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Nyarong (; ) is a
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...
an historical river valley region located in Eastern
Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibet, Tibetan regions, the others being Domey also known as Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The official name of this Tibetan region/province is Dotoe (). The original residents of ...
. It is generally equated with modern Xinlong County, which is called Nyarong in Tibetan, though the traditional region also includes parts of Litang County and Baiyü County.


Names

The most common name, Nyarong means "river valley". However, the region is also referred to as Chagdud or Chakdü (), which refers to a prominent monk who came from the region; variants of these two names are also used. Legend say that a monk, called Sherap Gyeltsen, tied a knot on an iron club in presence of Kubilai Khan, in 1253. In exchange he was rewarded by official seal and documents as chief of the Nyarong. His family clan was then called "''Chakdü pöntsang''" (, literally, "the official family who tied a knot in an iron lub).


Geography

Nyarong is a valley located on and around the middle portion of the
Yalong River The Yalong River ( zh, 雅砻江, Pinyin, p ''Yǎlóngjiāng'', Wade–Giles, w ''Ya-lung Chiang'', Help:IPA/Mandarin, IPA ), or Nyag Chu (Standard Tibetan, Tibetan: , Tibetan pinyin, z ''Nyag Qu''), is a major tributary ...
, with Derge to the west, Garzê to the north, the Hor States to the east, and Litang to the south. The valley is particularly low compared to the surrounding mountains, and the upper portion of the valley is quite narrow. This makes it hard to access the region, especially without modern transport. It was historically also quite poor, as there is little flat land in the region.


History

For much of its history, no single polity controlled Nyarong; instead the region was controlled by different tribes. This is considered unusual because while tribal administration was common among pastoral regions, Nyarong instead depended on agriculture. Historically, due to its geographical inaccessibility, Nyarong was not often involved in the political machinations or trade routes of the rest of Tibet; it first enters the historical record in 762 as levies were raised from the region during the
Tibetan Empire The Tibetan Empire (,) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. It expanded further under the 38th king, Trisong De ...
's raids into India. By the 1800s, Nyarong was controlled by a powerful family divided into three branches, known as the "Three Iron Knots". While it was nominally controlled by the
Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
, it was practically independent due to its isolation; the population made much of their living by banditry Nyarong's main claim to fame is the local ruler Gombo Namgye, who had united the disparate tribes in the region by force by 1850. However, the Qing overlords of Kham were not pleased by this development, and launched an incursion into Nyarong, supported by the surrounding
Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibet, Tibetan regions, the others being Domey also known as Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The official name of this Tibetan region/province is Dotoe (). The original residents of ...
pa states. However, against the odds, Namgye was able to resist the invasion; he retaliated by invading Litang, Derge, and the Hor States. By 1862, Gombo Namgye controlled the trade and communication routes between China and Tibet. He broke the Qing official postal service, and blocked transportation of provisions and funds to Chinese troops in Central Tibet. However, he was stopped by the
Ganden Podrang The Ganden Phodrang or Ganden Podrang (; ) was the Tibetan system of government established by the 5th Dalai Lama in 1642, when the Oirat lord Güshi Khan who founded the Khoshut Khanate conferred all spiritual and political power in Tibet t ...
government, who killed him in 1865; they then took the chance to take control of the region. This sent Nyarong back into the unimportance it still enjoys today, though this has been somewhat disrupted by tourism. This was also momentarily disrupted as Nyarong was a key base of resistance against the
Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China Tibet came under the control of China, People's Republic of China (PRC) after the Ganden Phodrang, Government of Tibet signed the Seventeen Point Agreement which the 14th Dalai Lama ratified on 24 October 1951, but later repudiated on the grou ...
Powers 2012, p. 487.


Notable people

* Gombo Namgye (1798–1865), Tibetan rebel leader * Lodi Gyari Rinpoche (1949–2018), activist in exile, journalist, negotiator * Tertön Sogyal (1856–1926), teacher of the thirteenth
Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣 识一切 瓦齐尔达喇 达赖 喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...


See also

*'' Red Poppies'', novel set in Nyarong from the 1920s to 1950


References

{{Reflist Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 19th century in Tibet Rebellions in China Qing dynasty 19th century in China