The Yarlung Tsangpo River winds from west to east through Tibet and at its center point is joined by the Yarlong River and other tributaries. A broad valley with an area of approximately 80,000 sq km, south to the Gangdise and Mt. Nyainqentanglha, is where the Shannan Region covers. Neighboring Lhasa, Shigatse and Nyingchi, the southern part of Tibet also adjoins India and Bhutan by way of the Himalayas. Shannan region occupies one fifteenth of the total land area of the tibet autonomous region. It included 12 countries, four of which are in border areas. Shannan has a population of 325,000 people, over 97% of whom are Tibetans, the remainder being Han, Hui, Menpa, Luopa, etc. Transportations to its twelve counties and the town of Tsedang, the seat of the Administrative Office of Shannan, are well served by a network of highways. Moreover, the Gonggar Airport, the largest airport of Tibet, makes the Shannan region directly.
Shannan region's climate is temperate. It has warm air with a considerable amount of precipitation. It is a favorable environment-never getting extremely cold or too hot. Shannan has many kinds of flora and fauna. It bounds in qingke barley wheat, broad beans, peas, corn and buckwheat making it one of the major grain and oil producing regions in Tibet. The region is full of vegetables, fruits. The city is enriched with wild plant resources. There are several hundred medicinal plants. Its famous medicinal herbs include sinensis, fritillaries thun-bergli, root of red salvia.
However, Shannan owes more fame to its position in Tibet's history. Apart from the legend of the monkey and the Raksasi that used to live on Mt. Gongpori and reputably gave birth to the original inhabitants of Tibet, historical facts verify the significant role that has always been played by this fertile region. Far back to the time when the Tubo Kingdom was merely a tribe of the Yarlong area, the favorable climate and natural advantages enabled an unimaginable growth in its power that led to the eventual unification of Tibet. Later the Yarlong area assumed the position as the economic and political center of Tibet until a new capital was built where Lhasa is presently located. As the 'cradle of Tibetan culture', the Shannan region was where the first king, the first palace, the first chapel, the first monastery and the first Tibetan opera among a variety of other aspects of cultural history came into being . The local arts comprising paintings, sculptures, masks, wood and stone carvings as well as literature all form part of over a thousand years of the Tibetan cultural heritage that is highly reputed throughout the country.
