Barkam or Markang or Muerkvua is a county-level city in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, in the northwest of Sichuan province, China. The city seat is the town of Barkam.[2][3] As of the 2010 Chinese Census, Barkam has a population of 58,437.[2]
Barkam
马尔康市 · འབར་ཁམས་གྲོང་ཁྱེར། · Muerkvua shi Ma'erkang | |
|---|---|
 Overview of the city of Barkam | |
.png) Barkam City (red) in Ngawa Prefecture (yellow) and Sichuan | |
  Barkam Location of the seat in Sichuan  Barkam Barkam (China) | |
| Coordinates (Barkam municipal government): 31°54′21″N 102°12′23″E / 31.9057°N 102.2065°E | |
| Country | China |
| Province | Sichuan |
| Autonomous prefecture | Ngawa |
| Seat | Barkam Town |
| Area | |
| • Total | 6,639 km2 (2,563 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 2,615 m (8,579 ft) |
| Population (2020)[1] | |
| • Total | 58,390 |
| • Density | 8.8/km2 (23/sq mi) |
| Postal code | 624000 |
| Area code | 0837 |
| Website | www |
| Barkam | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 马尔康 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 馬爾康 | ||||||
| |||||||
| Tibetan name | |||||||
| Tibetan | འབར་ཁམས། | ||||||
| |||||||
| Qiang name | |||||||
| Qiang | Muerkvua | ||||||
Toponymy
editBarkam comes from the Tibetan "place of strong fire" and, by extension, "place of prosperity".[2]
History
editHistorically, Barkam belonged to the Somang Tusi (Chinese: 梭磨土司; pinyin: Suōmó Tǔsī), one of the Gyalrong Tusi.[2] The area was administered as three units: Zhuokeji (Chinese: 卓克基; pinyin: Zhuōkèjī), Zonggag (Chinese: 松岗; pinyin: Sōnggǎng), and Tamba (Chinese: 党坝; pinyin: Dǎngbà).[2]
During the Qin dynasty, the area belonged to Jiandi Dao.[4] It belonged to Wenshan Commandery during the Han dynasty.[4] During the Tang and Song dynasties, the area was part of the Jimi system.[4] The area was governed by the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs during the Yuan dynasty.[4] During the reign of the Yongle Emperor during the Ming dynasty, the area belonged to the Zagu Tusi.[4] During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty, the area was brought under the control of the Lifan Ting.[4] Under the subsequent Jiaqing Emperor, the area was reorganized as the Zagu Ting.[4]
During the Republic of China, the area was organized as Lifan County (Chinese: 理番县; pinyin: Lǐfān Xiàn).[4]
People's Republic of China
editIn December 1950, officials from nearby Mao County embarked on a mission to establish temporary governing committees in the area of present-day Barkam.[4] The People's Republic of China established control of the area in August 1951.[4] In September 1951, the area was incorporated as the Situ Aba Provisional Military Government Committee (Chinese: 四土阿坝临时军政委员会; pinyin: Sìtǔ Ābà Línshí Jūnzhèng Wěiyuánhuì).[2][4] In April 1953, Barkam was organized as the Barkam Office (Chinese: 马尔康办事处; pinyin: Mǎ'ěrkāng Bànshìchù).[2][4] Barkam was reorganized as a county on April 21, 1956.[4]
In 1957, the areas of Sizhai (Chinese: 四寨), Rangkou (Chinese: 壤口), and Longri (Chinese: 龙日) were moved from Barkam County to nearby Hongyuan County.[2]
In November 2015, the State Council agreed to reorganize Barkam as a county-level city.[2][4]
On December 18, 2019, the Department of Civil Affairs of Sichuan Province approved the merger of the now-defunct town of Zhuokeji into the town of Barkam.[5]
Geography
editBarkam is located within the southwest portion of Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, in northwest Sichuan.[3] The city is located on the southern edge of the Northwest Sichuan Plateau.[3] Major rivers that flow through Barkam include the Somang River, the Chabao River (Chinese: 茶堡河; pinyin: Chábǎo Hé), and the Gyomgyo River.[3] Barkam's canyons are densely forested, with major tree genus's including fir, spruce, larch, birch, and oak.[6] Quercus semecarpifolia, a species of oak tree, is present in Barkam.[6]
Fauna
editThe forests in the mountains are home to various protected animals such as leopards, Thorold's deer, sika deer, takin, and various birds.[6]
Climate
editDue to its elevation, Barkam lies in the transition between a subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb) and humid continental climate (Köppen Dwb), with strong monsoonal influences; winters are frosty and summers warm with frequent rain. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −0.5 °C (31.1 °F) in December and January to 16.4 °C (61.5 °F) in July, while the annual mean is 8.75 °C (47.7 °F). Nearly two-thirds of the annual precipitation of 784 mm (30.9 in) occurs from June to September. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 36% in June to 65% in December, the town receives 2,133 hours of bright sunshine annually. Diurnal temperature variation is large, averaging 16.0 °C (28.8 °F) annually.
