Deqin County is county of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, located in northwest Yunnan province, China.

Etymology

The prefecture's name is derived from the Tibetan word, which means "auspicious place". In Chinese, the name is written with the characters 德 and 钦, which mean "benevolence" and "to respect", respectively.

Geography and climate

Deqin occupies the northwest corner of Diqing Prefecture, and in latitude has a range of 27° 33'−29° 15' N and in longitude has a range of 98° 36'−99° 33' E, covering an area of 7596 km2, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region to the northwest and Sichuan to the northeast. It is located in the central part of the Hengduan Mountains, and contains the valleys of the Salween, Mekong, and Jinsha Rivers. Being located at an altitude of 3300 m, Deqin lies in the transition between a subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb) and humid continental climate (Köppen Dwb), which is remarkable for its latitude. Although mean maximum temperatures, as in Lhasa and Shigatse, stay above freezing year-round, minima are below freezing from November to March, and temperatures average −1.4 °C in January, 13.6 °C in July, while the annual mean is 6.32 °C. The town is nonetheless a little warmer during the winter than Shangri-La County to the east despite being slightly higher in elevation, due to its more southerly aspect. Rainfall is concentrated between June and September, accounting for nearly 60% of the annual total of 640 mm; snowfall is rare but still causes major transport problems in the winter. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 29% in July to 62% in December, the county seat receives 1,989 hours of bright sunshine annually, with autumn and winter sunnier than spring and summer.

Administrative divisions

Deqin County has 2 towns, 4 townships and 2 ethnic townships.

Demographics

The Tibetans of Deqin, compared to Tibetans in Tibet, have had longer-lasting trade relations with the Han Chinese and other ethnic groups.

Composition

Meilishi (梅里石) is in Foshan Township, in the northernmost part of the county.

Transportation

Deqin can be reached by many daily buses traveling North from Kunming – Dali – Lijiang – Zhongdian – Deqin. The route is a very scenic and most of it is a newly built highway apart from the Zhongdian to Deqin section which is a winding mountain road through the scenic North Yunnan/Tibetan mountains.

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