Kham
Encyclopedia
Kham is a historical region covering a land area largely divided between present-day Tibetan Autonomous Region and Sichuan
province, with smaller portions located within Qinghai
, Gansu
and Yunnan
provinces of China
. During the Republic of China
's rule over mainland China (1911–1949), most of the region was called Xikang Province (西康省). It held the status of "special administrative district" until 1939, when it became an official Chinese province. Its provincial status was nominal and without much cohesion, like most of China's territory during the time of Japanese invasion and civil war.
Kham is called by the natives of the region as: Tibetan: ཁམས་པ; Wylie: khams pa; Chinese: 康巴; pinyin: Kāngbā.
Kham has a rugged terrain characterized by mountain ridges and gorges running from northwest to southeast, and collectively known as the Hengduan Mountains. Numerous rivers, including the Mekong
, Yangtze
, Yalong Jiang, and the Salween flow through Kham.
Under the modern administrative division of the People's Republic of China
, Kham comprises a total of 50 contemporary counties, which have been incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan
(16 counties), Yunnan
(3 counties), and Qinghai
(6 counties) as well as the eastern portion of the Tibet Autonomous Region
(25 counties).
Linguists and anthropologists refer to Kham as the 'Ethnic Corridor of Southwest China', as its vast and sparsely populated territories are inhabited by over 14 culturally and linguistically distinct ethnic groups. For reasons of simplicity, the Chinese government combines the various ethnic groups of Kham together with the Tibetans to form one big nationality, called the "Tibetan Nationality". There are, however, significant differences in traditions and beliefs—even physical appearance—between the peoples of Kham and Lhasa
. At least one-third of Kham residents are speakers of Qiangic languages, a family of twelve distinct but interrelated languages that are not closely related to the Khams Tibetan language
.
The people of Kham are reputed warriors.
, i.e. 'four rivers and six ranges'. The peoples of Kham have endured a tumultuous past, their sovereignty often encroached upon and marginalized by both Tibetans to the West and the Han Chinese
to the East.
Kham was never controlled by a single king, but most of the chieftains revered the Dalai Lamas and often made contact with the Lhasa government. Kham was a patchwork of two dozen or more kingdoms, tribes, and chiefdoms that were constantly at war with each other. Since the collapse of the Tibetan Empire
in the mid-9th century, the peoples of Kham had aggressively maintained their independence from invading nations. Local chieftains ruled their respective territories with hereditary titles bestowed by the Tibetan government. Chieftains were able to rule with a large degree of independence from both China and Tibet.
In 1717, the Mongol Zunghar Khanate
invaded Tibet, and a period of internal strife and civil war followed. The Kangxi emperor sent armies into the area by 1720 to defeat the Dzungars, when local Tibetan leaders pledged their allegiance to the Qing Empire. In 1724, the regions of Amdo
and Kham were made into the province of Qinghai
(Kokonor), with parts of Eastern Kham incorporated into neighboring Chinese provinces.
In the early 19th century, Gombo Namgye raised a rebellion in Nyarong, an area of Eastern Kham. He is reported to have taken control of Eastern Tibet, excepting Amdo. Residents of Derge and the Hor States appealed to both Lhasa and the Manchu government for help against Namgye. China was unable to take action, but Tibetan authorities sent an army in 1863, and defeated Namgye in 1865. Tibet then claimed Nyarong, Derge (or De-ge) and the Hor States north of Nyarong. This appears to have been accepted by the Manchu emperor.
Tibetan control of the Batang
region of Kham appears to have continued uncontested from an agreement made in 1726 until soon after the invasion of Tibet by Francis Younghusband
in 1904, which alarmed the Qing rulers in China. They sent an imperial official to the region to begin reasserting Qing control, but the locals revolted and killed him. The Qing government in Beijing
then appointed Zhao Erfeng
, the Governor of Xining
, "Army Commander of Tibet" to reintegrate Tibet into China. He was sent in 1905 (though other sources say this occurred in 1908) on a punitive expedition
and began destroying many monasteries in Kham and Amdo
and implementing a process of sinification of the region:
In 1910, the Qing government sent a military expedition of its own to establish direct Chinese rule. They deposed the 13th Dalai Lama in an imperial edict and instigated a search for a new incarnation. . The Dalai Lama then fled to British India in February 1910. While in India, the Dalai Lama became a close friend of Charles Alfred Bell
, a British diplomatic officer stationed in Sikkim
and a critic of Great Britain's policies in the region. "By going in and then coming out again, we knocked the Tibetans down and left them for the first comer to kick," wrote Bell later. The situation was soon to change, however, as, after the fall of the Qing dynasty in October 1911, Zhao's soldiers mutinied and beheaded him.
