Yushu City, Qinghai

{{Infobox settlement    |name = Yushu |official_name = Yüxü |native_name = {{nobold|{{lang|zh-hans|玉树市}} · {{bo-textonly|ཡུལ་ཤུལ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར།}}}} |other_name = |settlement_type = County-level city |total_type =  |motto =  |image_skyline = |imagesize = |image_caption = Gyêgu the seat of Yushu |image_flag = |flag_size = |image_seal = |seal_size = |image_shield = |shield_size = |image_blank_emblem = |blank_emblem_type = |blank_emblem_size = |image_map = Location of Yushu within Qinghai (China).png |mapsize = |map_caption = Yushu (red) in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (yellow) and Qinghai |image_map1 = |mapsize1 = |map_caption1 = |image_dot_map = |dot_mapsize = |dot_map_caption = |dot_x = |dot_y = |pushpin_map = China Qinghai |pushpin_label = Yushu |pushpin_label_position = left |pushpin_map_caption = Location of the seat in Qinghai  |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = China |subdivision_type1 = Province |subdivision_name1 = Qinghai |subdivision_type2 = Autonomous prefecture |subdivision_name2 = Yushu |seat_type = Municipal seat |seat = Gyêgu |parts_type = |parts_style =  |parts =  |p1 = |p2 =   |government_footnotes = |government_type = |leader_title =  |leader_name = |leader_title1 =  |leader_name1 = |leader_title2 = |leader_name2 = |leader_title3 = |leader_name3 = |leader_title4 = |leader_name4 = |established_title =  |established_date = |established_title1 =  |established_date1 = |established_title2 =  |established_date2 = |established_title3 = |established_date3 = |founder = |named_for =  |area_footnotes = |area_total_km2 = 13462 |area_land_km2 = |area_water_km2 = |area_water_percent = |area_urban_km2 = |area_metro_km2 = |area_blank1_title = |area_blank1_km2 =  |elevation_footnotes =  |elevation_m = 3689 |elevation_max_m = |elevation_min_m =  |population_as_of = 2020 |population_footnotes = <ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_13390713 |title = 玉树州第七次全国人口普查公报（第二号）——市县级常住人口情况 |publisher = The Paper |language = zh |date = 2021-06-30 }}</ref> |population_note = |population_total = 141308 |population_density_km2 = auto |population_metro = |population_density_metro_km2 = |population_urban = |population_density_urban_km2 = auto |population_blank1_title = |population_blank1 = |population_density_blank1_km2 =  |timezone = China Standard |utc_offset = +8 |coordinates = {{coord|33|00|N|97|00|E|type:adm3rd_region:CN-63|display=inline,title}}  |postal_code_type = Postal code |postal_code = 815000 |area_code = 0976 |blank_name = |blank_info = |website = {{URL|http://www.yushushi.gov.cn/}} |footnotes = }} {{Infobox Chinese |s=玉树市 |t=玉樹市 |p=Yùshù Shì |tib={{bo-textonly|ཡུལ་ཤུལ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར།}} or {{bo-textonly|ཡུས་ཧྲུའུ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར།}} |wylie=yul shul grong khyer ''or'' yus hruʼu grong khyer |zwpy=Yüxü Chongkyêr ''or'' Yüshu Chongkyêr |order=st }} '''Yushu''' ({{bo|t=ཡུལ་ཤུལ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར།}}, {{Lang-zh|s=玉树市}}), also Romanized as '''Yüxü''', is a county-level city<ref>{{cite web |url=http://xxgk.mca.gov.cn/gips/contentSearch?id=47900 |script-title=zh:民政部关于同意青海省撤销玉树县设立县级玉树市的批复 |language=zh |trans-title=Ministry of Civil Affairs approves the approval of Qinghai Province to revoke the establishment of a county-level Yushu City in Yushu County |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219135229/http://xxgk.mca.gov.cn/gips/contentSearch?id=47900 |archive-date=December 19, 2013 }}</ref> of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Southern Qinghai Province, China. It comprises a surface area of {{convert|13462|km²}}.<ref>For comparison, the total surface area of Beijing municipality is {{convert|16801.25|km²|abbr=on}}.</ref> In 2010, the overall city's population was 120,447 and 56,802 live within the city core. There are around 356,000 people in the metropolitan area in 2020. Yushu is the fourth largest city in Qinghai.

The city seat is the town of Gyêgu (also known as Yushu and Jiegu in Chinese), built in the valley of the Batang River, a right tributary of the Tongtian, which becomes the Jinsha at their confluence. All of these makeups part of the Yangtze watershed. In fact, almost the entire area of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is nomadic pastureland, except for Yushu city.

