Autonomous regions and special administrative areas of China
In addition to the 22 and 23 provinces and the two special administrative areas Hong Kong and Macao, there are the following five autonomous regions in China:
- Guangxi
- Inner Mongolia
- Ningxia
- Xinjiang
- Tibet
Cities
directly under the government Another special feature are the following cities, which are directly subordinate to central authority – and not to a provincial government:
- Chongqing
- Beijing
- Shanghai
- Tianjin
* Note
Due to historical developments, the People’s Republic of China claims Taiwan as the 23rd province, although the island state of Taiwan has been a separate sovereign state for a long time.
Brief information about Tibet
Tibet is located at an average altitude of 4,500 meters and is therefore commonly referred to as the “roof of the world”.
The country is considered the highest region in the world. The highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, with a height of around 8,848 m, is (partially) located in Tibet.
Tibet has been occupied by the People’s Republic of China since 1950, causing a lot of suffering to the oppressed population. The worldly and spiritual head of Tibet is the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India, who fights from there for the liberation of his country and the population in an absolutely peaceful way. Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, riots broke out in Tibet and neighboring provinces, which were brutally suppressed by the Chinese. Well over 100 people died and numerous Tibetans were taken to camps.
| Name of the country | Tibet Autonomous Region |
| Form of government | Autonomous region within the People’s Republic of China |
| Geographical location | Central Asia |
| National anthem | SISHE PENDE DOGU JUNWI TER |
| Population | approx. 2.6 million approx. 110,000 Tibetans live in exile, most of them in India (approx. 87,000) and in Nepal (approx. 15,000) |
| Ethnicities | approx. 2.3 million Tibetans (approx. 92%), approx. 6% Han Chinese and approx. 1% members of other national minorities as well as members of other nationalities, including Moinba, Lhoba, Han, Hui and the Sherpa people. |
| Religion | Lamaism, Tibetan Buddhism, is a mixture of Tantra Buddhism from India and elements of the original shamanism, the Bon religion. |
| Languages | Tibetan, Chinese |
| Capital | Lhasa |
| Surface | 1,221,600 km² |
| Highest mountain | Mount Everest, with a height of 8,848 m |
| Longest river | Yarlung Zangbo |
| Largest lake in area | The Nam Co, the Serling Co and the Zhaxinam Co. are approx. 1,000 km² in size. |
| International license plate | PRC |
| Currency | Chinese yuan (CNY) |
| Time difference to CET | + 7 h |
| International phone code | +86 |
| Mains voltage, frequency | 220 volts, 50 hertz |
Tibet is located in Central Asia, to the west of China. Neighboring provinces are Sichuan, Yunnan, Qinghai and the Uyghur Autonomous Region Xinjiang. Tibet shares borders with seven states.
Tibet borders India, Nepal, Burma, Bhutan, Sikkim and Kashmir over a length of 4,000 km.
Area, mountains
Tibet covers a total area of 1,221,600 km².
Mountains
In Tibet you can find the highest mountains in the world such as the Himalaya, Kunlun, Karakoram, Gangdise, Dangla, Nyainqêntanglha and the Hengduan Mountains. In Tibet there are five peaks with more than 8,000 m and 50 with more than 7,000 m.
The highest mountain in the country is Mount Everest with a height of 8,850 m. More recent measurements showed a height of 8,846 m.
Other high mountains are:
the Kanchenjunga with a height of 8,586 m, the Lhotse with a height of 8,516 m, the Makalu I with a height of 8,463 m, the Cho Oyu with a height of 8,201 m, the Sishapangma (Gosainthan) with a height of 8,046 m, the Gyachung Kang with a height of 7,897 m, the Kamet with a height of 7,756 m, the Namcha Barwa with a height of 7,756 m, the Gurla Mandhata with a height of 7,728 m and the Nojin Kansa with a height of 7,205 m.
Longitude and latitude
Tibet extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):
| Δφ = 36 ° 40 ‘to 27 ° 10’ north latitude Δλ = from 078 ° 50 ‘to 099 ° 10’ east longitude |
You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.
Legal time
For Tibet, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time (without summer time) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A minus sign means that it is earlier there, a plus sign that it is later than CET:
| Δ t (CET) = + 7 h |
Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.
Highest sun level in Lhasa
Lhasa lies at a northern latitude of around φ = 30 °.
If the sun, or its image point, is at the northern tropic, i.e. at δ = 23.5 °, it is the beginning of summer in Lhasa, this is June 21. Then, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun):
30 ° = (90 ° – h) + 23.5 °
so:
| H = 83.5 ° |
At 83.5 °, the sun in Lhasa has the highest level of the entire year above the horizon (more precisely: above the horizon).
Rivers
The longest river in the country is the Yarlung Zangbo with a length of 2,840 km. It has its source in the Himalayas and flows to India, where it is called Brahmaputra.
Other rivers in the country are:
the Nujiang, the Lancangjiang and the Jinshajiang, the Thanlwin, the Ganges and the Indus and the Xi jiang with a length of around 2,011 km.
Lakes
There are more than 1,500 large and small lakes on the Tibet high plateau. This makes it the high plateau with the most lakes and the largest lake area in the world.
The Nam Co, Serling Co and Zhaxinam Co. are around 1,000 km² in size.
47 lakes each have an area of around 100 km².
