Tibet Brief Introduction

Tibet has always been known as 'The Roof of the World'. For millennia it has attracted and enthralled visitors, and touched them with the magic of its mysteries.

Tibet (Tibet Autonomous Region) is situated in the southwest of China bordering the internal provinces of Xinjiang, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan. Externally it is bordered by India, Burma, Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal. It covers a vast area of 120 sq km. (29,652 acres), standing the second after Xinjiang in China. But it only owns the thinnest population of 2.6 million, more than 90% of which are the Tibetans themselves; other nationalities like Han, Hui, Mongol also found in the two biggest cities of Lhasa, Shigatse and other cities and towns. At the average altitude of over 4,000 m. (13,123 ft.), this region boasts of many huge mountains like Mt. Nyainqentanglha, Karakoram Mountains, Gangdise and Himalayas. The peculiar landscape gives rise to the cold and dry plateau climate in almost all of Tibet except some regions in the south and east like Nyingchi. Despite the adverse conditions, the year-round snow-clad highest mountains still exert a strong pull to mountaineers, adventurers and sightseers near and afar.

Tibet is also magically endowed with many other natural wonders like the twin group of sacred mountain and holy lake - Mt. Kailash and Lake Manasarova, the Heavenly Lake Namtso among others. It is also the cradle of many large rivers such as China's Yangtze River, Yellow River, Yarlong Tsangpo River and India's Indus and Ganges. Most geographical features are on a grand scale and one necessarily feels small and insignificant as one stands before the spectacular canyons, valleys, glaciers, and basins and so on in Tibet.

Tibet is actually a land of natural treasures. A number of natural reserves within the region are the home to many rare and valuable wild animals and plants like lesser pandas, yaks, cranes and virgin cypress, spruces and snowdrops among others. The land also produces large amounts of minerals, water energy, wind energy, terrestrial heat and solar energy. Yangpachen is just the first research center for terrestrial heat in China.