| Climate data for Barkam, elevation 2,664 m (8,740 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2010) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 22.1 (71.8) |
24.8 (76.6) |
26.8 (80.2) |
31.3 (88.3) |
34.7 (94.5) |
35.7 (96.3) |
35.5 (95.9) |
36.3 (97.3) |
32.4 (90.3) |
30.6 (87.1) |
23.3 (73.9) |
19.3 (66.7) |
36.3 (97.3) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 11.1 (52.0) |
14.4 (57.9) |
17.0 (62.6) |
19.9 (67.8) |
22.5 (72.5) |
23.9 (75.0) |
25.6 (78.1) |
25.8 (78.4) |
23.1 (73.6) |
18.8 (65.8) |
15.3 (59.5) |
11.0 (51.8) |
19.0 (66.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −0.2 (31.6) |
3.4 (38.1) |
6.8 (44.2) |
10.1 (50.2) |
12.9 (55.2) |
15.1 (59.2) |
16.6 (61.9) |
16.3 (61.3) |
13.7 (56.7) |
9.2 (48.6) |
4.1 (39.4) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
9.0 (48.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −7.3 (18.9) |
−4.0 (24.8) |
−0.3 (31.5) |
3.2 (37.8) |
6.6 (43.9) |
10.0 (50.0) |
11.3 (52.3) |
10.9 (51.6) |
8.8 (47.8) |
4.1 (39.4) |
−2.3 (27.9) |
−6.8 (19.8) |
2.9 (37.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −16.0 (3.2) |
−13.6 (7.5) |
−12.6 (9.3) |
−6.2 (20.8) |
−2.2 (28.0) |
0.1 (32.2) |
2.2 (36.0) |
1.5 (34.7) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
−5.7 (21.7) |
−10.7 (12.7) |
−16.6 (2.1) |
−16.6 (2.1) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 3.3 (0.13) |
7.8 (0.31) |
27.4 (1.08) |
57.4 (2.26) |
115.6 (4.55) |
164.4 (6.47) |
130.0 (5.12) |
105.2 (4.14) |
122.2 (4.81) |
78.1 (3.07) |
11.5 (0.45) |
3.1 (0.12) |
826 (32.51) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 2.5 | 5.6 | 10.5 | 14.9 | 20.5 | 22.7 | 19.6 | 17.7 | 18.9 | 16.3 | 5.4 | 2.2 | 156.8 |
| Average snowy days | 4.1 | 6.8 | 6.4 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.9 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 26.9 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 45 | 44 | 50 | 56 | 65 | 74 | 75 | 74 | 77 | 74 | 59 | 50 | 62 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 196.8 | 175.6 | 184.1 | 185.1 | 181.6 | 147.5 | 167.8 | 173.6 | 155.9 | 156.0 | 186.7 | 200.7 | 2,111.4 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 61 | 56 | 49 | 47 | 42 | 35 | 39 | 43 | 43 | 45 | 60 | 64 | 49 |
| Source 1: China Meteorological Administration[7][8] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Weather China[9] | |||||||||||||
Administrative divisions
editBarkam administers the following three towns and 10 townships:[10]
| Name | Simplified Chinese | Pinyin | Tibetan[11][better source needed] | Wylie[11][better source needed] | Qiang[11][better source needed] | Population (2010 Chinese Census)[2] | Administrative division code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Towns | ||||||||
| Barkam (Mar'erkang) |
马尔康镇 | Mǎ'ěrkāng Zhèn | འབར་ཁམས་གྲོང་རྡལ། | ʼbar khams grong rdal | Bbadh kangw seqea | 30,547 | 513201100 | |
