Barkam (simplified Chinese: 马尔康镇; traditional Chinese: 馬爾康鎮; pinyin: Mǎ'ěrkāng Zhèn, Standard Tibetan:  འབར་ཁམས་གྲོང་རྡལ།, romanized: ʼbar khams grong rdal, Qiang: Bbadh kangw seqea)[1][better source needed] is a town in and the seat of the county-level city of Barkam, in the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, in the northwest of Sichuan province, China.[2][3]

Barkam
马尔康镇 · འབར་ཁམས་རྡལ། · Muerkvua zhen
Overview of the town of Barkam
Overview of the town of Barkam
Barkam is located in Sichuan
Barkam
Barkam
Location in Sichuan
Coordinates: 31°54′07″N 102°13′03″E / 31.9019°N 102.2175°E / 31.9019; 102.2175
CountryPeople's Republic of China
ProvinceSichuan
PrefectureNgawa
County-level cityBarkam
Postal code
624000
Area code837
Barkam
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese马尔康
Traditional Chinese馬爾康
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMǎ'ěrkāng
Tibetan name
Tibetanའབར་ཁམས།
Transcriptions
Wylie'bar khams
Tibetan PinyinBarkam

Toponymy

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Barkam comes from the Tibetan "place of strong fire" and, by extension, "place of prosperity".[2]

History

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On December 18, 2019, the Department of Civil Affairs of Sichuan Province approved the merger of the now-defunct town of Zhuokeji [zh] into the town of Barkam.[4]

Climate

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Due 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[5][6]
Source 2: Weather China[7]

Administrative divisions

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The town of Barkam administers the following 3 residential communities (Chinese: 社区; pinyin: Shè Qū) and 11 administrative villages (Chinese: 行政村; pinyin: Xíngzhèng Cūn):[8]

  • Majiang Community (Chinese: 马江社区)
  • Meigu Community (Chinese: 美谷社区)
  • Dasa Community (Chinese: 达萨社区)
  • Adi Village (Chinese: 阿底村)
  • Chabei Village (Chinese: 查北村)
  • Muye Village (Chinese: 牧业村)
  • E'erya Village (Chinese: 俄尔雅村)
  • Mola Village (Chinese: 莫拉村)
  • Yingboluo Village (Chinese: 英波洛村)
  • Benzhen Village (Chinese: 本真村)
  • Dengjia Village (Chinese: 邓家村)
  • Nazu Village (Chinese: 纳足村)
  • Xisuo Village (Chinese: 西索村)
  • Chami Village (Chinese: 查米村)

Demographics

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As of the 2010 Chinese Census, before it absorbed the now-defunct town of Zhuokeji [zh], Barkam had a population of 29,535.[2] The combined population of Barkam and Zhuokeji totaled 30,547.[2] Barkam had a population of 25,337 as of the 2000 Chinese Census.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "Administrative Divisions of China in minority languages (Sichuan)". ttpedersen.github.io. Archived from the original on 2024-02-03. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  2. ^ a b c d e 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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 中国气象数据网 – WeatherBk Data (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  6. ^ 中国气象数据网 (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  7. ^ 马尔康 - 气象数据 -中国天气网 (in Chinese). Weather China. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  8. ^ 2023年统计用区划代码和城乡划分代码(马尔康镇) [2023 Statistical Division Codes and Urban-rural Division Codes (Ma'erkang)] (in Chinese). National Bureau of Statistics of China. 2023. Archived from the original on 2024-02-03. Retrieved 2024-02-03.