Shigatse is located at an altitude of 3,840 metres (approx. 12,598 feet) at the confluence of the Yarlung Zangbo (aka Brahmaputra) and Nianchuhe (Nyang Chu) rivers in west Tibet and was the ancient capital of U-Tsang province. It is also the name of the surrounding county.
 

In order to appreciate the spectacularity of "the third pole", ambitious people come here from a great distance desiring to realize the dream of challenging the utmost limits of human being. and that is the charm of everest. it is the pride of shigatse that has become one of the most charming tourist attractions in tibet.
 

With the area of 3,875 square kilometers and population of 820,000, it is the second biggest and the only county-level city in tibet. also, it is an ancient city in the altiplano with a history of nearly 600 years. it is named xikasangzhuzi in tibetan, and xikazi for short, which stands for "a manor of the most fertile soil", and it is transliterated into chinese as "shigatse". in the middle of the 13th century ad, the yuan dynasty set up 130,000 hus (households) in tibet and the region where now shigatse covers was under the jurisdiction of the xialu master. in the early 14th century, great situ (minister of education in ancient china), jiangqujianzan, built pazhu dynasty to replace sajia dynasty, removing the political center in the lower reaches of nianchuhe from xialu to shigatse and setting up xikasangzhuzi there.