| Zonggag (Songgang) |
松岗镇 | Sōnggǎng Zhèn | རྫོང་འགག་གྲོང་རྡལ། | rdzong ʼgag grong rdal | 2,104 | 513201102 | ||
| Sarzong (Sha'erzong) |
沙尔宗镇 | Shā'ěrzōng Zhèn | གསར་རྫོང་གྲོང་རྡལ། | gsar rdzong grong rdal | 2,126 | 513201103 | ||
| Townships | ||||||||
| Somang Township (Suomo) |
梭磨乡 | Suōmó Xiāng | སོ་མང་ཡུལ་ཚོ། | so mang yul tsho | 2,795 | 513201200 | ||
| Chagpar Township (Baiwan) |
白湾乡 | Báiwān Xiāng | བྲག་བར་ཡུལ་ཚོ། | brag bar yul tsho | 2,990 | 513201201 | ||
| Tamba Township (Dangba) |
党坝乡 | Dǎngbà Xiāng | དམ་པ་ཡུལ་ཚོ། | dam pa yul tsho | 2,698 | 513201202 | ||
| Zhongzong Township (Mu'erzong) |
木尔宗乡 | Dǎngbà Xiāng | འབྲོང་རྫོང་ཡུལ་ཚོ། | ʼbrong rdzong yul tsho | 1,359 | 513201203 | ||
| Gyomgyo Township (Jiaomuzu, Jomzhu) |
脚木足乡 | Jiǎomùzú Xiāng | ཀྱོམ་ཀྱོ་ཡུལ་ཚོ། | kyom kyo yul tsho | 3,302 | 513201204 | ||
| Donggyai Township (Long'erjia) |
龙尔甲乡 | Lóng'ěrjiǎ Xiāng | གདོང་བརྒྱད་ཡུལ་ཚོ། | gdong brgyad yul tsho | 1,527 | 513201206 | ||
| Tacang Township (Dazang) |
大藏乡 | Dàzàng Xiāng | ད་ཚང་ཡུལ་ཚོ། | da tshang yul tsho | 1,067 | 513201207 | ||
| Kangsar Township (Kangshan) |
康山乡 | Kāngshān Xiāng | ཁང་སར་ཡུལ་ཚོ། | khang sar yul tsho | 1,599 | 513201208 | ||
| Codün Township (Caodeng) |
草登乡 | Cǎodēng Xiāng | ཚོ་བདུན་ཡུལ་ཚོ། | tsho bdun yul tsho | 2,953 | 513201209 | ||
| Zongbur Township (Ribu) |
日部乡 | Rìbù Xiāng | རྫོང་འབུར་ཡུལ་ཚོ། | rdzong ʼbur yul tsho | 3,370 | 513201210 | ||
Demographics
editAs of the 2010 Chinese Census, Barkam has a population of 58,437.[2] This represents an increase from the 55,046 recorded in the 2000 Chinese Census.[2] Barkam had a population of 54,735 in 1999.[12] In 1996, Barkam had an estimated population of 54,000.[2]
As of 2016 government figures, 77.41% of Barkam is classified as ethnically Tibetan, while 18.09% is ethnically Han Chinese, 2.97% is ethnically Qiang, 1.20% is ethnically Hui, and the remaining 0.34% belong to other ethnic groups.[13]
The area is traditionally inhabited by a branch of Rgyalrong people who speak the Situ language.[14] Chagpar Township hosts a unique dialect of Situ.[15]
Economy
editAs of 2021, Barkam has a gross domestic product (GDP) of about 4.6 billion renminbi (RMB).[16] This represents an approximate 70% increase from 2016.[16] GDP per capita as of 2021 was approximately 78,000 RMB, also a 70% increase from 2016.[16]
Barkam is home to over 1,300 ingredients used in traditional Chinese medicine, including many derived from local deer, bears, cattle, fungus, and lilies.[6]
Transport
edit- China National Highway 317[3]
- Sichuan Provincial Highway 210[3]
Tourism
editMajor historical sites in Barkam include:
- Zhuokeji Tusi Official Village[3]
- Codün Temple[3]
- Zonggag Zhibo Stone Blockhouse Group (Chinese: 松岗直波石碉群; pinyin: Sōnggǎng Zhíbō Shí Diāo Qún)[3]
- Red Army Slogan Stone Inscription (Chinese: 红军标语石刻; pinyin: Hóngjūn Biāoyǔ Shíkè)[3]
- Zhuomu Blockhouse Meeting Site (Chinese: 卓木碉会址; pinyin: Zhuōmù Diāo Huì Zhǐ)[3]
