The least populated place in China

Yumai Township is the township with the smallest population in China. It belongs to Longzi County, Shannan City, Tibet Autonomous Region. It is located in the Sino-Indian border area at the southern foot of the Himalayas. It covers an area of ??1,976 square kilometers and is the largest in Longzi County. Township, 3560 meters above sea level.

Yumai Township is of great strategic significance because it is close to the disputed area on the Sino-Indian border. Because of the family of three who stayed behind at first, China was able to defend nearly 2,000 square kilometers of land. To the outside world, Yumai Township is still one of the most sensitive and difficult-to-reach places on the Sino-Indian border.

China’s territory shows that Yumai’s land area was originally 3,664 square kilometers, but China actually controlled only 1,976 square kilometers, and India occupied nearly 1,700 square kilometers of territory, which is precisely the largest area of ??Yumai’s land. That part of the country that is fertile and has the most pleasant climate. If the illegal "McMahon Line" is a scar on the Himalayas, then Yumai is its deepest "wound".

In history, Yumai Township was the largest with more than 20 households and more than 300 people. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, with the advancement of democratic reforms in Tibet, earth-shaking changes have taken place on the plateau. Roads have been opened in many places, and living and production conditions have rapidly improved. Residents of Yumai have also gradually moved out of Yumai, which has traffic congestion. Live “better days.”

Between 1979 and 1996, there was only one family of three living in the 1,967 square kilometers of the township, namely Zhuoga’s family. His father, Sangji Quba, was the township head, and his two daughters were township heads. civil. The children's mother died of illness at an early age.

Until 1996, the county sent a township party committee secretary to Yumai Township. The father retired, the eldest daughter Zhuoga served as the township mayor, and a doctor served as a teacher and deputy township mayor.

Today, the population here has increased from 3 people in one household to 31 people in 9 households. They continue to protect Yumai’s land area of ??1,976 square kilometers.

Compared with the dry and anoxic environment in most parts of Tibet, Yumai at an altitude of 3,500 meters can be called a "paradise": the Indian Ocean warm current brings abundant rain here, and the vegetation here is lush. , the air is fresh and located in a primeval forest area formed over thousands of years. Despite the humid air and abundant rain, there is almost no sunshine throughout the year, making it impossible to grow any crops on this originally fertile land.

In winter, heavy snow will close the mountains. Before November every year, his father Sanji Quba transports supplies from Longzi County to Qusong Village under the Rila Snow Mountain, and then drives 10 horses to cross the Rila Snow Mountain in five days to transport seven months of rations. During the trip to Yumai Township, horses often fell into the unfathomable Yumai River Valley.

Even though they endured harsh conditions that ordinary people could not endure, they still stuck to this land. During this period, Sangye Quba's family of three stayed there for 17 years. For 17 years, they spent the unbearable loneliness with the mountains as companions. Sangye Quba often said to his daughter: "If we leave, there will be no one in this land!" These words, the two daughters remembered A lifetime.

From 3 people in one household to 31 people in 9 households, perhaps only the villagers of Yumai Township truly understand the meaning of "the world is too small". All eight families are Tibetan, and they are only a hundred meters apart. They form a big family here. In the "isolated" "paradise", Yumai people bloomed with the tenacity of life.

The years are like the Rila Snow Mountain, remembering every piece of history. The years are like the Yumai River, flowing endlessly.

Today’s Yumai Township is “prosperously populated”. From the day they lived in this land, Yumai people have shouldered a heavier responsibility than ordinary people: I am Chinese, and my mission is to guard the territory of the motherland.

The most beautiful flowers always bloom on the cliffs. Yumai people are such flowers.

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