Kangding

This article is about the city of Kangding. For the town synonymous known as Kangding, see Lucheng, Kangding.
Kangding
康定市 · དར་མདོ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར།
County-level city

View of Kangding
Kangding

Location in Sichuan

Coordinates: 30°03′19″N 101°57′53″E / 30.05528°N 101.96472°E / 30.05528; 101.96472Coordinates: 30°03′19″N 101°57′53″E / 30.05528°N 101.96472°E / 30.05528; 101.96472
Country China
Province Sichuan
Autonomous prefecture Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Elevation 2,560 m (8,400 ft)
Population
 • Major Nationalities Han
Tibetan
Time zone China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal code 610000
Website www.kangding.gov.cn
Kangding/Dardo
Chinese name
Chinese 康定
Postal Kangting
Tibetan name
Tibetan དར་མདོ།
Lucheng/Dartsedo
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese 炉城
Traditional Chinese 爐城
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese 打箭炉
Traditional Chinese 打箭爐
Postal Tatsienlu
Tibetan name
Tibetan དར་རྩེ་མདོ།

Kangding (Chinese and English) or Dardo (Tibetan), is a city and the location of the seat of Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan province of Southwest China. Kangding's urban center has around 100,000 inhabitants.

Names

Kangding (Chinese: 康定; pinyin: Kāngdìng; Wade–Giles: K'ang1-ting4) is also known officially in Tibetan as Dardo (Tibetan: དར་མདོ།, Wylie: dar mdo, ZYPY: Dardo ) also known as Dartsedo (Tibetan: དར་རྩེ་མདོ།, Wylie: dar-rtse-mdo, ZYPY: Darzêdo ).

Historically, the urban center was known as Tachienlu or Tatsienlu (simplified Chinese: 打箭炉; traditional Chinese: 打箭爐; pinyin: Dǎjiànlú) from the Chinese transliteration of the Tibetan name Dartsedo until it was simplified as Lucheng (simplified Chinese: 炉城; traditional Chinese: 爐城; pinyin: Lúchéng) which is the administrative seat of Kangding.

History

Kangding had been historical border between Tibet and China, from Kangding to the west lies Tibetan civilization where as to the east Chinese cultural centre. Kangding has witnessed many conflicts between Tibetan Empire and Chinese dynasties. Kangding was for many centuries an important trading city where Chinese brick tea was carried by porters from Chengdu and other centres to trade for Tibetan wool.[1] 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.[2]

"Tachienlu is surely sui generis; there can be no other town quite like it. Situated eight thousand four hundred feet above the sea, it seems to lie at the bottom of a well, the surrounding snow-capped mountains towering perhaps fifteen thousand feet in the air above the little town which, small as it is, has hardly room to stand, while outside the wall there is scarcely a foot of level ground. It is wedged into the angle where three valleys come together, the Tar and the Chen rivers meeting just below the town to form the Tarchendo, and our first view of the place as we turned the cliff corner that here bars the gorge, was very striking, grey walls and curly roofs standing out sharply from the flanking hillsides."[3]

The city was renamed 'Kangding' in 1904. The American author Dorris Shelton Still, author of "Sue in Tibet", was born here.

During time of the Republic of China administration, Kangding was the capital of the now-defunct province of Xikang.

Administrative divisions

Kangding is divided into 3 towns and 18 townships:

Description

Kangding is located in a valley of the Tibetan Plateau about 210 kilometres (130 mi) west-southwest of Chengdu, the provincial capital, and 100 kilometres (62 mi) 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. A raging river splits the city, thus the constant sound of water reverberates throughout much of the city. The city features a sizable 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. A Tibetan Buddhist monastery sits on the mountains 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 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) runway, announcing that it would be the second-highest in the world, at 4,280 metres (14,040 ft) above sea level.[4][5]

The folk song Kangding Qingge enjoys popularity throughout China.

Kangding contains some notable Buddhist monasteries, including Nanwu Si Monastery, Anque Monastery and Jinggang Monastery. It was from 1857 the siege of Roman Catholic Diocese of Kangding, administered by Paris Foreign Missions Society. The Catholic church was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

Climate

Kangding has a monsoon-influenced climate, lying in the transition between a humid continental (Dwb) and a subtropical highland climate (Cwb) on the Köppen system. Despite the elevation of 2,560 metres (8,400 ft), the diurnal temperature variation averages at most 10.5 °C (18.9 °F) 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 −2.2 °C (28.0 °F) in January to 15.5 °C (59.9 °F) in July; the annual mean is 7.09 °C (44.8 °F). Over the course of the year, the frost-free period lasts 177 days and there are 1,738 hours of sunshine.

Climate data for Kangding (1971–2000)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 22.2
(72)		 23.2
(73.8)		 26.0
(78.8)		 26.8
(80.2)		 29.4
(84.9)		 26.5
(79.7)		 26.7
(80.1)		 27.5
(81.5)		 25.5
(77.9)		 23.5
(74.3)		 20.5
(68.9)		 17.7
(63.9)		 29.4
(84.9)
Average high °C (°F) 3.5
(38.3)		 5.1
(41.2)		 9.5
(49.1)		 13.8
(56.8)		 16.3
(61.3)		 17.9
(64.2)		 20.2
(68.4)		 20.4
(68.7)		 16.3
(61.3)		 12.2
(54)		 8.6
(47.5)		 5.1
(41.2)		 12.4
(54.3)
Daily mean °C (°F) −2.2
(28)		 −0.6
(30.9)		 3.4
(38.1)		 7.6
(45.7)		 10.9
(51.6)		 13.2
(55.8)		 15.5
(59.9)		 15.3
(59.5)		 11.7
(53.1)		 7.6
(45.7)		 3.3
(37.9)		 −0.6
(30.9)		 7.09
(44.76)
Average low °C (°F) −5.9
(21.4)		 −4.3
(24.3)		 −0.8
(30.6)		 3.3
(37.9)		 6.9
(44.4)		 9.9
(49.8)		 12.0
(53.6)		 11.8
(53.2)		 8.8
(47.8)		 4.6
(40.3)		 −0.2
(31.6)		 −4.3
(24.3)		 3.5
(38.3)
Record low °C (°F) −13.3
(8.1)		 −13.8
(7.2)		 −11.2
(11.8)		 −3.8
(25.2)		 −1.3
(29.7)		 0.6
(33.1)		 2.7
(36.9)		 1.0
(33.8)		 0.1
(32.2)		 −3.2
(26.2)		 −8.3
(17.1)		 −14.1
(6.6)		 −14.1
(6.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 5.5
(0.217)		 11.6
(0.457)		 33.3
(1.311)		 57.3
(2.256)		 107.4
(4.228)		 169.4
(6.669)		 123.2
(4.85)		 103.9
(4.091)		 135.0
(5.315)		 63.7
(2.508)		 16.5
(0.65)		 5.4
(0.213)		 832.2
(32.765)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 6.5 9.8 12.5 17.4 20.4 23.1 21.8 19.7 20.1 14.8 7.7 5.2 179.0
Source: Weather China

Transport

Nanwu Si Monastery

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Leffman, et al (2005), p. 946.
  2. ↑ http://bssa.geoscienceworld.org/content/73/2/537.abstract "Source processes of large earthquakes along the Xianshuihe fault in southwestern China"
  3. ↑ Kendall (1913), pp. 122-123.
  4. ↑ Aviation Week & Space Technology Vol 169 No 17, "Second-Highest Airport", p. 26
  5. ↑ "World's second highest airport opens in SW China" Kham Aid Foundation. Oct. 22, 2008

Bibliography

External links

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