Shigatse (Chinese: 日喀则, roughly read as Ri Ka Ze) means “a manor of the most fertile soil” in Tibetan, an area that is full history in politics, religion and culture from the latter days of Tibetan Empire. Located in southwestern Tibet Autonomous Region, southwest China, it is bordering Ngari, Nagqu, Shannan (Mountain-South) and Lhasa, as well as neighboring states of Nepal and Bhutan. It has 182,000 square kilometers of land area with an average altitude over 4,000 meters above sea level. More than 90 percent of 662,000 people in Shigatse are Tibetans. Most of the population here is engaging in agriculture. The natural environment in Shigatse is suitable for farming that the climate is not as harsh as middle regions, the Himalayas and Ngari. Abundant sunshine, fertile steppe and water resources make Shigatse a good name – The Barn of Tibet. Natural resources of plants and herbs for traditional Chinese medicine are very rich too. 

The regional government is located in Shigatse City in eastern part, where sees the northern side of the Himalayas and Brahmaputra (Yalung Tsangpo) River. 

Shigatse is in the area of a vast river valley, the weather is quite moderate compared with central and western Tibet. The average temperature is ranging from 2 to 12 degrees Celsius in the coldest month and in the warmest month is 10 to 18 degrees. Rainfall concentrates in July and August. In the area where the Mt. Everest (Mt. Qomolongma) located, it will be extremely cold from October to April and it rains a lot in July and August, even though it will be much warmer, the wet air naughtily veils the magnificent view to the world’s highest mountain. The ideal time to see and explore the Mt. Everest and its neighboring areas is between late April and June.

The explorers’ camp of the Mount Everest and Rongbok Monastery (绒布寺) are located at 5,200 and 4,980 meters above sea level respectively, there without any mobile phone signal and even no electricity supply. Be prepared, bring more spare and fully charged batteries for your digital gadgets. The explorers’ camp, where the starting point to challenge the world’s highest peak, is the safest and the best position to appreciate the great scene of the Mt. Everest. 

Rongbok Monastery is not far away from the Mt. Everest base, located Basong Village, Dingri County of Shigatse. Built in 1899 in this cold and bleak area, it has been known as the Monastery of highest elevation in the world hitherto. During its heydays, there had been about 500 monks of Ningma Sect in Tibetan Buddhism, but today just 50 monks and nuns living inside. Massive repair work has been done in 1983. The highlights in Rongbok Monastery are the religious murals, statues of Sakyamuni Buddha and Lianhuasheng Master. The Mt. Everest, regarded as the ultimately holy mountain by Tibetan Buddhism, is clearly seen here and it looks like a gigantic and silvery pyramid. Admission for the monastery is 25 RMB each person.