"Zaya" means "inhabitation" in Tibetan.

Zaya County is located in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region and east of the Nyingchi area. It is one of the frontier county of Nyingchi. With a population of 250,000, Zaya County covers an area of 31,659 square kilometres. The average altitude of the county is 2,300 metres above sea level.

The mine resources of the county include silver, lead, iron, copper, zincum, stibium and mica, etc.

The mainly species of trees are pine, spruce, birch, sandal wood, and camphor tree, etc. The stock volume of trees is 0.115 billion cubic metres.