Zamthang County or Ndzamthang County (), or Rangtang County () is a county in the northwest of

Sichuan Province 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 ...

, China, bordering on the

Banma County Banma County is a county of southeastern Qinghai Province, China, bordering Sichuan to the south. It is the southernmost county-level division under the administration of Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The Red Army of the Chinese Communis ...

Qinghai Province Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest pop ...

to the north. It is one of 13 counties under the administration of and lies the westernmost

county-level division The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there ...

of the

Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, also known as Aba (; Qiang: ; ), is an autonomous prefecture of northwestern Sichuan, bordering Gansu to the north and northeast and Qinghai to the northwest. Its seat is in Barkam, and it has an ar ...

. Zamthang is on the upper reaches of the

Dadu River The Dadu River (), known in Tibetan as the Gyelmo Ngul Chu, is a major river located primarily in Sichuan province, southwestern China. The Dadu flows from the eastern Tibetan Plateau into the Sichuan Basin where it joins with the Min River, a t ...

, bordering the

Barkam County Barkam or Markang or Muerkvua is a county-level city in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, in the northwest of Sichuan province, People's Republic of China. The city seat is the town of Barkam. Administrative divisions Barkam has fo ...

and Aba County on the east and northeast, and adjoining

Jinchuan County Jinchuan County (; ) is a county in the northwest of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. The seat of county is Jinchuan Town (Rabden). The county spans an area of 5,524 ...

on the south, and Sêrtar County,

Luhuo County Luhuo County (; ) is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, often shortened to Ganzi Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture in the ...

and Dawu County in the west and south. Zamthang, which means "The field of

Caishen Caishen () is the mythological figure worshipped in the Chinese folk religion and Taoism. He has been identified with many historical figures, viewed as his embodied forms, among whom Zhao Gongming (, Wade–Giles: ''Chao Kung-ming''; also known a ...

" () in Tibetan, lies in the southeast of the

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the ...

and in the historical region of

Amdo Amdo ( �am˥˥.to˥˥ ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being U-Tsang in the west and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Amdo is also the ...

. The vast majority of the population is

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

(30200), followed by

Han people The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive var ...

(3949),

Qiang people The Qiang people ( Qiangic: ''Rrmea''; ) are an ethnic group in China. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognised by the People's Republic of China, with a population of approximately 310,000 in 2000. They live mainly in a ...

(269) and Hui people(78).

History

In 1958, according to the result of the 81st conference of

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...

, Zamthang county was founded. The name of the county was retrieved from a natural village located in the current administrative region of the county. The village was located on a hill shaped like a Jambhala holding a

Dhvaja Dhvaja (Sanskrit also ध्वज; ) , meaning banner or flag, is composed of the Ashtamangala, the "eight auspicious symbols". In Hinduism Dhvaja in Hinduism or vedic tradition takes on the appearance of a high column (dhvaja- stambha) er ...

. According to the Tibetan-Chinese dictionary published by

Publishing House of Minority Nationalities The Publishing House of Minority Nationalities () is a publishing house established on January 15, 1953, as a division of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, and focused on academic publishing. Its headquarters are located in Dongcheng District, ...

, Jambhala in Tibetan means

in Chinese, therefore " Jambhala" was retrieved to be part of the county's name(; ). Also, there was a flat ground located in front of the hill, in Tibetan, "thang" () means "ground" or "field", therefore, the second part was retrieved as "thang"(). Therefore, the county's name is the combination of " Jambhala" and "thang". In order to simplify the name, the government took "Jam" in " Jambhala" as "Zam"() and made the county's name "Zamthang"(; ).

Culture

Jonang The Jonang () is one of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Its origins in Tibet can be traced to early 12th century master Yumo Mikyo Dorje, but became much wider known with the help of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, a monk originally trained in the ...
Buddhism

Between Xiangla Dongji Holy Mountain Scenic Area and Haizi Mountain Scenic Area, which are the two most famous touristic attraction in Zamthang, bred the religion of

Jonang The Jonang () is one of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Its origins in Tibet can be traced to early 12th century master Yumo Mikyo Dorje, but became much wider known with the help of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, a monk originally trained in the ...

