Kham

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Lore & Background

Settled as Tibet's eastern frontier in the 7th century, King Songtsen Gampo built temples along its eastern border. In 1939, an eastern area of Kham was officially established as Xikang Province of China. Kham has a rugged terrain characterized by mountain ridges and gorges running from northwest to southeast, collectively known as the Hengduan Mountains. Numerous rivers, including the Mekong, Yangtze, Yalong River, and the Salween River flow through Kham. Under the modern administrative division of China, Kham includes a total of 50 contemporary counties, which have been incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan (16 counties), Yunnan (three counties), and Qinghai (6 counties) as well as the eastern portion of the Tibet Autonomous Region (25 counties). The people of Kham, the Khampas, are reputed warriors renowned for their marksmanship and horsemanship. References state many Khampas in the Hor States include mention of their Mongolian heritage. There are significant differences in traditions and beliefs—even physical appearance—between the peoples of Kham and Lhasa. Most of Kham's residents speak Khams Tibetan while at least one-third of the residents are speakers of Qiangic languages, a family of twelve distinct but interrelated languages that are not closely related to Khams Tibetan. As a frontier region, Kham integrated and 'Tibetanized' early Mongolian and Chinese populations. After Güshri Khan's invasion of Kham in 1639, Mongolian people and Amdo's tribal people resettled to the region. Khampa men are sometimes described as taller than other Tibetan groups and among one of the tallest people in Asia, with the reported average height of an adult men being 180 cm.

