Mêdog

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Location of Mêdog County (pink) and Nyingchi Prefecture (yellow) in the Tibet Autonomous Region in China
Surroundings of Mêdog (Pemako)

Mêdog ( Metog Dzong , Tibetan : མེ་ཏོག་ རྫོང་ , transcription after Wylie : me tog rdzong ), also Motuo ( Chinese  墨脱 县 , Pinyin Mòtuō Xiàn ) or historically called Pemako , is a district in the southeast of the Nyingchi administrative district , im Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China . According to the 2010/2011 census , the district has 10,963 inhabitants. In addition to Tibetans , various ethnic minorities live in Mêdog , for example Monbas , Tshanglas , Khampas , Lhobas . The common language of many locals is tapka .

"Mêdog" means "secret lotus" and stands for "blossom" in the Tibetan language . The region is also referred to as "the island on the plateau " by the inhabitants and has long been considered the most secluded area in China. The average altitude is 1,200 meters. To the west, north and east are the mountain ranges of the Himalayas and Kangri Garpos . In the south the district borders on India .

The main town and seat of the district administration is also called Mêdog; the city is located in a valley at a large bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo, the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra , surrounded by the 7,782 meter high Namjagbarwa and the 4,296 meter high Galongla.

reachability

Bridge over the Yarlung Tsangpo in Mêdog; 2016

Until 2013, Mêdog was the last district without fixed road access in China due to several high mountain ranges . The only way to get to the secluded region used to be on foot through the Himalayan mountains, either via the 4,296 meter high Galongla or the 4,000 meter high Duoxiongla. In addition, gorges had to be crossed using several zip lines and a 200-meter-long suspension bridge.

A first, easy road along the slopes covered by dense subtropical rainforest was built in the 1970s. However, this could mostly only be used in summer, as it was blocked in winter by avalanches, ice and snow, in spring and autumn by debris, high monsoons and heavy groundwater . Many locals lived in poor conditions due to the poor transport connections and earned their living as mountain guides, porters or sherpas . The route from Mêdog (city) via the Galongla alone took four days, with no accommodation or supplies.

In the summer of 2013, the Motuo highway from Bomê to Mêdog (city) was completed, which opened up the last isolated region of Tibet to date. Since then, all cities, counties and municipalities in China have been connected to the national road network. The 117-kilometer road leads through a three-kilometer tunnel through Mount Galongla and is 3,700 meters above sea level.

The nearest airport is Nyingchi Airport at an altitude of 2,949 meters .

history

Foothills of the Dihang gorges at the confluence of the Lhayue Chu and the Yarlung Tsangpo; 2010
Fields at Yarlung Tsangpo; 2011
Upper reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo; 2010

The majority of the indigenous peoples living in the region were without writing until the 20th century. Numerous archaeological finds point to a rich cultural heritage and a very early settlement of the fertile valleys. For a long time, the area was spared territorial battles by neighboring states and only came under the control of the Tibetan Gelug in the late 17th century . The hard-to-reach and mysterious mountain landscape was henceforth considered sacred by Buddhists . The district was assigned to Tibet as an administrative unit and was directed for centuries from Lhasa, around 800 kilometers away .

This Tibetan highland region originally included large parts of today's Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh , historically called Lower Pemako . In the course of the British Tibet campaign , Great Britain annexed an area of ​​around 80,000 km² in the region from 1903 and incorporated this into the crown colony of British India in 1914 on the basis of the Shimla Convention , which was not recognized by China . However, due to the inaccessibility and the almost 100 isolated tribes, the areas could hardly be controlled, so that the Tibetan monastery districts ( Dzong ) remained under the administration of Lhasa.

After India gained independence in 1947, the Indian government tried to officially incorporate the area into India. As a result, the Indo-Chinese border war broke out in 1962 , in the course of which Chinese troops advanced as far as the Assam plain, but then withdrew. In 1972 the area of ​​India received Union Territory status. Arunachal Pradesh has officially been an independent Indian state since February 20, 1987. The border line is still not recognized de jure by the People's Republic of China or the Republic of China (Taiwan) . According to the administrative structure of China, parts of Arunachal Pradesh belong to the Mêdog district of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The disputed area is called Zàngnán (藏 南), "Southern Tibet" in China .

Mêdog has been one of the most important high-mountain tea-growing areas in the Himalayas since 2012 . The region is developing into a popular travel destination among nature lovers due to its lush vegetation, flora and fauna. Mountaineers and backpackers still prefer the old route to Mêdog over the mountains for their arrival and departure. It is considered to be very strenuous and risky. Individual and group trips are possible without any problems, but it is expressly pointed out that hiking trips in the Mêdog area can only be carried out by experienced and trained people (as of 2018).

The Rinchenpung monastery and the Dihang gorges are located in the Mêdog district . The beauty of the deep and long canyons, its remoteness and mystery probably served the famous Shangri-La in the book Lost Horizon by James Hilton as a template for a "pure and hidden land", both geographically and spiritually-religious.

Mêdog fault zone

The circle lies in a seismically active area, the Mêdog fault zone (Motuo fault) ( 墨脱 断裂带 ). It is part of a system of geological faults that are active as a result of the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates . Since 1900, several earthquakes related to this activity have occurred in Mêdog , two of them with a magnitude greater than 7.

The 1950 Medog earthquake had a magnitude of 8.6 and caused the deaths of 1,526 people.

Administrative structure

At the community level, the district is made up of one large community , six communities and one nationality community. These are:

  • Mêdog municipality (墨脱 镇), capital, seat of the district administration;
  • Community Baibung (背崩乡);
  • Community Bangxin (旁辛乡);
  • Dexing Municipality (德兴 乡);
  • Municipality of Gadê (甘 登 乡);
  • Godang Parish (格 当 乡);
  • Qarasa municipality (加热 萨 乡);
  • Community Dagmo the Lhoba (达木珞巴族乡).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ City Population Mòtuō Xiàn , 2010 census , accessed on February 14, 2018
  2. ↑ Honglin He, Eikichi Tsukada: Recent Progresses of Active Fault Research in China. In: Journal of Geography. 112, No. 4, 2003, pp. 489-520.
  3. ↑ a b c d Tibet: tunnel opened through Mount Galongla ; China Internet Information Center, December 16, 2010 , accessed February 14, 2018
  4. ↑ George B. Schaller: Tibet Wild. A Naturalist's Journeys on the Roof of the World. Island Press, 2012, p. 227 f.
  5. ↑ Tibet's transport network is becoming increasingly dense ; China Internet Information Center, August 12, 2015 , accessed February 14, 2018
  6. ↑ Arunachal Pradesh ; Terralaya Travels , accessed February 14, 2018
  7. ↑ Junsheng Nie, Brian K. Horton, Gregory D. Hoke: Uplift Mechanisms and the History of the Tibetan Plateau. Geological Society of America, 2014, p. 24 f.
  8. ↑ Tibet: farmers harvest tea in Mêdog ; germantibetcn, May 18, 2017 ( Memento of February 16, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 14, 2018
  9. ↑ China hiking tours; China Travel Guide 2018 ( Memento from February 16, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 14, 2018
  10. ^ Yarlung Tsangpo River in China. Satellite photo and data ( memento from November 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Honglin He and Eikichi Tsukada: Recent Progresses of Active Fault Research in China. Archived from the original on December 22, 2005. In: Journal of Geography . 112, No. 4, 2003, pp. 489-520. Retrieved May 21, 2008.
  12. ↑ Significant Earthquake: 1950-08-15 India-China. NOAA , accessed March 4, 2010 .

Web links

Coordinates: 29 ° 29 '  N , 95 ° 30'  E