Marcand County was formally established on April 2 1956. Located in the southern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the northwest of Sichuan Basin, it is adjacent to Aba and Hongyuan Prairie in the north, Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve and Xiaojinguniang Mountain in the south, 365 kilometers away from Chengdu, the provincial capital. The county covers an area of 6633 square kilometers. The county has jurisdiction over 3 towns, 1 1 township, 104 administrative villages and 234 villagers' groups. Tibetan, Qiang, Hui and Han nationalities live in 15, with a total population of 55,000, of which 39 176 are Tibetans, accounting for 7 1.9 1% of the total population. The whole county belongs to the plateau canyon area, and the terrain gradually decreases from northeast to southwest, and the ground elevation is between 2 180m and 5301m.. It belongs to the plateau monsoon climate and has the characteristics of "dry winter and wet summer, rainy and hot, abundant sunshine and large temperature difference between day and night". The annual average temperature is 8-9℃, the annual precipitation is 753mm, and the annual average sunshine is more than 2,000 hours. The air quality has reached the national first-class standard.
There are 53 enterprises, including 22 industrial enterprises, 4 construction enterprises, 5 transportation enterprises, 2 wholesale and retail enterprises, 4 accommodation and catering enterprises and 6 real estate and social service enterprises. Individual industrial and commercial households 1 13 1, employees 16 13.
The transportation in the county is convenient, and the national highway 3 17 runs through the whole territory. Mobile phones, program-controlled telephones and wireless paging networks cover urban areas and major towns and villages. The comprehensive coverage rate of radio and television reached 89%. The total installed capacity of hydropower in the county is 32,357 kilowatts. The county's daily water supply capacity is 8000 tons.
There are 92 schools in the county, including 4 middle schools and 88 primary schools, with 8870 students and 777 staff. Health institutions 17, health professionals 129. There are 6 1 Tibetan Buddhist temples, belonging to six sects: Nima, Sakya, Juenang, Gaju, Benbo and Gelu. Among them, Dazang Temple and Changlie Temple are the most famous, enjoying a high reputation in the whole Tibetan area and even in Southeast Asian countries.
The healthy development of spiritual civilization has won the titles of "National Civilized County", "Advanced Unit for Comprehensive Management of Social Security", "Provincial Cultural Advanced County", "National Double Support Model County" and "National Minority Family Planning Advanced County" in Aba Prefecture.
In 2005, the county's GDP reached 548.54 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1 1%. Among them, the added value of the primary industry was 6 1.97 million yuan, up 2.9% year-on-year; The added value of the secondary industry 10024 million yuan, up 9.5% year-on-year; The added value of the tertiary industry was 386.33 million yuan, up 12.7% year-on-year. The total investment in fixed assets of the whole society was 385.77 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.3%. Total retail sales of social consumer goods158.23 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15438+0%. The per capita net income of farmers and herdsmen was 2259 yuan, an increase of 26 1 yuan.