Lhasa is the provincial seat of Tibet Autonomous Region. In Tibetan, Lhasa means Holly Land or Buddhist Land. It has long been the political, economic, cultural and religious center of Tibet, with the splendid and majestic Potala Palace as the symbol of old ultimate integrated authority of politics and religion. Based on the advantages of natural resources and leveraging the comparative superiority, Lhasa exerts great efforts in developing its five unique industries, namely excavation, processing of agricultural and animal husbandry products, Tibet traditional medicine, new-type building materials and folk handicrafts. In 2007, Lhasa’s GDP totaled RMB 12 billion, with a per capita GDP of RMB 19,589 against the permanent-resident population of 460,000.

拉薩，西藏自治區首府，”拉薩”在藏語中為“圣地”或“佛地”之意，長期以來就是西藏政治、經濟、文化、宗教的中心，金碧輝煌、雄偉壯麗的布達拉宮，是至高無上政教合一政權的象征。拉薩在發展特色工業上，依托資源優勢，發揮比較優勢，大力發展以采掘業、農畜產品加工業、藏醫藥業、新型建材業、民族手工業為主的五大特色工業。2007年全市國民生產總值為120億元，常住人口為46萬，人均GDP達到19589元。

Situated on the alluvial plains in river valleys, Lhasa is one of the cities at the highest elevation in the world. With more than 3,000 hours of sunshine annually, it is thus called the “sunshine city”. Lhasa is surrounded by the omnipresent thermal springs that are economically valuable and therapeutically useful. The Qusan Hot Spring in Doilungdêqên County and the Dejong Hot Spring in Maizhokunggar County are well-known all over Tibet. The north of Lhasa is prosperous in animal husbandry, the middle is famous for the Lhasa River Valley and the south is dominated by the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River which fosters one of the good agricultural areas in Tibet with rich production of qingke, wheat, oilseeds and pulse.

拉薩市區地處河谷沖積平原，是世界上海拔最高的城市之一。年日照時數3000小時以上，故有“日光城”美稱。拉薩周圍具有經濟價值和醫療作用的地熱溫泉遍地，堆龍德慶縣的曲桑溫泉、墨竹工卡縣的德中溫泉享譽整個藏區。拉薩北部牧業興旺，中部是著名的拉薩河谷，南部屬雅魯藏布江中游，為西藏較好的農業區之一，盛產青稞、小麥、油菜籽和豆類。