Gyirong Town (Tibetan: སྐྱིད་གྲོང་; simplified Chinese: 吉隆镇; traditional Chinese: 吉隆鎮; pinyin: Jílóng zhèn; Nepali: केरुङ), also referred to as Kyirong or Kerung, is situated in the southern part of Gyirong County in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The town is situated on the east bank of Gyirong River (Gyirong Zangbo), a tributary of the Trishuli River with an elevation of about 2,700 metres (8,900 ft). It has a subtropical mountain monsoon climate, with reasonable precipitation and warm weather, unusual for Tibet.

Gyirong Town སྐྱིད་གྲོང་ · 吉隆镇
Town
Gyirong Town Location in Tibet Automomous Region
Coordinates (Gyirong Town government): 28°23′36″N 85°19′45″E
Country	People's Republic of China
Autonomous region	Tibet
Prefecture-level city	Shigatse
County	Gyirong
Elevation	2,700 m (8,900 ft)

The town is located 70 kilometres (43 mi) south of the county seat Zongga and roughly 25 km (16 mi) north of Rasuwa Fort on the China-Nepal border where a border crossing into Nepal is located.

In Gyirong Town, there is a village of ethnic Nepali referred to as Daman people. They are descendants of Nepalese Gurkha army centuries ago. Previously stateless, they were granted Chinese citizenship in 2003.[1]

History

After the division of the Tibetan Empire, descendants of Songtsen Gampo fled to Gyirong and then founded the Gongtang Kingdom, whose ruins are now in Gyirong. ^{[citation needed]}

During the first campaign of Sino-Nepalese War in late-1780s, the Nepalese forces captured Gyirong. It was recaptured by joint Chinese and Tibetan forces during the second campaign in July 1792.[2]

Historically, Gyirong Town has been an important town in the cross border trade between China and Nepal as it was located on a major traditional trade thoroughfare between the two countries. In 1961, Gyirong was established as a port of entry from Rasuwa Fort in Nepal by the Chinese government.[3] In December 2014, the Gyirong port of entry was opened to international users[4] and this route between China and Nepal was considered to be more reliable than one through the Zhangmu-Kodari border crossing.[5]

The April 2015 earthquake

Gyirong/Rasuwa played a minor role as a cross-border trade route until about a year after the April 2015 Nepal earthquake as the cross-border route through the Zhangmu-Kodari border crossing was more badly damaged, only reopening on 29 May 2019.[6] Both corridors sustained quake damage and had been closed[4] due to the collapse of the border bridges at both locations and due to continuing rockfall from unstable hillsides, the Gyirong/Rasuwa crossing being technically easier to re-open.

The Gyirong-Rasuwa Fort route experienced quicker recovery[7] since it is favoured for trans-Himalayan connectivity due to lower elevation and gentler pass slope. A temporary bridge was constructed in place of the damaged concrete bridge while a new concrete bridge was constructed and opened on 7 June 2019.[8] However, hillside stabilization had yet to be addressed as of Nov 2018 and this was necessary before major infrastructure work could progress. Bridges remain damaged and only recently begun reconstruction. Additionally transnational electricity projects are expected to pass through the area, although funding is still a question mark and Nepali government remains cash strapped and overburdened with competing projects.[7]

References

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