Zoigê County or Ruo'ergai County is a county of Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan, China, bordering Gansu to the north. It is the northernmost county of the province. It is part of the Tibetan traditional region of Amdo. It has an area of 10620 km2 and a population of 69,900, 90.4% of which are Tibetan people.

Geography

Ruo'ergai County is found in the easternmost sections of the Tibetan Plateau. The county is primarily a highland basin made up of the Zoigê Marsh between the Min Mountains and Amne Machin. The western border of the county, shared with Maqu County in Gansu, is formed by the first major bend of the Yellow River where it changes course nearly 180 degrees and heads back towards Qinghai.

Climate

Ruo'ergai has an alpine subarctic climate (Köppen Dwc), featuring very cold nights even in summertime, and very cold winters with extreme diurnal temperature ranges. Snow can fall any time of the year and usually does not melt until summer due to repeated nightly freezing even when maxima are above 0 C. Therefore, access to Ruo'ergai is heavily restricted during the winter months from late October to early May. Sitting at an altitude of more than 11,000 feet, high-altitude sickness is another common problem for tourists.

Transport

Administrative divisions

Ruo'ergai County has 7 towns and 6 townships: