Kham

Kham (Tibetan: ཁམས་, Wylie: khams; Chinese: 康; pinyin: Kāng) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The original residents of Kham are called Khampas (Tibetan: ཁམས་པ་, Wylie: khams pa), and were governed locally by chieftains and monasteries. Kham presently covers a land area distributed between five regions in China, most of it in Tibet Autonomous Region and Sichuan, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces.

Densely forested with grass plains, its convergence of six valleys and four rivers supported independent Kham polities of Tibetan warrior kingdoms together with Tibetan Buddhist monastic centers.^[1] The early trading route between Central Tibet and China traveled through Kham,^[2] and Kham is said to be the inspiration for Shangri-La in James Hilton's novel.^[3]

Settled as Tibet's eastern frontier in the 7th century, King Songtsen Gampo built temples along its eastern border. In 1939, an eastern area of Kham was officially established as Xikang Province of China.^[4]