Zayü County


Zayü County is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Nyingchi in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China, bordering India and Burma to the south and Yunnan province to the southeast.
Part of Zayü County is under de facto control of India as part of Arunachal Pradesh, which was the casus belli for the 1962 Sino-Indian War.

Geography and climate

Zayü County is located in an area of highly varying topography, lying just south of the Tibetan Plateau in the mountainous region east of the Himalayas where the Transhimalayas transition to the Hengduan Mountains. Specifically, Zayü straddles the southern parts of the Baxoila Range, the eastern parts of the Kangri Garpo mountains, and the eastern parts of the Mishmi Hills. Elevations generally decrease from northwest to southeast, with a maximal variation of : in the county, areas near the southern border have an elevation of, while there are 10 peaks over, the highest being Kawagarbo in the Meili Xue Shan at. The county has an average elevation of. The primary rivers are the Zayü River through the central parts of the county and Nu River in the east.
The county has an area of. Besides India, Burma, and Yunnan, Zayü borders Zogang County to the north and Mêdog County to the southwest.
Owing to its moderate elevation, Zayü has a subtropical highland climate, a rarity in Tibet, with mild and quite dry winters, and warm, rainy summers. The rainy season lasts from March to September, and June through August each average more than 20 days of rainfall per month. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from in January to in July, and the annual mean is. The frost-free period is 280 days annually. Here, the diurnal temperature range is not large, maxing out at in November. Its climate is well-suited to support a variety of agricultural and forestry products.

Environment

The central parts of Zayü County contain a large isolated section of the Northeastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests throughout the Zayü River valley and its tributaries. The highland areas of Zayü contain Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows. The eastern parts of the county are classified as Nujiang Langcang Gorge alpine conifer and mixed forests. There are, however, extremely dry areas within the Nu Valley in Zayü that support mostly succulents.

Administrative divisions

Zayü County has administration over three towns and three townships:
There are also numerous villages scattered throughout the valleys in Zayü County administered by their respective towns or townships. Puzang is part of Upper Dzayül and Shaqiong is part of Lower Dzayül.