== History == Yushu is one of the oldest towns in Qinghai,{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} and has historically served as a major hub for regional trade.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Moevus |first=Claude |date=1995 |title=The Chinese Hui Muslims Trade in Tibetan Areas |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43300546 |journal=The Tibet Journal |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=115–123 |jstor=43300546 |issn=0970-5368}}</ref>{{Rp|page=|pages=116–117}} It is situated at the crossroads of the important trade routes between Ya’an, Xining, and Lhasa.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} In the early days,{{When|date=June 2023}} Chinese traders brought tea bricks from Sichuan and transported them to other parts of the Tibetan regions such as Lhasa, Chamdo, and Golok, which were the best-known towns during that time.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

During the late 20th century, government officials encouraged traditionally nomadic merchants to settle down in Qinghai, including in Yushu, through measures such as low taxes and rents.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=120}} A 1995 research paper estimated that these merchants, which included many Hui traders of the Tibetan Plateau, comprised about one-third of Yushu's population.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=120}}

In 2010, Yushu was severely impacted by an earthquake.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last1=Branigan |first1=Tania |last2=Meikle |first2=James |date=2010-04-14 |title=Earthquake in China leaves hundreds dead and thousands injured |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/14/china-earthquake-death-toll-yushu |access-date=2023-06-13 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The earthquake destroyed many buildings in the city, and damaged many others.<ref name=":1" />

==Geography and climate== [[File:Txu-oclc-6654394-ni-47-3rd-ed.jpg|thumb|left|Map including Yushu (labeled as YÜ-SHU (JYEKUNDO)) (ATC, 1971)]] With an elevation of around {{convert|3700|m|-2}}, Yushu has an alpine subarctic climate (Köppen ''Dwc'', Trewartha ''Eolo''), with long, cold, very dry winters, and short, rainy, and mild summers. Average low temperatures are below freezing from early/mid-October to late April; however, due to the wide diurnal temperature variation, the average high never lowers to the freezing mark. Despite frequent rain during summer, when a majority of days sees rain, only June, the rainiest month, has less than 50% of possible sunshine; with monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 49% in June to 66% in November, the city receives 2,496 hours of bright sunshine annually. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from {{convert|−6.8|°C|1}} in January to {{convert|13.3|°C|1}} in July, while the annual mean is {{convert|3.75|°C|1}}. About three-fourths of the annual precipitation of {{convert|482|mm|in|abbr=on}} is delivered from June to September. The residents of Yushu City reported seeing a large meteor fireball falling from the sky into the horizon on December 23, 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.zeebiz.com/world/news-giant-meteor-fireball-smashes-into-china-spreads-panic-i-watch-viral-video-144526|title=Giant meteor fireball smashes into China, spreads panic I WATCH VIRAL VIDEO|date=December 24, 2020|website=Zee Business}}</ref>

