Shigatse

History

In the 8th century, the Tibetan Empire of King Trisong Detsen invited the Indian monk Padmasambhava into Tibet to build the Samye monastery, and predicted Lhasa as the center of the snowy plateau, followed by Shigatse. In the 11th century, during the Sakya dynasty, Shigatse began urbanization.

In October 1959, Rikaze prefecture was established. In 1970, Rikaze Prefecture was abolished and Rikaze District was established. On 26 June 2014, the State Council of the People's Republic of China abolished the original Rikaze area and established prefecture-level Shigatse city. The original county-level Shigatse city merged into the Sangzhuzi District. This was the second prefecture-level city established in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Prefecture-level Shigatse City was officially established on 18 December 2014.

Population

According to the 2020 Chinese census, the resident population of the city was 798,153. Compared to 703,292 in the 6th Chinese Census, there was a total increase of 94,861 or 13.49% in ten years, with an average annual growth rate of 1.27%. Among them, the male population was 416,384, 52.17% of the total, while the female population was 381,769, or 47.83%. The sex ratio of the total population (100 females) was 109.07. The population aged 0–14 years was 209,900, accounting for 26.3% of the total; the population aged 15–59 years was 516,838, accounting for 64.75% of the total; and the population aged 60 years and above was 71,415, accounting for 8.95% of the total. 44,772 were aged 65 and above, accounting for 5.61% of the total. The population living in towns and cities was 184,323, or 23.09% of the total, while the population living in villages was 613,830, or 76.91% of the total.

Ethnicity

Of the city's resident population, 42,501, or 5.32%, were Han Chinese; 748,443, or 93.77%, were Tibetans; and 7,209, or 0.9%, were other ethnic minorities. Compared with the 2010 Chinese Census, the Han population increased by 16,691, or 64.67%, and accounted for 1.66 percentage points of the total population; the populations of various ethnic minorities increased by 78,170, or 11.54%, and accounted for 1.66 percentage points of the total population. Among them, the Tibetan population increased by 76,779, an increase of 11.43%, accounting for a decrease of 1.73 percentage points in the proportion of the total population.According to the population sample survey, the total resident population of the city by the end of 2024 will be 814,500. Among them, the urban population is 203,600, accounting for 25% of the resident population.

Transport

Rail

The Lhasa–Shigatse Railway connects Shigatse Railway Station with Lhasa and further connects with Qinghai via Qinghai–Tibet Railway. It takes about three hours to travel between Lhasa and Shigatse by train. It is possible to get back to Lhasa within the same day by train.

Air

Shigatse Peace Airport began operations on 30 October 2010 after an Airbus A319 landed safely, making it Tibet's fifth commercial airport. It is 43 kilometres from Samzhubzê District at Jangdam Township at an elevation of 3,782 metres. The airport sees about 230,000 passengers annually.

Shigatse Tingri Airport opened in 2022.

Road

China National Highway 318 and China National Highway 219 are the main roads in and out of Shigatse.

Administrative divisions

Climate

Shigatse has an elevation-influenced monsoonal humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dwb, Trewartha Dclo) When using the −3 °C (27 °F) isotherm, Shigatse has a subtropical highland climate (Köppen climate classification: Cwb, Trewartha Dolo).