits.
　　The Jinshajiang, Lancangjiang and Nujiang rivers all go through Qamdo Prefecture. The annual flow capacity is about 38.9 billion cubic meters. Counting other rivers, the annual flow capacity in Qamdo is over 40 billion cubic meters. Usable water resources cna produce 40 million kW of power.
The forest area is about 2.6 million hectares. Over 20 species of trees with a high economic value, incluidng spruce, fir, Nepal camphor tree, Tibetan red fir, Apline pine and birch, are mainly scattered in the upper section of the Hengduan Mountains and middle and upper ranges of the Nujiang River. The storage volume of wood is 167 million cubic meters and the forest coverage rate is 23.9 percent.
　　Of the 1,200 kinds of plants, 750 are medicinal materials, mainly including rhizome of wind-weed, bulb of fritillary, rhubarb, Chinese angelica, dangshen and pseudoginseng. Some precious medicines enjoy a good reputation in eastern Tibet, and throughout the country. The prefecture also has certain production capacity of wild animal medicines such as musk, pilose antler and cow bezoar. The Chinese caterpillar fungas produced in Qamdo, in particular, are famous both at home and abroad. The annual production is 10,000 to 15,000 kg.
　　Livestock products are also abundant. The whole prefecture has a total of 3.53 million domestic animals. The annual number of animals. The annual number of animals for sale is 450,000. The pasture can provide 400,000 pieces of animal skins, 26 million kg of beef and mutton, 2.5 million kg of butter and over 100 tons of cashmere each year.