Police officers stand guard at China's highest-altitude border police station-Tibet Online

PICS&VIDEOS | IN PICS

Police officers stand guard at China's highest-altitude border police station

October 08, 2026Source: Xinhua

Head of the Pumaqangtang border police station arranges police equipment in Pumaqangtang Township in Shannan, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Aug. 19, 2026. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida)
Police officers of the Pumaqangtang border police station help a man free his truck from being stuck in Shannan, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Aug. 19, 2026. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida)
A police officer (L) visits a resident in Pumaqangtang Township in Shannan, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Aug. 19, 2026. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida)
An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 19, 2026 shows a view of the Gangbu glacier along the police patrol route in Shannan, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida)
A police officer of the Pumaqangtang border police station takes photos of flowers along the patrol route in Shannan, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Aug. 19, 2026. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida)
Police officers of the Pumaqangtang border police station patrol in Shannan, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Aug. 19, 2026. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida)
Police officers of the Pumaqangtang border police station help a man free his truck from being stuck in Shannan, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Aug. 19, 2026. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida)
Police officers of the Pumaqangtang border police station patrol near the Gangbu glacier in Shannan, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Aug. 19, 2026. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida)
An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 19, 2026 shows a view of Pumaqangtang Township in Shannan, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida)

Pumaqangtang, China's highest township, has an average altitude of 5,373 meters, with oxygen levels less than a half of that at sea level.

Here stands the Pumaqangtang border police station, the highest-altitude border police station in China. Police and auxiliary police officers here, with an average age of just over 30, hold their posts on the frigid, oxygen-thin plateau.