Kham

Kham is an eastern Tibetan region that extends to a part on the east of today's Tibet Autonomous Region of the People 's Republic of China and parts of the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan. The region was during the rule of the Republic of China (1911-1949) Xikang (西康省) called, which, however, did not extend over the entire Kham. Consistent Western view, the People's Republic of China Kham told later on to other provinces. In fact, however, appropriate administrative divisions already in late Imperial China ( Qing Dynasty 1644-1911), had been formed, the basis of which was not least the strong regional breakdown due to the political fragmentation of Kham.

Structure

Kham comprises According to current political- administrative structure 50 counties, of which 16 today to Sichuan, three to Yunnan, Qinghai and six to 25 are part of the Tibet Autonomous Region. These are also part of three administrative districts of Tibet Autonomous Region ( Qamdo, Nagqu and Nyingchi ), two autonomous counties of Sichuan ( Garzê and Ngawa ) as well as one autonomous district of Qinghai ( Yushu ) and Yunnan ( Dêqên ).

Kham is known along with Amdo as one of the three former provinces of Tibet ( cholka sum), but has never been an administrative unit. Until the 19th century, the term appeared, separately on, but often in combination with ( A) mdo as Dokham ( mdo khams ) or is representative of Eastern Tibet total construed in accordance with this combination. Political and historical Kham was a conglomerate of various independent dominions ( kingdoms Derge, Nangchen and Poyül ), Llama principalities ( Dragyab, Riwoche, Muli ) and partly from Lhasa (eg Pashoe ) or dependent also of Chinese provinces areas.

Geography

Geographically, Kham Amdo raises roughly outlined by the catchment area of ​​the headwaters of the rivers Yangtze River (Tib. Dri Chu ), Mekong (Tib. Dza Chu ), Salween (Tib. Nag Chu / Chu Ngül ) and its tributaries from - with wide, of nomads of high altitude plains in the north and the area between the river valleys and gorges high valleys or planes ( the so-called sgangs ) as well as arable valleys, most of which are densely populated along the tributaries of the main streams.

Population

The inhabitants of Kham call themselves accordingly also not Böpa ( bod pa ) as the Tibetan term for Tibetans is, but Khampa ( khams pa).

Kham province to be called is correct in the sense of a cultural province. This Tibetan cultural region of Kham is also one of the most significant and most varied in the highlands of Tibet. Famous monasteries and cultural centers are Jyekundo (Chinese: Yushu ), the former UK De ( r) ge [ with the famous Dege Printing Parkhang ], Kandse, Litang, Qamdo [ Chamdo ] and Dragyab.

History

From the collapse of the Tibetan royal family in the 10th century to the 1950s, the people of Kham have received a high degree of independence from both Lhasa and China. This was made possible mainly by the surface structure of the country. This Kham was never dominated by a single king or prince Lama, but there was always a large number of regional ruler, as the most important of the Dege Gyalpo, " King of Dege " can be viewed. After the conquest of eastern Tibet to 1639/1640 ( campaign against the king of Beri in Kham ) and the subsequent subjugation of the kings of Tsang in 1641 by the ruling in the northern Amdo Khoshuud - Mongol princes Gushri Khan this declared himself king of Tibet. Thus for several centuries was under the entire Tibetan settlement area again a uniform, albeit Mongol rule.

The special relationship between Gushri Khan and the 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso meant that under the Mongol princes, the temporal power over Western, Northern and Central Tibet and Kham (not Amdo, where the Khoshuud resided ) gradually into the hands of the Dalai Lama went on. These power relations lasted until the early 18th century, when Tibet was drawn into Mongolian struggles for supremacy in the time of Prince Lhabzang Khan. This had not only the decay of the power centered in Lhasa result, but also the resurgence of the regional princes who could not escape in eastern Kham the growing power of engaging in Tibet Qing Dynasty. From now on ( 1728 ) calculated the eastern regions of Kham formally the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan, although the local princes still a very high degree of autonomy - could preserve - both from the imperial court as well as of Lhasa.

In 1932 an agreement was signed between the Chinese warlord Liu Wenhui and Tibetan troops signed, which provided for the division of Kham into two regions: Eastern Kham, which was administered by Chinese officials and Western Kham, which was placed under Tibetan control. As a border between East and West Kham was the Yangtze River. Eastern Kham became the Chinese province Xikang which, however, on the paper also included the western part of the Yangtze River located later. There, however, neither the presence of officials from the Chinese bureaucracy nor of the troops was given.

After the defeat of the Kuomintang against the Communists in the Chinese civil war of the Eastern Kham fell without a fight to communist China. In 1950, the People's Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River, came to West Kham and occupied after the surrender of the Tibetan governor of Chamdo, Ngawang Jigme Ngapoi, the city and the surrounding area. It was incorporated as a special territory called Qamdo in the Chinese administration. The Xikang province was dissolved in 1955, Eastern Kham was annexed to the province of Sichuan, while the West Kham was added to the sphere of the Lhasa government. The latter was established in 1965 to today's Tibet Autonomous Region. Here, the Yangtze River was the border between Sichuan and Tibet.