In Their Own Story

The Pugyal Dynasty (or Yarlung) of the Tibetan Empire sent troops east from Lhasa to the reaches of the Tibetan Plateau, where they interacted with local cultures and languages to establish eastern Tibet, or Do Kham ('Do', the convergence of rivers and valleys; 'Kham', frontier). Kham was traditionally referred to as Chushi Gangdruk, i.e. 'The Four Rivers and Six Ranges' and 'The Four Great Valleys'. Responsible for introducing Buddhism to Tibet, King Songtsen Gampo (reign 629–649) built twelve 'border-taming' temples in Kham, and his 4th wife Wencheng Gongzhu is credited with commissioning Buddhist structures while traveling through Kham in 640–641, from her home in China to Central Tibet. During the Imperial era, both Nyingma school and Bon monasteries were located, especially in Nyarong Valley, among pastoral and agricultural-based polities ruled by local chieftains, polities which included merchant as well as Mongol and Chinese populations. Notable Tibetan Buddhist art from this era, dating from 804 or 816, includes carved stone statues of Buddha Vairocana. Following a power struggle in the mid-9th century, Tibet separated into independent kingdoms. In 1270, the Sakya school's lama Tonstul, a student of Sakya Pandita, established a monastery in Kham while both Kagyu and Sakya monasteries were located in the northern plains, including Gonjo and Lingtsang, which accompanied the earlier Nyingma and Bon monasteries of Kham. In 1639, Güshri Khan, a supporter of the Dalai Lama, invaded with Mongolian troops and defeated the powerful King of Beri in Kham. In 1655, Ngawang Phuntsok, a student of the Dalai Lama, founded Gonsar Monastery, the first of the 13 Gelug monasteries in the Hor States, with the support of the kingdom of Degé. By 1677, many Gelug monasteries had been built when the 5th Dalai Lama finalized Kham's Sino-Tibetan border location between Ming dynasty China and Tibet reunified under the Khoshut Khanate, resulting in Kham being ascribed to Tibet's authority. The major independent polities included the Chakla, Degé, the Lingtsang, Nangchen and the Lhatok. Other important polities included Chamdo, Batang, Mili, and the Hor States. In 1717, the Mongol Dzungar Khanate invaded Tibet and other Asian regions. The Qing Chinese army likewise invaded and defeated the Dzungars. This led to the redrawing of the Sino-Tibetan boundary of 1677, which had followed the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The frontier line changed in either 1725 or 1726 to follow the Dri River (Jinsha River, Upper Yangtze), while the Kham region on the eastern bank became Qing domain. There, hereditary chieftains were bestowed honorific titles of tusi, and obligated to fight alongside the Qing army in other Kham battles between chieftains. Earlier in 1724, an area of Qinghai (Kokonor) was established within Do Kham. The eastern Kham Qing domain was later incorporated into neighboring Chinese provinces. In 1837, a minor chieftain Gompo Namgyal, of Nyarong in eastern Kham, began expanding his control regionally and launched offensives against the Hor States, Litang, Degé, the Chakla and Batang, becoming the paramount power in the region. China sent troops in against Namgyal which were defeated in 1849, and additional troops were not dispatched. Chinese military posts were present along the trading route, but 'did not have any authority over the native chiefs'. By 1862, Namgyal blocked trade routes from China to Central Tibet, and sent troops into China. Local chieftains had appealed to both the Lhasa and the Qing Manchu governments for help against Namgyal. The Tibetan authorities sent an army in 1863, and defeated Namgyal then killed him at his Nyarong fort by 1865. Central Tibet reasserted its authority over the northern parts of Kham and established the Office of the Tibetan High Commissioner to govern. Tibet also reclaimed Nyarong, Degé and the Hor States north of Nyarong. China recalled their forces. It appears to have been accepted by the Manchu Tongzhi Emperor. Then in 1896, the Qing Governor of Sichuan attempted to gain control of Nyarong valley during a military attack. After his defeat, the Qing agreed to the withdrawal of Chinese forces and the 'territory was returned to the direct rule of Lhasa'. From 1904 to 1911, China decided to reassert its control over the previously re-ceded section of Kham, and to push further into the region soon after the invasion of Tibet by the British army under Francis Younghusband in 1904. The British invasion alarmed the Qing rulers in China, and they sent Fengquan (鳳全) to Kham to initiate land reforms and reduce the numbers of monks. An anti-foreigner and anti-Qing uprising in Batang led to Fengquan's death, while Chinese fields were burned. The Qing then undertook punitive campaigns in Kham under Manchu army commander Zhao Erfeng, also the Governor of Xining, where he earned the nickname of 'the Butcher of Kham'. In 1905 or 1908 Zhao began executing monks and destroying many monasteries in Kham and Amdo, implementing an early 'sinicization' 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. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Zhao was stripped of his post and executed by the revolutionary commander Yin Changheng. A year before the collapse of the Qing, the Beijing-appointed amban Zhong Ying invaded Lhasa with the Chinese army in February 1910 in order to gain control of Tibet and establish direct Chinese rule. The 13th Dalai Lama escaped to British India, and returned before China surrendered via a letter from the amban to the Dalai Lama in the summer of 1912. On 13 February 1913, the Dalai Lama declared Tibet an independent nation, and announced the end of the historic 'priest-patron' relationship between Tibet and China. The amban and Chinese army were expelled, while other Chinese populations were given three years to depart. By late 1913, Kham and Amdo remained largely occupied by China. Tibet proposed re-establishing the border between Tibet and China.

Reader's Guide

Kham is a geographical and historical region, not a character. It is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, alongside Domey (Amdo) and Ü-Tsang. Its terrain is rugged, with the Hengduan Mountains and rivers like the Mekong, Yangtze, Yalong, and Salween. The region's history spans from the 7th century, when King Songtsen Gampo built temples there, through periods of independent kingdoms, Mongol invasions, Qing Chinese campaigns, and early 20th-century conflicts. Key events include Güshri Khan's 1639 invasion, the 1725/1726 redrawing of the Sino-Tibetan border, Gompo Namgyal's rise and defeat in the 19th century, and Zhao Erfeng's destructive campaigns in the early 1900s. The region's people, the Khampas, are known as warriors, and the area includes 50 modern counties across Tibet Autonomous Region, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Qinghai.

Did You Know?

• Kham is traditionally referred to as Chushi Gangdruk, meaning 'The Four Rivers and Six Ranges'.
• King Songtsen Gampo built twelve 'border-taming' temples in Kham during his reign (629–649).
• In 1939, an eastern area of Kham was officially established as Xikang Province of China.
• Khampa men are sometimes described as among the tallest people in Asia, with an average height of 180 cm.
• The Qing commander Zhao Erfeng earned the nickname 'the Butcher of Kham' for his campaigns in the early 1900s.