Xigazê, city, south-central Tibet Autonomous Region, western China. Situated on a well-defended height (elevation 12,800 feet) overlooking the confluence of two rivers in one of the most fertile valley areas of Tibet, it is the traditional center of the area known as Tsang or Houtsang on the Nepal border.

The Tashilhunpo monastery, built at Xigazê in 1447, is the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama. The area was brought under the control of Lhasa, capital of Tibet, in the 1920s, when the Panchen Lama fled to China after a disagreement with the Dalai Lama. Since 1951 the area around the city has been intensively cultivated (wheat and barley).