The Tibet Autonomous Region is located in the southwest part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It borders on Sichuan and Yunnan provinces to the east, Qinghai and Xinjiang to the north, and shares borders with India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Burma to the south, and bounded by Kashmir to the west.
The region covers more than 1.2 million square kilometres, accounting for one eighth of China’s total land mass, and ranking second in China.
Tibet has various complex landforms such as high and steep mountains, deep valleys, glaciers, bare rocks and Gobi deserts. All places in the region lie at an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters.
It is roughly divided into four areas: the north Tibet plateau, the south Tibet valley, east Tibet mountains and valleys, and Himalaya Mountains. It is bitterly cold in winter, with a marked difference in temperature between daytime and night. It features scarce precipitation and a sharp contrast between the dry and wet seasons. It is dry in winter and spring, with frequent occurrence of strong winds, as well as low oxygen content.
Tibet is so sunny as to have an annual sunshine of between 1,500and 3,400 hours. It has a short frost-free period, usually ranging from 120 to 140 days a year.