The 13th Dalai Lama fled to British India in February 1910. The same month, the Chinese Qing government issued a proclamation deposing the Dalai Lama and instigating the search for a new incarnation.
The official position of the British Government was it would not intervene between China and Tibet and would only recognize the de facto government of China within Tibet at this time. Bell, in his history of Tibet, wrote of this time that "the Tibetans were abandoned to Chinese aggression, an aggression for which the British Military Expedition to Lhasa and subsequent retreat [and consequent power vacuum within Tibet) were primarily responsible". Later, Britain defined the Indo-Tibetan border at the 1914 Simla Accord with the McMahon Line
. China's delegation refused to agree to the line and still claims the land India received from Tibet as South Tibet
, although the McMahon line remains the de facto border.
In 1932, an agreement signed between Chinese warlord Liu Wenhui
and Tibetan forces formalized the partition of Kham into two regions: Eastern Kham, which was administered by Chinese forces, and Western Kham, which was administered by Tibet. Eastern Kham subsequently became the actual area of control of China's Xikang province. The border between eastern and western Kham is the Yangtze River
- Dri Chu in Tibetan and Jinsha Jiang, or Chang Jiang respectively, in Chinese.
In 1950, following the defeat of the Kuomintang
rulers of China by communist forces in the Chinese Civil War
, the People's Liberation Army
entered western Kham. Western Kham was then set up as a separate Qamdo
Territory (昌都地区), then merged into Tibet Autonomous Region
in 1965.
Meanwhile, Xikang
province, comprising eastern Kham, was merged into Sichuan
province in 1955. The border between Sichuan and Tibet Autonomous Region has remained the Yangtze River. The northernmost region of Kham, Yushu
, has been a part of Qinghai
province since the 18th century.
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
province, with smaller portions located within Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
, Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
and Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
provinces of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. During the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
's rule over mainland China (1911–1949), most of the region was called Xikang Province (西康省). It held the status of "special administrative district" until 1939, when it became an official Chinese province. Its provincial status was nominal and without much cohesion, like most of China's territory during the time of Japanese invasion and civil war.
Kham is called by the natives of the region as: Tibetan: ཁམས་པ; Wylie: khams pa; Chinese: 康巴; pinyin: Kāngbā.
Geography
Mekong
The Mekong is a river that runs through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annually....
, Yangtze
Yangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
, Yalong Jiang, and the Salween flow through Kham.
Under the modern administrative division of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, Kham comprises a total of 50 contemporary counties, which have been incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
(16 counties), Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
(3 counties), and Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
(6 counties) as well as the eastern portion of the Tibet Autonomous Region
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region , Tibet or Xizang for short, also called the Xizang Autonomous Region is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China , created in 1965....
(25 counties).
Ethnic groups
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
. At least one-third of Kham residents are speakers of Qiangic languages, a family of twelve distinct but interrelated languages that are not closely related to the Khams Tibetan language
Khams Tibetan language
Khams Tibetan is the Tibetan language used by the majority of the people in the Kham region of eastern Tibet . It is one of the four main spoken languages of Tibetan, the other three being those of U-Tsang , Amdo and Western Tibetan...
.
The people of Kham are reputed warriors.
History
Kham was traditionally referred to as Chushi GangdrukChushi Gangdruk
Chushi Gangdruk was an organization of Tibetan guerrilla fighters who attempted to overthrow the rule of the People's...
, i.e. 'four rivers and six ranges'. The peoples of Kham have endured a tumultuous past, their sovereignty often encroached upon and marginalized by both Tibetans to the West and the Han Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
to the East.
Kham was never controlled by a single king, but most of the chieftains revered the Dalai Lamas and often made contact with the Lhasa government. Kham was a patchwork of two dozen or more kingdoms, tribes, and chiefdoms that were constantly at war with each other. Since the collapse of the Tibetan Empire
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
in the mid-9th century, the peoples of Kham had aggressively maintained their independence from invading nations. Local chieftains ruled their respective territories with hereditary titles bestowed by the Tibetan government. Chieftains were able to rule with a large degree of independence from both China and Tibet.
In 1717, the Mongol Zunghar Khanate
Zunghar Khanate
The Zunghar Khanate was a nomadic power on the Eurasian steppe. It covered the area called Dzungaria and stretched from the west end of the Great Wall of China to present-day eastern Kazakhstan, and from present-day northern Kyrgyzstan to southern Siberia .In 1678 Galdan received from the Dalai...
invaded Tibet, and a period of internal strife and civil war followed. The Kangxi emperor sent armies into the area by 1720 to defeat the Dzungars, when local Tibetan leaders pledged their allegiance to the Qing Empire. In 1724, the regions of Amdo
Amdo
Amdo is one of the three traditional regions of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu River to the Drichu river . While culturally and ethnically a Tibetan area, Amdo has been administered by a...
and Kham were made into the province of Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
(Kokonor), with parts of Eastern Kham incorporated into neighboring Chinese provinces.
