Shiquanhe

This modern Chinese-built town is named after the Sengge Zangbo river, the main headwater of the Indus River, on whose banks it is located. It is called "Sengge Zangbo" or "Sengge Khabab" in Tibetan and "Shiquanhe" in Chinese.[lower-alpha 1]

Being the headquarters of Ngari Prefecture (which is known in Chinese under the Sinicized form of its name, Ali Prefecture), the town is also commonly known in English as Ngari or Ali (Chinese: 阿里; pinyin: Ālǐ) Town; this is what many guidebooks use as the primary name for the town.[2] In Tibetan, Ngari is only the name for the prefecture, and not the town.

Being the county seat of the Gar County, it is also referred to as Gar (simplified Chinese: 噶尔; traditional Chinese: 噶爾; pinyin: Ga'er). it may be labeled that way on maps.[3]

A view of the northern hill slopes from Shiquanhe; A giant PLA emblem is imprinted on the hillside on the left

When the Ngari Prefecture was established by the People's Republic of China in 1959, its capital was at Günsa (or Gar Gunsa), at the settlement called Gar Chongsar (སྒར་གྲོང་གསར), which is now the location of the Ngari Gunsa Airport. It was moved from Günsa to Shiquanhe in 1965, due to the extremely difficult living conditions at the former. At that time, Shiquanhe's population was merely 400.[1]

Shiquanhe is a modern Chinese-style town, situated at the confluence of the Sengge River and the Longchu River.[4] According to a government-affiliated source, the population of Shiquanhe had grown from just over 1,500 to over 20,000 in 30 years (1978–2008), and people there now "enjoy their life because the city has been equipped with culture and commerce facilities".[5] Western guidebook writers have referred to the place as a "concrete monstrosity of a town".[2]

Shiquange has a lion statue in the middle of the town.[2] It has high-rise buildings, restaurants, general stores and nightclubs.[4] There are several primary schools and a secondary school.[1] It also has two banks, one of which, the Agricultural Bank of China, near the army post west of the roundabout, has foreign exchange facilities. There is also a post and telecom office.[2]

Sketch map of Gar and Sengge valleys, Henry Strachey, 1851

Even though Shiquanhe is a modern town, its location has been of some importance in the history. Not only is it situated in a wide valley of Sengge Zangbo with an abundance of cultivable land, it also lies along a trade route between Gar Gunsa and Rudok, which continues on to Ladakh in the west via the Pangong Lake, and to Lhasa in the east via Mayum La. The location was historically known as Rala. (See Strachey's map.)

During the Tibetan Era of Fragmentation in the 10th century, Kyide Nyimagon, a descendant of emperor Langdarma, escaped to Ngari in the midst of a chaotic situation in Central Tibet and established a kingdom. He is said to have started by building a Kharmar (reddish fort) at Rala.[6] Later he expanded into the Sutlej Valley and Burang by marrying a princess of Burang.[7] This kingdom came to be known as Guge-Purang.

By the 17th century, Ladakh annexed the entire kingdom of Guge and invited retaliation from Central Tibet under the 5th Dalai Lama. The large of army of Galdan Chhewang, Tibet's general, encamped in the Gar Valley.[8] The first clash with the Ladakhi forces took place near the confluence of the Gartang and Sengge Zangbo, with the locations Langmar and Rala mentioned in the sources.[9] The Ladakhis were defeated and Galdan Chhewang pursued them to Ladakh, leading to the Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War and the Treaty of Tingmosgang.

Ngari Gunsa Airport, near the town of Shiquanhe, started operations on 1 July 2010, becoming the fourth civil airport in Tibet.[10]

Air China's southwestern branch will operate flight services from Chengdu to Lhasa and on to Ngari – a total of 2,300 km (1,400 mi) – every Tuesday and Friday. "The flight leaves Chengdu at 5:50 AM and arrives at Lhasa two hours later," Bao Lida, a company press official was quoted as saying. "It leaves Lhasa at 8:40 AM and arrives at Ngari at 10:20 AM." the 1,098 km (682 mi) Lhasa-Ngari flight service would start from 2,590 yuan (About US $400). The report said Air China expects to transport 50-60 passengers in winter and 20-30 passengers in summer during each flight service.[11]

Shiquanhe has a cold desert climate (Köppen climate classification: BWk) with short, very mild summers and very cold, dry winters.

China, Japan, and South Korea are currently entertaining plans to construct a large high-altitude observatory on a ridge 25 km (16 mi) south of Shiquanhe, which was selected after a series of site surveys through Tibet and western China for candidate sites. Atmospheric conditions from the site's elevation 5,050 m (16,570 ft) above sea level have been roughly characterized, initial facilities (including two small domes) have been built, and a 25 cm pathfinder telescope project is in place as of 2012, with 50 and 60 cm telescopes planned for 2013 and 2014 and a 3 m telescope in the indefinite future: but the ambitions for the site include the possibilities of megaprojects like a 30 m-class competitor to E-ELT and a 10–20 m class spectrometer as a sequel to LAMOST.[14][15]

Also planned for the site[16] is the Ali CMB Polarization Telescope (AliCPT) for studying the polarization of the cosmic microwave background.[17] This location is, during winter, as high and dry (and thus good for observations as) the South Pole location of the similar BICEP and Keck Array telescopes,[16] with the tremendous logistical advantage of being 30 minutes' drive from the airport and city.[17]^: 7

Construction has begun on the telescope, codenamed Ngari No.1, and it is expected to enter operations in 2021.[18]

• Wikimapia
• "Shiquanhe Town", tibettravel.info, archived from the original on 12 November 2008