Notes
edit- ^ "阿坝州第七次全国人口普查公报第二号——县（市）人口情况" (in Chinese). Government of Ngawa Prefecture. 2021-06-11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 马尔康市历史沿革 [Ma'erkang Organizational History]. xzqh.org (in Chinese). 2015-12-17. Archived from the original on 2024-02-03. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 马尔康市概况地图 [Ma'erkang Overview]. xzqh.org (in Chinese). 2015-12-17. Archived from the original on 2022-06-17. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 历史沿革 [Organizational History]. www.maerkang.gov.cn (in Chinese). Ma'erkang Municipal People's Government. 2022-01-04. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
- ^ 四川省人民政府关于同意阿坝州调整马尔康市等10个县（市）部分乡镇行政区划的批复（川府民政〔2019〕22号）. mzt.sc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Department of Civil Affairs of Sichuan Province. 2019-12-20. Archived from the original on 2024-02-03. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
- ^ a b c d 自然资源 [Natural Resources]. maerkang.gov.cn (in Chinese). Ma'erkang Municipal People's Government. 2021-05-27. Archived from the original on 2021-10-17. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
- ^ 中国气象数据网 – WeatherBk Data (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
- ^ 中国气象数据网 (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
- ^ 马尔康 - 气象数据 -中国天气网 (in Chinese). Weather China. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
- ^ 2023年统计用区划代码（马尔康市） [2023 Statistical Division Codes (Barkam)] (in Chinese). National Bureau of Statistics of China. 2023. Archived from the original on 2024-01-23. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
- ^ a b c "Administrative Divisions of China in minority languages (Sichuan)". ttpedersen.github.io. Archived from the original on 2024-02-03. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
- ^ National Population Statistics Materials by County and City - 1999 Period, in China County & City Population 1999, Harvard China Historical GIS
- ^ 行政区划 [Administrative Divisions]. maerkang.gov.cn (in Chinese). Ma'erkang Municipal Government. 2017-03-22. Archived from the original on 2017-06-13. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
- ^ "Rgyalrong Culture" 嘉绒人文. Ma'erkang City Government website. Archived from the original on 2019-03-28. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
- ^ Zhang, Shuya (January 2023). 四土嘉绒语白湾话核心论元关系化 [Relationalization of Core Arguments in the Baiwan Dialect of the Situ rGyalrong Language]. Yuyan Kexue (in Chinese). 22 (1): 76.
- ^ a b c 社会经济 [Society and Economy]. www.maerkang.gov.cn (in Chinese). Ma'erkang Municipal People's Government. 2022-01-04. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
External links
edit- (in Chinese) Maerkang County Government site Archived 2019-12-25 at the Wayback Machine - Google translation
- (in Chinese) Maerkang - bashu.net - Google translation