Xiahe County

Xiahe (Chinese: 夏河; pinyin: Xiàhé; Tibetan: བསང་ཆུ་, Wylie: bsang chu) is a county in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu province, the People's Republic of China. It is home to the famed Labrang Tibetan Buddhist monastery, one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries outside of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The town is populated largely by ethnic Tibetans, as well as some Hui and Han Chinese. The area is highly rural and pastoral (including yak and other animal rearing). The geography is mountainous. In recent years it has become a tourist attraction. The town was named Xiahe in 1928.

Contents

History

Xiahe used to be part of Qinghai when it was under the control of Chinese Muslim General Ma Qi.[1] It was the site of bloody battles between Muslim and Tibetan forces.

The Austrian American exlorer Joseph Rock witnessed the carnage and aftermath of one of the battles around 1929. The Ma muslim army left Tibetan skeletons scattered over a wide area, and the Labrang monastery was decorated with decapitated Tibetan heads.[2] After the 1929 battle of Xiahe near Labrang, decapitated Tibetan heads were used as ornaments by Chinese muslim troops in their camp, 154 in total. Rock described "young girls and children"'s heads staked around the military encampment. Ten to fifteen heads were fastened to the saddle of every Muslim cavalryman.[3] The heads were "strung about the walls of the Moslem garrison like a garland of flowers."[4]

Location

Xiahe is found in the southern portion of Gansu province, along the western border with Qinghai province. It lies along the Daxia and Zhao rivers. It is on the northeast edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The average elevation is 2900 - 3100m with the highest being 4636m and lowest 2160m.

Name

The name, which literally means, "Xia River" refers to the Daxia River which runs alongside the town.

References

  1. ^ Frederick Roelker Wulsin, Joseph Fletcher, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, National Geographic Society (U.S.), Peabody Museum of Salem (1979). Mary Ellen Alonso. ed. China's inner Asian frontier: photographs of the Wulsin expedition to northwest China in 1923 : from the archives of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, and the National Geographic Society (illustrated ed.). The Museum : distributed by Harvard University Press. p. 49. ISBN 0674119681. http://books.google.com/books?ei=_8_lTffGIMrq0gGQw6iZCw&ct=result&id=WltwAAAAMAAJ&dq=Like+his+father+before+him%2C+Ma+Bufang+maintained+as+tight+a+control+as+possible+over+the+entire+area+of+Qinghai%2C+keeping+the+Tibetan+and+Mongolian+tribes+in+line.+In+1932+he+joined+forces+with+the+governor+of+Sichuan+to+reassert+Chinese&q=sichuan+reassert. Retrieved 2010-06-28. 
  2. ^ Dean King (2010). Unbound: A True Story of War, Love, and Survival (illustrated ed.). Hachette Digital, Inc.. ISBN 0316167088. http://books.google.com/books?id=YJqPc4tqSGEC&pg=PT253&dq=joseph+rock+labrang+severed+heads+of+tibetan+skeletons+work+of+ma&hl=en&ei=qkbkTdfNPIWtgQferpC4Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=joseph%20rock%20labrang%20severed%20heads%20of%20tibetan%20skeletons%20work%20of%20ma&f=false. Retrieved 2010-06-28. 
  3. ^ Paul Hattaway (2004). Peoples of the Buddhist world: a Christian prayer diary. William Carey Library. p. 4. ISBN 0878083618. http://books.google.com/books?id=OzEOKNPsv2EC&pg=PA4&dq=joseph+rock+tibetan+heads&hl=en&ei=80LkTbTFNdT1gAfWv6HEBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=joseph%20rock%20tibetan%20heads&f=false. Retrieved 2011-05-29. 
  4. ^ Gary Geddes (2008). Kingdom of Ten Thousand Things: An Impossible Journey from Kabul to Chiapas (illustrated ed.). Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.. p. 175. ISBN 1402753446. http://books.google.com/books?id=YszV1u_VCGAC&pg=PA175&dq=joseph+rock+tibetan+heads&hl=en&ei=xGjkTdnvIqHu0gHi4oyOBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=joseph%20rock%20tibetan%20heads&f=false. Retrieved 2011-05-29. 

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