Shuanghu County
Shuanghu County, also transliterated from Tibetan as Tsonyi County or Co Nyi County, is a county under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Nagqu, in the northernmost part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It was formed in 2012, combining the territory of the former Shuanghu Special District with the eastern half of Nyima County. Much of the county is within the Changtang area. Shuanghu is the highest county of China with an average elevation of more than, while its county seat is located at.
Both Tibetan and Chinese name translates to "twin lake" or "two lakes", the two lakes referred to as Khangro Lake and Rêjo Lake respectively. Shuanghu is very sparsely populated.
The vast majority of its population practices nomadic pastoralism.
The climate is very rough, cold and dry. There is a weather station in Shuanghu, established in 1999, which on average measures negative temperatures throughout the year. The highest temperature on record is +2.3 °C, the lowest −62.4 °C.
History
In the 1970s, population growth in Xainza and Baingoin counties led to overgrazing and frequent conflicts. Xainza County launched surveys into the uninhabited Changtang region in the north of the county from 1971 to 1975, and identified several areas suitable for grazing. In 1976, 2,053 Xainza nomads reached Shuanghu after a month-long trek, together with their 160,000 cattle, goats and sheep. Shuanghu County was established in 2012.In 2019, the Tibet Autonomous Region relocated inhabitants from 3 townships in northern Shuanghu to Gonggar County in an effort to address the extreme living conditions and altitude-related diseases in Shuanghu. In 2022, the relocation was extended to 4 more townships in the southern part of the county.