In the early 19th century, Gombo Namgye raised a rebellion in Nyarong, an area of Eastern Kham. He is reported to have taken control of Eastern Tibet, excepting Amdo. Residents of Derge and the Hor States appealed to both Lhasa and the Manchu government for help against Namgye. China was unable to take action, but Tibetan authorities sent an army in 1863, and defeated Namgye in 1865. Tibet then claimed Nyarong, Derge (or De-ge) and the Hor States north of Nyarong. This appears to have been accepted by the Manchu emperor.
Tibetan control of the Batang
Batang
-Places in Southeast Asia:* Batang Regency, regency in Central Java province, Indonesia* Batang, Batang, capital of Batang Regency* Batang, Irosin, Sorsogon, one of the 28 barangays of Irosin, Sorsogon, Philippines-Places in China:...
region of Kham appears to have continued uncontested from an agreement made in 1726 until soon after the invasion of Tibet by Francis Younghusband
Francis Younghusband
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, KCSI, KCIE was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer...
in 1904, which alarmed the Qing rulers in China. They sent an imperial official to the region to begin reasserting Qing control, but the locals revolted and killed him. The Qing government in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
then appointed Zhao Erfeng
Zhao Erfeng
Zhao Erfeng was a Qing official and Chinese bannerman, who belonged to the Plain Blue Banner. He is known for being the last amban in Tibet, appointed in March, 1908. Lien Yu , a Manchu, was appointed as the other amban...
, the Governor of Xining
Xining
Xining is the capital of Qinghai province, People's Republic of China, and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. It has 2,208,708 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 1,198,304 live in the built up area made of 4 urban districts.-History:...
, "Army Commander of Tibet" to reintegrate Tibet into China. He was sent in 1905 (though other sources say this occurred in 1908) on a punitive expedition
Punitive expedition
A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...
and began destroying many monasteries in Kham and Amdo
Amdo
Amdo is one of the three traditional regions of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu River to the Drichu river . While culturally and ethnically a Tibetan area, Amdo has been administered by a...
and implementing a process of sinification of the region:
- "He abolished the powers of the Tibetan local leaders and appointed Chinese magistrates in their places. He introduced new laws that limited the number of lamas and deprived monasteries of their temporal power and inaugurated schemes for having the land cultivated by Chinese immigrants.
- Zhao's methods in eastern Tibet uncannily prefigured the Communist policies nearly half a century later. They were aimed at the extermination of the Tibetan clergy, the assimilation of territory and repopulation of the Tibetan plateaus with poor peasants from SichuanSichuan' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
. Like the later Chinese conquerors, Zhao's men looted and destroyed Tibetan monasteries, melted down religious images and tore up sacred texts to use to line the soles of their boots and, as the Communists were also to do later, Zhao Erfeng worked out a comprehensive scheme for the redevelopment of Tibet that covered military training reclamation work, secular education, trade and administration."
In 1910, the Qing government sent a military expedition of its own to establish direct Chinese rule. They deposed the 13th Dalai Lama in an imperial edict and instigated a search for a new incarnation. . The Dalai Lama then fled to British India in February 1910. While in India, the Dalai Lama became a close friend of Charles Alfred Bell
Charles Alfred Bell
Sir Charles Alfred Bell K.C.I.E. , born in Calcutta, was a British-Indian tibetologist. He was educated at Winchester College. After joining the Indian Civil Service, he was appointed Political Officer in Sikkim in 1908...
, a British diplomatic officer stationed in Sikkim
Sikkim
Sikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayan mountains...
and a critic of Great Britain's policies in the region. "By going in and then coming out again, we knocked the Tibetans down and left them for the first comer to kick," wrote Bell later. The situation was soon to change, however, as, after the fall of the Qing dynasty in October 1911, Zhao's soldiers mutinied and beheaded him.
The 13th Dalai Lama fled to British India in February 1910. The same month, the Chinese Qing government issued a proclamation deposing the Dalai Lama and instigating the search for a new incarnation.