==Administrative divisions== Yushu comprises four subdistricts, two towns, and six townships.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title= |script-title=zh:2022年统计用区划代码（玉树市） |trans-title=2022 Statistical Division Codes (Yushu) |url=http://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/tjbz/tjyqhdmhcxhfdm/2022/63/27/632701.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230613194429/http://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/tjbz/tjyqhdmhcxhfdm/2022/63/27/632701.html |archive-date=2023-06-13 |access-date=2023-06-13 |website= |publisher=National Bureau of Statistics of China |language=zh}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" align="center" style="width:50%; border="1" |- ! Name ! Simplified Chinese ! Hanyu Pinyin ! Tibetan<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-23 |title= |script-title=bo:ཡུལ་ཤུལ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་མངའ་འོག་སྲིད་འཛིན་ས་མིང་གི་བོད་རྒྱ་ཤན་སྦྱར། |trans-title=Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture has jurisdiction over administrative place names compared to Tibetan and Chinese. |url=http://www.qhtibetan.com/fw/system/2020/06/23/030091518.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231011133408/http://www.qhtibetan.com/fw/system/2020/06/23/030091518.shtml |archive-date=2023-10-11 |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=www.qhtibetan.com |publisher=Qinghai People's Provincial Government |language=bo}}</ref> ! Administrative division code |- | colspan="6" style="text-align:center; background:#d3d3d3;" |'''Subdistricts''' |---------- | Gyêgu Subdistrict<br>(Jiegu) | {{lang|zh-hans|结古街道}} | {{Transliteration|zh|Jiégǔ Jiēdào}} | {{bo-textonly|སྐྱེ་རྒུ་སྲང་ལམ་}} | 632701001 |- | {{Interlanguage link|Zhaxike Subdistrict|zh|扎西科街道}} | {{lang|zh-hans|扎西科街道}} | {{Transliteration|zh|Zhāxīkē Jiēdào}} | {{bo-textonly|བྱ་ཤུལ་ཁོག་སྲང་ལམ་}} | 632701002 |- | {{Interlanguage link|Xihang Subdistrict|zh|西杭街道}} | {{lang|zh-hans|西杭街道}} | {{Transliteration|zh|Xīháng Jiēdào}} | {{bo-textonly|ཤེལ་དཀར་སྲང་ལམ་}} | 632701003 |- | {{Interlanguage link|Xinzhai Subdistrict|zh|新寨街道}} | {{lang|zh-hans|新寨街道}} | {{Transliteration|zh|Xīnzhài Jiēdào}} | {{bo-textonly|སེང་ཟེ་སྲང་ལམ་}} | 632701004 |- | colspan="6" style="text-align:center; background:#d3d3d3;" |'''Towns''' |---------- | {{Interlanguage link|Longbao, Qinghai|lt=Longbao|zh|隆宝镇}} | {{lang|zh-hans|隆宝镇}} | {{Transliteration|zh|Lóngbǎo Zhèn}} | {{bo-textonly|རོང་པོ་གྲོང་རྡལ།}} | 632701101 |- | {{Interlanguage link|Xialaxiu|zh|下拉秀镇}} | {{lang|zh-hans|下拉秀镇}} | {{Transliteration|zh|Xiàlāxiù Zhèn}} | {{bo-textonly|རག་སྨད་གྲོང་རྡལ།}} | 632701102 |- | colspan="6" style="text-align:center; background:#d3d3d3;" |'''Townships''' |---------- | {{Interlanguage link|Zhongda Township|zh|仲达乡}} | {{lang|zh-hans|仲达乡}} | {{Transliteration|zh|Zhòngdá Xiāng}} | {{bo-textonly|འབྲོང་མདའ་ཡུལ་ཚོ།}} | 632701200 |- | {{Interlanguage link|Batang Township|zh|巴塘乡}} | {{lang|zh-hans|巴塘乡}} | {{Transliteration|zh|Bātáng Xiāng}} | {{bo-textonly|དཔལ་ཐང་ཡུལ་ཚོ།}} | 632701201 |- | {{Interlanguage link|Xiaosumang Township|zh|小苏莽乡}} | {{lang|zh-hans|小苏莽乡}} | {{Transliteration|zh|Xiǎosūmǎng Xiāng}} | {{bo-textonly|ཟུར་མང་ཡུལ་ཚོ།}} | 632701202 |- | {{Interlanguage link|Shanglaxiu Township|zh|上拉秀乡}} | {{lang|zh-hans|上拉秀乡}} | {{Transliteration|zh|Shànglāxiù Xiāng}} | {{bo-textonly|རག་སྟོད་ཡུལ་ཚོ།}} | 632701203 |- | {{Interlanguage link|Anchong Township|zh|安冲乡}} | {{lang|zh-hans|安冲乡}} | {{Transliteration|zh|Ānchōng Xiāng}} | {{bo-textonly|ཨ་ཁྲོ་ཡུལ་ཚོ}} | 632701205 |- | {{Interlanguage link|Haxiu Township|zh|哈秀乡}} | {{lang|zh-hans|哈秀乡}} | {{Transliteration|zh|Hāxiù Xiāng}} | {{bo-textonly|ཧ་ཤུལ་ཡུལ་ཚོ།}} | 632701400 |- |}

== Demographics == During the late 20th century, government policy encouraged merchants throughout the region to settle down in Yushu.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=120}} A 1995 research paper estimated that these merchants, which included many Hui people, comprised about one-third of Yushu's population.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=120}}

==Transportation== The city is served by the China National Highway 214 and the recently constructed (opened 2009) Yushu Batang Airport.

== Culture ==

=== Religion === {{Unreferenced section|date=June 2023}} The city has a few monasteries in and around, it has also one mosque. Gyegu Monastery is located on the hill, while Thrangu Monastery and Domkar Monastery are located outside the city. There are also some famous religious sites such as the Wencheng Temple, the Gyanak Mani Stone Temple, and the King Gesar Museum. The Wencheng Temple is located 20 kilometers from the city center, while Gyanak Mani Temple is located 9 kilometers from the center. King Gesar Museum is located in the city center.

=== Festivals === The city hosts a number of notable cultural festivals. Yushu is home to an annual horse racing festival, where Kham Tibetan warriors showcase their local culture.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Yushu Horse-Racing Festival |work=The Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Yushu-Horse-Racing-Festival/(photo)/1044243 |access-date=2023-06-13 |issn=0882-7729}}</ref> The Yushu Horse Racing Festival is a traditional festival that is normally held at the end of July to the beginning of August, depending on the dates in the Tibetan calendar.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} The festival site is located on the lush summer grasslands of the valley floor, to make for better horse-racing events.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} Renowned as being the largest horse racing event in the Tibetan areas, the festival plays host to tens of thousands of Tibetans and tourists every year.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

The festival features feats of horsemanship and horse racing that have been native to the plateau for over two thousand years, as well as horseback archery, tug-of-war, weightlifting, and many other local sports.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

==See also== *2010 Yushu earthquake

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{in lang|zh}} [http://www.qh.xinhuanet.com/yushu/ Yushu-Website in Chinese] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615214822/http://www.qh.xinhuanet.com/yushu/ |date=2006-06-15 }} - {{Google translation|en|zh-CN|http://www.qh.xinhuanet.com/yushu/}} * {{wikivoyage inline|Yushu}}

Category:County-level divisions of Qinghai Category:Amdo Category:Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Category:Cities in Qinghai Category:Populated places destroyed by earthquakes Category:National Civilized City Category:National Sanitary City