Perched at  4,500 meters (14,764 feet) on the edge of the Changtang Northern Plateau, Nagchu (Naqu in Mandarin) is one of Tibet's highest towns (not to mention one of the world's highest). Nagchu is also one of the coldest, most windswept cities in Tibet, a set of conditions that has deterred both visitors and agriculture. Despite the harsh environment, Nagchu is home to nearly 70,000 people as well as hardy sheep and goats—they're the staple here, where oxygen levels are just 60% of those found at sea level. 

Although Nagchu does not offer many tourist attractions, the Horse Racing Festival held in August attracts nearly 10,000 nomads who gather to show off their skills and to bargain and trade tools and supplies. If you've acclimated sufficiently to Tibet's lower-altitude destinations and are looking to go higher and get even further away from it all, Nagchu is quite the place to find yourself.
 

Evidence of human occupation more than 2,000 years ago has been unearthed in various locations around the plateau where present-day Nagchu stands. For most of its life, the town was most likely a nomadic settlement used only during the summers. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Nagchu became more of a permanent village, slowly evolving into a town, boosted by its position on the caravan route to Amdo. In the 17th century, the Horse Racing Festival was established as a way to bring the area's nomads into the young township to exchange ideas, inventions and goods—a kind of nomad Expo. Within the next century the gathering had become the most popular and important event of its kind in the Northern Plateau.

Little changed for almost two hundred years in and around Nagchu, until the Cultural Revolution hit Tibet and the culturally significant Horse Racing Festival was banned. The festival has recently been revived, delighting increasing numbers of  tourists every year along with the remaining nomads, many of whom are as likely to roll into town on a motorcycle as they are to arrive on horseback.
 

Nagchu is one of the coldest inhabited destinations in all of China. The average year round temperature is just 1˚C (34˚F). The town is frequented by wind gusts and storms, which bring temperatures down around -30˚C (-35˚F) during the icy winter months. Nagchu's only break from the cold is during the peak of summer where temperatures average in the high teens Celsius (65-70˚F).