Chamdo, means the "join of water" in Tibetan.

Chamdo is located in the east of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the upstream of Lantsang River. It covers an area of 10,652 square kilometres with a population of 77,000. The heighest altitude is 5460 metres above sea level, while the lowest altitude is 3100 metres above sea level.

The main mine resources are copper, lead, zinc, arsenic, fluorite, limestone, plaster and salines, etc. Agriculture and animal husbandry are major economy styles. The percentage of forest coverage is 23.9 percent and the total wood stock volumn is 30 million cubic metres.

The total length of roads in the county is 130 kilometres, which are Sichuan-Tibet Road, Yunnan-Tibet Road and Heichang Road.

The Chamdo Town is one of the important towns in east Tibet. It is the center of Chamdo County's politics, economy, culture and traffic.