Amdo
Amdo, also known as Domey, is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions. It encompasses a large area from the Machu to the Drichu. Amdo is mostly coterminous with China's present-day Qinghai province, but also includes small portions of Sichuan and Gansu provinces.
In the 7th century, Amdo became a part of the Tibetan Empire until its dissolution in the 9th century. A local Tibetan theocracy called Tsongkha ruled the region from 997 to 1104. In the 13th century, Mongol forces conquered the area, which led to the beginning of a priest and patron relationship. From the 14th to the 16th century, the Ming Dynasty controlled some border areas of Amdo while Mongol presence remained significant. In the 1720s, the Yongzheng Emperor of Qing dynasty seized Amdo from the Dzungars and began forming the modern boundaries of Qinghai. He allowed most of the area to be administered by a series of local Tibetan rulers associated with the Ü-Tsang government through monastery systems but not directly governed by the Dalai Lama's Ganden Phodrang. From 1917 parts of Amdo were occupied by warlords of the Ma clique, who joined the Kuomintang in 1928. By 1952, Chinese Communist Party forces had annexed central Tibet and defeated both Kuomintang and Tibetan forces, solidifying their hold on the area roughly by 1958.
Tibetans in Amdo traditionally engaged in agriculture and pastoralism. The region is the home of many Tibetan Buddhism spiritual leaders, such as the 14th Dalai Lama, the 10th Panchen Lama Choekyi Gyaltsen, and the great Gelug school reformer Je Tsongkhapa.
Names
Amdo is one of the traditional regions of Greater or ethnographic Tibet. The other regions are Ü-Tsang, also known as political or central Tibet, to the southwest and Kham to the south. The name Amdo has become more common since the nineteenth century; older sources refer to roughly the same region as Domey. Amdo and Kham together were also called Do Kham on maps and manuscripts.Geography
Amdo encompasses the upper reaches of the Machu or Yellow River and Lake Qinghai. Its southern border is the Bayan Har Mountains. The area is wind-swept and tree-less, with much grass. Animals of the region consist of the wild yak and the kiang. Domesticated animals of the region consist of the domestic yak and dzo, goats, sheep, and the Mongolian horse. Amdo has been famous in epic story and in history as a land where splendid horses are raised and run wild.Demographics
Historical demographics
In historical times, the people of the region were typically non-Tibetan, such as the Mongols or the Hor people, although the latter were able to speak a Tibetan language. Other indigenous peoples included the Qiang, the Sumpa, and the Tuyuhun. People from Amdo and Kham have traditionally identified themselves as Amdowas and Khampas rather than Tibetans, sometimes more connected to the Chinese than they were to Ü-Tsang.Present demographics
The inhabitants of Amdo are referred to as Amdowa as a distinction from the Tibetans of Kham and Ü-Tsang, however, they are all considered ethnically Tibetan.Today, ethnic Tibetans predominate in the western and southern parts of Amdo, which are now administered as various Tibetan, Tibetan-Qiang, or Mongol-Tibetan autonomous prefectures. The Han Chinese are majority in the northern part and eastern part of Qinghai province. While Xining city and Haidong city are geographically small compared to the rest of Qinghai province, this area has the largest population density, with the result that the Han Chinese outnumber other ethnicities in Qinghai province generally.
The majority of Amdo Tibetans live in the larger part of Qinghai province, including the Mtshobyang Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Mtsholho TAP, Rmalho TAP, and Mgolog TAP, as well as in the Kanlho TAP of the southwest Gansu province, and sections of the Rngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous prefecture of north-west Sichuan province. Additionally, a great many Amdo Tibetans live within the Haidong Prefecture of Qinghai which is located to the east of the Qinghai Lake and around Xining city, but they constitute only a minority of the total population there and so the region did not attain TAP status. The vast Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, to the west of the Qinghai Lake, also has a minority Tibetan population, and only those Tibetans in the eastern parts of this Prefecture are Amdo inhabitants.
Mongols too have been long-term settlers in Amdo, arriving first during the time of Genghis Khan, but particularly in a series of settlement waves during the Ming period. Over the centuries, most of the Amdo Mongols have become highly Tibetanised and, superficially at least, it is now difficult to discern their original non-Tibetan ethnicity.
Language
There are many dialects of the Tibetan language spoken in Amdo due to the geographical isolation of many groups. Written Tibetan is the same throughout Tibetan-speaking regions and is based on Classical Tibetan.Many non-Tibetans of the region are multilingual and can speak Amdo Tibetan, making it difficult to ascertain their ethnicity based on language alone.
History
3rd century
The Qiang people were early users of iron and stories abound of them in their iron breast-plates with iron swords.7th century
From the seventh through the ninth century, the Tibetan Empire expanded into Amdo. The Qiang, Sumpa, Tuyuhun, and other peoples of the region were gradually tibetanized. During this period, control of Amdo moved from Songtsen Gampo and his successors to the royal family's ministers, the Gar. These ministers had their positions inherited from their parents, similar to the emperor. King Tüsong tried to wrest control of this area from the ministers, unsuccessfully.9th century
In 821, a treaty established the borders between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty, while three stele were built – one at the border, one in Lhasa, and one in Chang'an. The Tibetan army settled within the eastern frontier.After 838 when Tibet's King Langdarma killed his brother, the Tibetan Empire broke into independent principalities, while Do Kham maintained culturally and religiously Tibetan. Within Amdo, the historical independent polities of hereditary rulers and kingdoms remained, while Mongol and Chinese populations fluctuated among the indigenous peoples and Tibetans. During this time period, Buddhist monks from Central Tibet exiled to the Amdo region.
There is a historical account of an official from the 9th century sent to collect taxes to Amdo. Instead, he acquires a fief. He then tells of the 10 virtues of the land. Two of the virtues are in the grass, one for meadows near home, one for distant pastures. Two virtues in soil, one to build houses and one for good fields. Two virtues are in the water, one for drinking and one for irrigation. There are two in the stone, one for building and one for milling. The timber has two virtues, one for building and one for firewood. The original inhabitants of the Amdo region were the forest-dwellers, the mountain-dwellers, the plains-dwellers, the grass-men, and the woodsmen. The grass men were famous for their horses.