Buddhism, one of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The other schools are

Nyingma Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and transl ...

(), Kagyu(),

Sakya The ''Sakya'' (, 'pale earth') school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug. It is one of the Red Hat Orders along with the Nyingma and Kagyu. Origins Virūpa, 16th century. It depic ...

(), Kadam(),

Gelug 240px, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous")Kay, David N. (2007). ''Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantati ...

(), gcod yul() and

Bon ''Bon'', also spelled Bön () and also known as Yungdrung Bon (, "eternal Bon"), is a Tibetan religious tradition with many similarities to Tibetan Buddhism and also many unique features.Samuel 2012, pp. 220-221. Bon initially developed in t ...

(the relationship to Tibetan Buddhism is controversial)(). The symbols of

Buddhism in Zamtang are 3 famous temples with the name of Querji Temple, Zangwa Temple, and Zebuji temple， all of which are originated from The East SangzhuLuobuling monastery built in 1435 BC. The architecture of the monastery is integrated, made it shaped like a small town. There was also another statement that instead of a small village, the name of the county was actually from the monastery. The builder of the monastery was called Zhong, who was an influential man in

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

. Zhong was named "The master of Promoting the doctrine" by the imperial court of

Language

Most of the Tibetan people in Zamthang are

Gyalrong people Gyalrong people (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་རོང, Chinese:嘉绒), also called Jiarong, rGyalrong, are speakers of the Qiangic Gyalrong language who live in the southern part of Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan, China. T ...

()，and they mainly speak

Amdo Tibetan Amdo Tibetan (; also called ''Am kä'') is the Tibetic language spoken in Amdo (now mostly in Qinghai, some in Ngawa and Gannan). It has two dialects, the farmer dialect and the nomad dialect. Amdo is one of the three branches of traditional c ...

, which is one of four main spoken Tibetic languages, the other three are

Central Tibetan Central Tibetan, also known as Dbus, Ü or Ü-Tsang, is the most widely spoken Tibetic language and the basis of Standard Tibetan. ''Dbus'' and ''Ü'' are forms of the same name. ''Dbus'' is a transliteration of the name in Tibetan script, , whe ...

Khams Tibetan Khams Tibetan () is the Tibetic language used by the majority of the people in Kham. Khams is one of the three branches of the traditional classification of Tibetic languages (the other two being Amdo Tibetan and Ü-Tsang). In terms of mutua ...

and

Ladakhi language The Ladakhi language is a Tibetic language spoken in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. It is the predominant language in the Buddhist-dominated district of Leh. Though a member of the Tibetic family, Ladakhi is not mutually intelligible w ...

. The people who speak

can not understand the people who speak the other three Tibetic languages, because although these four languages share the same written script, their phonology, grammar and vocabulary are quite different. Therefore, Zamthang people cannot directly talk to

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhas ...

people, unless they specifically go learn the

Central Tibetan language Central Tibetan, also known as Dbus, Ü or Ü-Tsang, is the most widely spoken Tibetic language and the basis of Standard Tibetan. ''Dbus'' and ''Ü'' are forms of the same name. ''Dbus'' is a transliteration of the name in Tibetan script, , w ...

. More specifically, the

is not a tonal and retains many word-initial

consonant clusters In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound, is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fie ...

that have been lost in

The 9-floor Maitreya
Pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...

The 9-floor Maitreya

Pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...

in Zamthang could be regarded as an exhibition hall of

Buddharupa Much Buddhist art uses depictions of the historical Buddha, Gautama Buddha, which are known as Buddharūpa (literally, "Form of the Awakened One") in Sanskrit and Pali. These may be statues or other images such as paintings. The main figure i ...

