Kangding


Kangding, also known as Dartsedo, is a county-level city and the seat of Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province of Southwest China. Kangding is on the bank of the Zheduo River and has been considered the historical border between the Kham region of Tibet and the Sichuan region. Kangding's urban center is called Lucheng, which has around 134,000 inhabitants.

Names

Historically, the urban center was known in Chinese as Dajianlu from the Chinese transliteration of the Tibetan name Dartsedo or Darzêdo.

History

Kangding was on the historical border between Tibet and China. From Kangding to the west lies Tibetan civilization, whereas to the east are Han cultural areas. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Chakla. During its history, Kangding has witnessed many conflicts between Tibetan and Han polities. Kangding was for many centuries an important trading city where Han brick tea was carried by porters from Chengdu and other centres to trade for Tibetan wool. A dispute involving the sovereignty over the city between Tibet and the Qing was resolved when the Manchu forces took the city by storm in the Battle of Dartsedo in 1701.
On July 1, 1786 an earthquake of 7.75 on the Moment magnitude scale ruined nearly the entire city.
The city was renamed 'Kangding' in 1904. The American author Dorris Shelton Still, author of Sue in Tibet, was born here.
During the time of the Republic of China administration, Kangding was the capital of the now-defunct province of Xikang.
Dartsedo was particularly famous in France under the name 'Tatsienlou' in the 19th and earl 20th century as famous French travellers visited it, such as Alexandra David-Néel, Joseph Gabet and Évariste Huc, Gabriel Bonvalot and prince Henri d'Orléans or Victor Segalen.

Climate

Kangding City has a highland climate, with cold winters and cool summers. Affected by the monsoon, it is rainy in summer and dry in winter.
Kangding has a monsoon-influenced climate, lying in the transition between a humid continental and a subtropical highland climate on the Köppen system. Despite the elevation of, the diurnal temperature variation averages at most in any month. From April to September, rain is a very common occurrence, with around two-thirds of the days receiving some rainfall; in addition, 77% of the annual precipitation is delivered from May to September. Monthly daily average temperatures range from in January to in July; the annual mean is. Over the course of the year, the frost-free period lasts 177 days and there are 1,738 hours of sunshine. The highest temperature ever recorded in Kangding was a high temperature record of measured on March 30, 2007.

Administrative divisions

Kangding is divided into 2 subdistricts, 8 towns and 7 townships:

Description

Kangding is located in a valley of the Tibetan Plateau about west-southwest of Chengdu, the provincial capital, and west of Ya'an. It is a city populated by significant proportions of both Tibetans and Han, and is part of the historical Tibetan region of Kham. The raging Zheduo River flows through the city, thus the constant sound of water reverberates throughout much of the city. At the north end of Kangding near the bus station the Zheduo River converges with the Yala River. The city features a sizable square, People's Square, where young and old alike gather in the early hours of the morning to do Tai Chi, play badminton, or socialise. This square comes alive on the weekends as well, when families tend to fill it. Traditional Tibetan and Sichuanese restaurants are easily found throughout the city. Dentok, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery sits on the Paoma Mountain overlooking the city, and is accessible by cable car. As of October 2006, a stone amphitheatre is under construction at the upper monastery.
It is a fast-growing city, with a rapidly developing tourist infrastructure, including a scenic cable car imported from Germany.
In 2008 the PRC government opened an airport at Kangding in the province of Sichuan, with a runway. At the time this was the second-highest in the world, at above sea level, with the highest position held by Qamdo Bamda Airport at 4,400m. Since 2013, with the opening of the Daocheng Yading Airport at an elevation 4,411m, Kangding Airport is the third highest in the world.
The folk song Kangding Qingge enjoys popularity throughout China. Since Kangding city was a major town for trading of cloth and tea between Tibetans and Han people. With the increase of trade in Kangding it also attracted more traders with different nationalities creating this culturally diverse city today. Therefore, singers also incorporate the music style of Tibet to acknowledge the diversity.
Kangding contains some notable Buddhist monasteries, including Nanwu Si Monastery, Anjue Monastery and Jinggang Monastery.
It was from 1857 the see of the Diocese of Kangding, administered by Paris Foreign Missions Society. The Catholic church was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt in the 1980s. Today it is no longer in use and has been converted to shops and a hotel.

Transport