Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

Chinese
pic=Location of Yushu Prefecture within Qinghai (China).pngpicc

tib=ཡུལ་ཤུལ་བོ
ད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱ
ོང་ཁུལ་
wylie=Yul-shul Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul
t=玉樹藏族自治州
s=玉树藏族自治州
p=Yùshù Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu

Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in Qinghai. The prefecture has an area of 188,794 km² and its capital is Gyêgu township ("Gyêgu Zhen") in Yushu county, which is the place of the old Tibetan trade mart of Jyekundo (Gyêgu).The area belongs to the cultural realm of Kham in eastern Tibet.

Economics

Agricultural, trees, wheat, millet.

Population

Ethnic groups in Yushu, 2005 Yushu Statistical Yearbook [Yushu Zangzu Zizhizhou Tongjiju [Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Statistics Bureau] : Yushu Tongjiju Nianjian 2005 [Yushu Statistical Yearbook 2005] , Yushu 2006]

This statistics only includes the registered population, not the floating population which is estimated at about 50-60,000 for the entire prefecture.

ubdivisions

The prefecture is subdivided into 6 county-level divisions: 6 counties:

History and Traditional Culture

MonasticismYushu prefecture is rich in Buddhist monasteries. Being a constituent of the former Nangchen kingdom, the area was, for most of the time, not under domination by the Dalai Lama’s Gelugpa order in Lhasa. The different balance of power in this part of Kham enabled the older Tibetan Buddhist orders to prevail in Yushu. Of the 195 pre-1958 lamaseries only 23 belonged to the Gelugpa.

An overwhelming majority of more than 100 monasteries followed and still follow the teachings of the various Kagyüpa schools, with some of their sub-sects only found in this part of Tibet. The Sakyapa were and are also strong in Yushu, with many of their 32 monasteries being among the most significant in Kham. The Nyingmapa’s monastic institutions amount to about the same number, while the Bönpo are only met with in one lamasery they share with the Nyingmapa.

Prior to collectivization in 1958, the entire monastic population of present-day Yushu TAP amounted to more than 25,000 Buddhist monks and nuns, with approximately 300 incarnate lamas among them. On the average about three to five per cent of the population were monastic, with a strikingly higher share in Nangqên county, where monks and nuns made up between 12 and 20 % of the community. [Gruschke, op. cit., p. 36.]

References and further reading

* ^[1] Yushu Zangzu Zizhizhou Tongjiju [Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Statistics Bureau] : "Yushu Tongjiju Nianjian 2005" [Yushu Statistical Yearbook 2005] , Yushu 2006
* A. Gruschke: "The Cultural Monuments of Tibet’s Outer Provinces: Kham. Vol. 2 - The Yushu Part of Kham", Bangkok 2005 ISBN 974-480-049-6

External links

* [http://mdokhams.gmxhome.de/mainintro.html The East Tibet Website]
* [http://www.nangchen.org/eng/schedule/place_interest.htm Nangchen historic area]
* [http://kekexili.typepad.com/life_on_the_tibetan_plate/2006/09/yushu_tibet_aut.html Yushu Tibet Autonomous Prefecture]
* [http://www.qh.xinhuanet.com/ysz/index.htm Official Website of the Yushu Tibet Autonomous Prefecture (in Chinese)]

Qinghai