Nyingchi (Tibetan: ཉིང་ཁྲི་གྲོང་ཁྱེར།, Wylie: nying khri grong khyer), also known as Linzhi (Chinese: 林芝; pinyin: Linzhi) or Nyingtri, is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. The administrative seat of Nyingchi is Bayi District.
Nyingchi is the location of Buchu Monastery.
History
The area around Nyingchi has been settled since Tibet's prehistoric era. Researchers discovered several human bones and burial groups from the Neolithic Age near the Nyang River in the 1970s, suggesting that humans in Nyingchi were engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture and led a relatively sedentary lifestyle as early as 4,000-5,000 years ago. Unearthed artifacts, including net pendants and arrowheads, indicate that the inhabitants of this region, along the ancient Nyang River, Yarlung Zangbo River, and ancient lakes, were involved in both cultivation and fishing activities along the riverbanks.
Initially, Nyingchi was under the dominion of the King of Kongpo. In the Sakyapa and Phagmodrupa periods (13th-16th centuries), Nyingchi emerged as the dominion of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Subsequently, in the 17th century, the Ganden Podrang was instituted, leading to the partitioning of Nyingchi into the territories of three families including Ngapoi. Nyingchi was further subdivided into Zela (རྩེ་ལ་), Qomo (ཇོ་མོ་), Xoka (ཞོ་ཁ་), and Gyamda (རྒྱ་མདའ་) dzongs. The Bomê region had long been governed by the local leader Kanam Depa and was in a condition of secession.
In 1931, the Tibetan government annexed Bomê and partitioned it into two administrative divisions: Bodoi and Bomê, while the Mêdog area was reclassified as Mêdog dzong.
Tibet was annexed by China in May 1951. In January 1960, the Tagong Special Department was established, and in February 1960, it was restructured as the Nyingchi Prefecture, with the Special Department located in Nyingchi County. In March 2015, State Council of China sanctioned the dissolution of Nyingchi Prefecture and the creation of Nyingchi City at the prefecture level, as well as the dissolution of Nyingchi County and the establishment of Bayi District.
