Kangding

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. 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.