Chengguan (; ) synonymously referred to as Chamdo or Qamdo is a major town in the historical region of

Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The original residents of Kham are called Khampas (), and were governed locally by chieftains and monasteries. Kham ...

in the eastern

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The seat of

Karub District Karuo District (other spellings: Karub District, Kharro District (after THL transliteration of Tibetan)) is a district in Qamdo, the district is synonymous referred to as Chamdo, Qamdo, or Chengguan in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, an ...

and Chamdo Prefecture, it is Tibet's third largest city after

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...

and

Shigatse Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê (; Nepali: ''सिगात्से''), is a prefecture-level city of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area of jurisdiction, with an area of , corresponds to the histor ...

Buckley and Straus 1986, p. 215. with a population of 45,861 in 2010. It is located about east of

. By road, the distance is via the southern route or via the northern route. It is at an altitude of at the confluence of the rivers Za Qu and Ngom Qu which form the Lancang River (Mekong). Historically, Chamdo was a hub of the

Tea Horse Road The Tea Horse Road or ''chamadao'' (), now generally referred to as the Ancient Tea Horse Road or ''chamagudao'' () was a network of caravan paths winding through the mountains of Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet in Southwest China. This was also a tea t ...

, leading from

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

via the Nathu La pass. At the turn of the 20th century it had a population of about 12,000, a quarter of whom were monks.

Galden Jampaling Monastery

Chengguan was visited by

Je Tsongkhapa Tsongkhapa ('','' meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley", c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the formation of the Gelug school of Tibetan Budd ...

in 1373 who suggested a monastery be built there.

Galden Jampaling Monastery Galden Jampaling Monastery () is a Buddhist monastery in Chamdo, Tibet, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 bil ...

was constructed between 1436 and 1444 by a disciple of Tsongkhapa, Jansem Sherab Zangpo. It is also known as the Changbalin or Qiangbalin Si Monastery. At its height it contained five main temples and housed some 2,500 monks. It was destroyed in 1912 but the main hall (which was used as a prison) and two other buildings survived, and it was rebuilt in 1917 after the Tibetan army retook Chengguan. It now houses about 800 monks.Mayhew and Kohn 2005, p. 241.

Climate

Chengguan experiences a climate that is a transition between a humid continental and subtropical highland climate ( Köppen ''Dwb'' and ''Cwb''), with warm, wet summers and very dry, frosty winters. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July, with an annual mean of . Due to the high elevation, the diurnal temperature variation is large throughout the year, averaging annually.

Transportation

* China National Highway 214 * China National Highway 317 * Qamdo Bangda Airport

Notable people

Qiangba Puncog Qiangba Puncog, also spelled Champa Phuntsok (; ; born in May 1947) was the chairman of the government of Tibet Autonomous Region of China from 2003 until January 2010. He is of Tibetan ethnicity. He was most visible in public during the 2008 Tib ...

, politician

Galden Jampaling Monastery

Climate

Transportation

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading