Kandieng ( km, ស្រុកកណ្ដៀង) is a district in Pursat province,

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

. The district capital is at Kandieng town located about 12 km from the Provincial capital

Pursat Pursat ( ; km, ពោធិ៍សាត់, ) is the capital of Pursat Province, Cambodia. Its name derived from a type of tree. It lies on the Pursat River The Pursat River ( km, ស្ទឹងពោធិ៍សាត់, Steung Pursat) al ...

Location

Kandieng shares a border with the districts of Bakan to the west, Sampov Meas to the south and Krakor to the east. The northern part of the district encompasses a portion of the Tonle Sap lake and there is one settlement on the edge of the lake at Reang Til. This is a Tonle Sap floating village and the location moves depending on the water level in the lake. According to the 1998 Census, Kandieng district is made up of 9 communes and 113 villages. The population of the district was 53,335 in 10,148 households at the time of the last census.

Administration

The following table shows the villages of Kandieng district by commune.

Characteristics

Kandieng is home to several villages of traditional sculptors who work in marble. Buddhist statues and animal carvings are in strong demand and pieces from Kandieng are sold as far away as

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, indus ...

and

Siem Reap Siem Reap ( km, សៀមរាប, ) is the second-largest city of Cambodia, as well as the capital and largest city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia. Siem Reap has French colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old F ...

. The marble is quarried in the

Cardamom Mountains The Cardamom Mountains ( km, ជួរភ្នំក្រវាញ, ; th, ทิวเขาบรรทัด, ), or the Krâvanh Mountains, is a mountain range in the south west of Cambodia and Eastern Thailand. The majority of the range ...

in Veal Veang district and often transported to Kandieng via oxcart. In these villages marble carving is a skill that has been handed down through families over generations. Although there are many execution sites in Pursat, Kandieng is also home to one of the major execution sites (sometimes called killing fields) of the

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. ...

in Pursat province. It is located near Srae Sdok about 6 kilometres from the Tonle Sap. The Tuol Purchrey killing site was a military fort for government soldiers during the

Lon Nol Marshal Lon Nol ( km, លន់ នល់, also ; 13 November 1913 – 17 November 1985) was a Cambodian politician and general who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia The prime minister of Cambodia ( km, នាយករដ្ឋមន្ ...

period. Systematic executions were carried out at Tuol Purchrey from 1975 until 1978. People were transported to the site in large trucks, ordered out, tied up at gun point, and marched to be killed. Local researchers who visited and mapped the site interviewing surviving eyewitnesses estimated that over 10,000 people were executed here over 3 years.

References

{{coord, 12, 34, N, 104, 2, E, region:KH_type:adm2nd, display=title Districts of Pursat province