, displaying various

including

Mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s, Thangka paintings(), Clay Statues and some Metal Statues. What's interesting about the Pagoda is that Outside the wall of the 9th floor of the pagoda, each side has a row of stone slabs protruding from the wall, about 20 cm in length, and exactly one-foot board is placed on it. The explorer can come out from the gate of the tower, hold the tower body in his hand, move his/her steps on this row of suspended stone slabs, and turn around the pagoda.

Lhamo Lhamo, or Ache Lhamo, is a classical secular theatre of Tibet with music and dance that has been performed for centuries, whose nearest western equivalent is opera. Performances have a narrative and simple dialogue interspersed with comedy an ...
in Nanmuda Town

This

Lhamo Lhamo, or Ache Lhamo, is a classical secular theatre of Tibet with music and dance that has been performed for centuries, whose nearest western equivalent is opera. Performances have a narrative and simple dialogue interspersed with comedy an ...

in Nanmuda is one of the

that mainly performed in

district, and it performs in

folk singings.

Sculpture and painting

Sculptures and paintings are a must-look in the religious culture and art of Zamthang area. There are clay sculptures, woodcut or woodcarving sculptures, brick carving sculptures, sculptures made of

Yak butter Yak butter (also known as "Dri Butter" or "Su oil" bo, འབྲི་མར།, zh, 酥油) is butter made from the milk of the domestic yak (''Bos grunniens''). Many herder communities in China, India, Mongolia, Nepal, Gilgit-Baltistan Pakis ...

and sandpaintings, all of which have perfect and vivid shapes. The

in temples are mainly clay sculptures and woodcarving sculptures, where woodcarving sculptures are generally used on lintels, pillar windows and other buildings, with dragons, tigers, lions and Ashtamangalas symbolizing good luck engraved on it. The brick carving sculptures are mainly used to construct the roof lace of Tibetan-style buildings, animals on the cornice and relieves on the windowpane. Sandpaintings are mainly to draw Thangka paintings() and

s. Thangkas, called religious scroll paintings, are painted with brocade, silk embroidery, and colour paintings. As a treasure of Tibetan religious art, they have precious value and are enshrined in temples or Tibetan homes. The murals are mainly used to decorate the temple corridors.

Apparel

Tibetan costumes in Zamthang have materials mainly used sheepskin and pupu (wool material woven with wool). The Zamthang robe is long, with a broad front and border. In some Tibetan festivals, people in Zamthang will Wear a felt hat, a silk ribbon around the waist, a waist knife. Many Tibetan robes use cloths or high-grade cloths, and colourful silk or precious otter skin (or other animal skins). The costume is inlaid with expensive coral, agate, turquoise, jade or gold and silver. A Tibetan robe is extremely valuable.

Weddings and funerals

Zamthang is located in a traditional Tibetan pastoral area，the relationship between men and women is free, but marriage requires parental consent. The date of marriage is usually determined by the

Living Buddha A ''tulku'' (, also ''tülku'', ''trulku'') is a reincarnate custodian of a specific lineage of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism who is given empowerments and trained from a young age by students of his or her predecessor. High-profile examples ...

or lama. The Tibetan funerals in Zamthang are religious funerals with Tibetan traditions.

cremation Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre is ...

was only used for lama or respectable people in ancient times, while it became popular among normal Tibetan people after the new millennium and have certain specifications. Babies or children are usually buried in water. Only villains or bad persons are buried in the ground.

Administrative divisions

Zamthang comprises 9

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

, 3

towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and 63

villages A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

. The 9

and 3

are: *Towns **Rangke () **Nanmuda () **Middle Zamthang () *Townships: **Puxi () **Zongke () **Shili () **Wuyi () **Gangmuda () **Shangduke () **Rongmuda () **Gaduo () **Upper Zamthang ()

Climate

References

{{authority control Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture County-level divisions of Sichuan