The official position of the British Government was it would not intervene between China and Tibet and would only recognize the de facto government of China within Tibet at this time. Bell, in his history of Tibet, wrote of this time that "the Tibetans were abandoned to Chinese aggression, an aggression for which the British Military Expedition to Lhasa and subsequent retreat [and consequent power vacuum within Tibet) were primarily responsible". Later, Britain defined the Indo-Tibetan border at the 1914 Simla Accord with the McMahon Line
McMahon Line
The McMahon Line is a line agreed to by Great Britain and Tibet as part of Simla Accord, a treaty signed in 1914. Although its legal status is disputed by China, it is the effective boundary between China and India....
. China's delegation refused to agree to the line and still claims the land India received from Tibet as South Tibet
South Tibet
The Arunachal Pradesh dispute is a territorial dispute over the region located on the middle of the Yarlung Zangbo River, 300 km north of the Himalayas. It is entirely administered by India as part of its Arunachal Pradesh state; China claims it as a part of its Tibet Autonomous Region and...
, although the McMahon line remains the de facto border.
In 1932, an agreement signed between Chinese warlord Liu Wenhui
Liu Wenhui
Liu Wenhui was one of the warlords of Sichuan province during China's Warlord era. Liu who rose to prominence in Sichuan in the 1920s and 1930s, came from a peasant family. At the beginning of his career, he was aligned with the Kuomintang , commanding the Sichuan-Xikang Defence Force from 1927 to...
and Tibetan forces formalized the partition of Kham into two regions: Eastern Kham, which was administered by Chinese forces, and Western Kham, which was administered by Tibet. Eastern Kham subsequently became the actual area of control of China's Xikang province. The border between eastern and western Kham is the Yangtze River
Yangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
- Dri Chu in Tibetan and Jinsha Jiang, or Chang Jiang respectively, in Chinese.
In 1950, following the defeat of the Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
rulers of China by communist forces in the Chinese Civil War
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
, the People's Liberation Army
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
entered western Kham. Western Kham was then set up as a separate Qamdo
Qamdo
Qamdo , Chamdo , 昌都 can refer to:* Chamdo, a town in Tibet* Qamdo Region, a former administrative region in western Kham, Tibet - see Qamdo Prefecture...
Territory (昌都地区), then merged into Tibet Autonomous Region
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region , Tibet or Xizang for short, also called the Xizang Autonomous Region is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China , created in 1965....
in 1965.
Meanwhile, Xikang
Xikang
Xikang or Sikang , is a defunct province of the Republic of China , comprising most of the Kham region of traditional Tibet, where Khampas, a subgroup of the Tibetan ethnicity, live. The area is also home to a small minority of Mongol ethnicity...
province, comprising eastern Kham, was merged into Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
province in 1955. The border between Sichuan and Tibet Autonomous Region has remained the Yangtze River. The northernmost region of Kham, Yushu
Yushu
Yushu may refer to the following locations in China:*Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , in Qinghai*Yushu, Jilin , city in Jilin*Yushu County , in Qinghai*Yushu Town, the name of a number of towns...
, has been a part of Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
province since the 18th century.
See also
- Outline of TibetOutline of TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia and the home to the indigenous Tibetan people. With an average elevation of 4,900 metres , it is the highest region on Earth and is commonly referred to as the "Roof of the World."...
- Tibetan Resistance Since 1950Tibetan resistance since 1950Tibetan resistance to Chinese domination did not begin with the Invasion of Tibet in 1950. The history of Tibet and the history of China have been interconnected throughout the centuries. The complexity of their relationship is the root of the contemporary dispute over Tibetan claims of sovereignty...
- Khams Tibetan languageKhams Tibetan languageKhams Tibetan is the Tibetan language used by the majority of the people in the Kham region of eastern Tibet . It is one of the four main spoken languages of Tibetan, the other three being those of U-Tsang , Amdo and Western Tibetan...
- XikangXikangXikang or Sikang , is a defunct province of the Republic of China , comprising most of the Kham region of traditional Tibet, where Khampas, a subgroup of the Tibetan ethnicity, live. The area is also home to a small minority of Mongol ethnicity...
- Kingdom of Derge
Further reading
- Thomas Laird: The Story of Tibet: Conversation With the Dalai Lama, Grove Press, New York, ISBN 978-0-8021-1827-1
- Andreas Gruschke: The Cultural Monuments of Tibet’s Outer Provinces: Kham, 3 vols. (2 published so far), White Lotus Press, Bangkok 2004. ISBN 974-480-049-6
- Tsering Shakya: The Dragon in the Land of Snows. A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947, London 1999, ISBN 0-14-019615-3
- Pamela Logan: Tibetan Rescue. The Extraordinary Quest to Save the Sacred Art Treasures of Tibet, Tuttle Publishing 2002, ISBN 0-8048-3421-0
External links
- Khampa Network
- Seven Days in Permitless Tibet Magazine article about traveling overland across Kham