Songpan County
Songpan County
松潘县 ཟུང་ཆུ་ | |
|---|---|
 The Huanglong terraces | |
.png) Location of Songpan County (red) within Ngawa Prefecture (yellow) and Sichuan | |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Province | Sichuan |
| Prefecture | Ngawa |
| County seat | Jin'an (进安镇) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 8,608 km2 (3,324 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 2,867 m (9,406 ft) |
| Population (2002) | |
| • Total | 67,972 |
| • Density | 7.9/km2 (20/sq mi) |
| • Major nationalities | Tibetan Han Qiang |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard) |
| Postal code | 623300 |
| Area code | 0837 |
Songpan (Chinese: 松潘; pinyin: Sōngpān; Tibetan: ཟུང་ཆུ་, Wylie: zung chu, ZYPY: Sungqu) is a county of northwestern Sichuan province, China, and is one of the 13 counties administered by the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. It has an area of 8,608 square kilometres (3,324 sq mi), and a population of approximately 68,000 composed of Tibetan, Qiang, Han and Hui populations.
Transport
Economy and Tourism
The economy of Songpan is dominated by agriculture and livestock raising. In recent years, tourism has become an increasingly important sector, and is actively promoted by the authorities. Apart from the scenic attraction of Huanglong which is located in the county, Songpan with its strategic location also acts as the gateway to Jiuzhaigou Valley at the north.
History
The ancient city of Songpan was built during Tang Dynasty and it was later rebuilt during Ming Dynasty. Songpan was an important military post. It was also an important economic and trading center for horse and tea exchange between Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai and Tibet. In August 1935, led by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the retreating Chinese Communist Army marched through the marshes on the plateau of Songpan to advance to the north western province.
While Songpan can be a charming city in its own right, the countryside surrounding the city offers a variety of tourist attractions. The hills surrounding the city are visual delights of Tibetan cattle herders leading their livestock over rolling grasses, endless valleys, and generally beautiful landscape. All of this can be seen through affordable horseback riding outlets on the outskirts of the city.
Geography and climate
Songpan covers latitudes 32° 06′−33° 09′ N and longitudes 102° 38′−104° 15′ E, and has a total area of 8,608 square kilometres (3,324 sq mi). Neighbouring counties are Pingwu to the east, Beichuan to the southeast, Mao to the south, Hongyuan and Heishui to the southwest, and Jiuzhaigou and Zoigê to the north.
Due to its altitude, Songpan has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dwb), with cool winters and warm, rainy summers. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −4.0 °C (24.8 °F) in January to 14.4 °C (57.9 °F) in July, and the annual mean is 5.87 °C (42.6 °F). The high elevation also results in a large diurnal temperature variation, exceeding 17 °C (31 °F) in winter. More than 70% of the 733 mm (28.9 in) of annual precipitation occurs from May to September. There are 1,831 hours of bright sunshine annually.
| Climate data for Songpan County (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 6.4 (43.5) |
8.4 (47.1) |
11.7 (53.1) |
15.0 (59.0) |
17.7 (63.9) |
19.9 (67.8) |
22.1 (71.8) |
22.2 (72.0) |
18.1 (64.6) |
14.3 (57.7) |
10.6 (51.1) |
7.4 (45.3) |
14.5 (58.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −10.8 (12.6) |
−7.9 (17.8) |
−3.3 (26.1) |
0.6 (33.1) |
4.4 (39.9) |
7.6 (45.7) |
9.2 (48.6) |
8.5 (47.3) |
6.5 (43.7) |
2.1 (35.8) |
−4.5 (23.9) |
−9.6 (14.7) |
0.2 (32.4) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 6.5 (0.26) |
11.7 (0.46) |
33.7 (1.33) |
62.7 (2.47) |
107.7 (4.24) |
123.1 (4.85) |
101.2 (3.98) |
84.0 (3.31) |
115.5 (4.55) |
70.4 (2.77) |
11.9 (0.47) |
4.2 (0.17) |
732.6 (28.86) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 6.0 | 8.1 | 13.5 | 17.2 | 20.4 | 21.7 | 18.5 | 15.4 | 19.1 | 17.9 | 6.4 | 4.1 | 168.3 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 51 | 53 | 59 | 63 | 67 | 72 | 74 | 73 | 75 | 72 | 61 | 53 | 64 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 169.0 | 148.4 | 160.5 | 163.3 | 159.3 | 136.8 | 153.3 | 164.8 | 113.5 | 129.6 | 157.0 | 175.6 | 1,831.1 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 53 | 48 | 43 | 42 | 37 | 32 | 35 | 40 | 31 | 37 | 50 | 57 | 41 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration | |||||||||||||
See also
Gallery
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Street peddlers in Songpan, 2002 -
Street peddlers in Songpan, 2002 -
Songpan Bridge
External links
