Tanggula Town is an administrative unit that occupies in the southwestern corner of Qinghai province. It borders on the Tibet Autonomous Region in the south and west, and on Qinghai's Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the east and north. The western "panhandle" of Yushu Prefecture separates Tanggula Town from the rest of Haixi Prefecture, making it an exclave of Golmud City and of the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Tanggula Town is around away both from the central city of Golmud and from the town of Gyêgu, the seat of Yushu Prefecture, but it has practical road connection only with the former. The Tanggula settlement, also known as Marquwo, Tuotuoheyan, or Togtogquwo, is located at above sea level in the central part of Tanggula Mountains, as the town's name indicates. The most famous local feature is the Geladaindong Peak, near which the source of the Yangtze River is considered to be located. The area around the peak is protected as part of the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve. The main settlement is located near the highway and railway crossing of the Tuotuo River, which is one of the headwaters of the Yangtze. This settlement is served by the Togtogquwo railway station. Other settlements in the same highway/railway corridor, further south, are Tongtian Heyan, Yanshiping, Wenquan, and Tanggula Bingzhan. Tanggula Town is administratively divided into 8 village-level units. The region is sparsely populated, with the registered population of 1,286 and the present population estimated at about 1,900. Most of these people live in several small villages located along the Golmud-Lhasa highway and railway corridor. wetland conservation zone, around the mountain peak of the same name 188 local residents are members of the Communist Party of China. At Tanggula Pass on the southern border of the province, the railway leaves Qinghai for Tibet, and therefore the Tanggula railway station, which is located a short distance south of the pass, is actually outside of Tanggula Town, and is already within the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Climate
Tanggulashan has a tundra climate with long, frigid, very dry winters and short, cool, less dry summers.
Economy
The traditional occupation of the local residents is livestock breeding. According to the local authorities in Golmud, overgrazing is a concern in the area, as it is throughout the southwestern Qinghai. Projects are underway to restrict grazing in some areas, and to reduce the livestock population in Tanggula Town to what is thought to be the "scientifically sound" target of 53,600. Besides overgrazing by livestock, the local pasture land also suffers depredation by rats. After some attempts to poison them, in 2009 the local authorities started a campaign to attract birds of prey to the area, hoping that they would help to keep the rat population under control. For this purpose, 830 bird perches were erected in the affected areas. In 2007, it was reported that a factory producing traditional Tibetan carpets opened in the area, employing about 80 people.
