Qamdo

Chamdo (Tibetan: ཆབ་མདོ་, Wylie: chab-mdo; simplified Chinese: 昌都镇; traditional Chinese: 昌都鎮; pinyin: Chāngdū Zhèn), or Qamdo, officially organised as Chengguan of Chamdo County (simplified Chinese: 城关镇; traditional Chinese: 城關鎮; pinyin: Chéngguān Zhèn, city seat), population in 1999 about 86,280, is a major town in the historical region of Kham in the eastern Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The capital of Chamdo County and Chamdo Prefecture, it is Tibet's third largest city after Lhasa and Shigatse. It is located about 480 km (as the crow flies) from Lhasa. On the road the distance covers 1,120 km (southern route) or 1,030 km (northern route). It is at an altitude of 3,230 metres (10,600 ft) at the confluence of the rivers Za Qu and Ngom Qu which form the Lancang River, the Mekong.