Xikang

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Xikang Province
西康省
Province of the Republic of China (1939–1950)
1939–1950

Xikang Province in the Republic of China
CapitalKangding (1912–1931)
Ba'an (1931–1935)
Ya'an (1935–1936)
Kangding (1935–1949)
Xichang (1949–1950)
Area 
• Estimate
451,521 km2 (174,333 sq mi)
Population 
• Estimate
1,748,458
Historical era20th century
• Established
1939
• Fall of Xichang
27 March 1950
• Disestablished
1950
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Chuanbian Special Region
Xikang
Chamdo Region
Today part ofChina
India
Xikang Province
西康省
Province of the People's Republic of China (1950–1955)
1950–1955

Xikang Province (orange) in the People's Republic of China
CapitalKangding (1950–1951)
Ya'an (1951–1955)
Area 
• 1953
451,521 km2 (174,333 sq mi)
Population 
• 1953
3,381,064
Historical era20th century
• Established
1950
• Disestablished
1955
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Xikang
Sichuan
Tibet Autonomous Region
Today part ofChina
India

Xikang (formerly romanized as Sikang or Hsikang, lit. 'Kham-in-the-West' or 'Kham to the west [of Sichuan]') was a nominal province[1] formed by the Republic of China in 1939 on the initiative of prominent Sichuan warlord Liu Wenhui[2] and retained by the early People's Republic of China. The former territory of Xikang is now divided between the Tibet Autonomous Region and Sichuan province.

The idea behind Xikang province was to form a single unified province for the entire

Khampas. The then-independent Tibet controlled the portion of Kham west of the Upper Yangtze River.[3]
The nominal Xikang province also included in the south the Assam Himalayan region (Arunachal Pradesh) that Tibet had recognised as a part of British India by the 1914 McMahon Line agreement.[4] The eastern part of the province was inhabited by a number of different ethnic groups, such as
invaded and occupied Tibet
, the earlier nationalist imagination of Xikang came to fruition.

The provincial capital of Xikang was Kangding from 1939 to 1951 and Ya'an from 1951 to 1955. The province had a population of 3.4 million in 1954.[5]

History

The Xikang province sketched on a 1950 map by the CIA. Provincial borders are dark green lines.
The Chinese control of southeastern Tibet shown along with the proposed Simla Convention frontier of 1914.

In 1910, general Zhao Erfeng occupied Kham region, destroyed a few monasteries and killed over 1000 lamas. Later on, he proclaimed this territory as a new Chinese province subsequently known as Xikang.

Following the

which?
] was established as the Chuanbian Special Administrative District (川邊特別行政區) by the newly founded Republic of China.

In June 1930, eastern Kham (later Xikang) was invaded by the

which?
]

The Hui army captured counties that had fallen into the hands of the Tibetan army since 1919. Their victories threatened the supply lines of the Tibetan forces in Garzê and Xinlong. As a result, part of the Tibetan army was forced to withdraw.

In 1932

1934 Khamba Rebellion led by the Pandatsang family broke out against the Tibetan government in Lhasa. The Khampa revolutionary leader Pandatsang Rapga
was involved.

In January 1939, the Chuanbian Special Administrative District officially became a province of the Republic, the Hsikang Province. Kesang Tsering was sent by the Chinese to Batang to take control of Sikang, where he formed a local government. He was sent there for the purpose of propagating the Three Principles of the People to the Khampa.[6]

In 1950, following the defeat of the Kuomintang by the Chinese Communist Party in the Chinese Civil War, Xikang was split along the Yangtze into Sikang to the east and a separate Chamdo Territory (昌都地区) to the west. Chamdo was merged into Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965. The rest of Hsikang was merged into Sichuan in 1955.

Administrative divisions

1939–1950

Name Administrative Seat Traditional Chinese Subdivisions Comments
First Administrative Circuit Kangding County 第一行政督察區 4 counties, 1 bureau Later the Xikang Province Tibetan Autonomous Region
Second Administrative Circuit Yingjing County 第二行政督察區 7 counties Later the Ya'an Division
Third Administrative Circuit Xichang County 第三行政督察區 9 counties, 3 bureaus Later the XIchang Division
Fourth Administrative Circuit Garzê County 第四行政督察區 15 counties Later the Xikang Province Tibetan Autonomous Region
Fifth Administrative Circuit — 第五行政督察區 13 counties Chamdo Region; de facto controlled by Tibet

1950–1955

Name Simplified Chinese Hanyu Pinyin Subdivisions
Ya'an (1951–1955) 雅安市 Yǎ'ān shì 1 city
Ya'an
Ya'an Division 雅安专区 Yǎ'ān Zhuānqū 8 counties
Mingshan (1951–1955), Shimian
(1951–1955)
Xichang Division 西昌专区 Xīchāng Zhuānqū 13 counties
Huili, Ningnan, Dechang, Zhaojue (1950–1952), Yuexi, Mianning, Jinkang (1952–1955), Muli (1952–1955), Miyi (1952–1955), Huidong
3 bureaus
Puge (1950–1952), Ningdong
(1950–1952), Luoning (1950–1952)
Xikang Province Tibetan Autonomous Region 西康省藏族自治区 Xīkāng Shěng Zàngzú Zìzhìqū 20 counties
direct controlled
Kangding, Danba, Qianning, Yajiang, Luding, Jiulong
1 bureau
Jintang

Ganzi Regional Office (1951–1955)
Ganzi, Shiqi, Dengke, Dege, Baiyu, Zhanghua→Xinlong, Luhuo, Daofu

Litang Regional Office (1951–1955)
Litang, Batang, Derong, Dingxiang→Xiangcheng, Daocheng, Yidun

Liangshan Yi Autonomous Region (1952–1955) 凉山彝族自治区 Liángshān Yízú Zìzhìqū 8 counties
Zhaojue, Puge, Ningdong, Xide, Butuo, Jinyang, Meigu, Puxiong

List of governors

  Kuomintang (Nationalist)   Chinese Communist Party

Chairperson of the Provincial Government

No. Portrait Name
(Birth–Death) 		Term of office Political party
1 Liu Wenhui
劉文輝
Liú Wénhuī
(1895–1976) 		1 January 1939 9 December 1949 Kuomintang
Defected to the Communists.
2 Ho Kuo-kuang
賀國光
Hè Guóguāng
(1885–1969) 		25 December 1949 March 1950 Kuomintang
Fled to Taiwan via Haikou
after fall of Xichang.

Xikang CPC Party Committee Secretary

No. Portrait Name
(Birth–Death) 		Term of office Political party
1 Liao Zhigao
廖志高
Liào Zhìgāo
(1913–2000) 		1950 1955 Chinese Communist Party
Province abolished.

Xikang People's Government Chairperson (Governor after January 1955)

No. Portrait Name
(Birth–Death) 		Term of office Political party
1 Liao Zhigao
廖志高
Liào Zhìgāo
(1913–2000) 		26 April 1950 September 1955 Chinese Communist Party
Province abolished.

See also

References

  1. ^ Lin, Boundary, sovereignty and imagination (2004), p. 30: "Despite its almost entirely illusory nature, the so-called Xikang province was officially sketched out by Chinese map-makers, from whom it came to be known nation-wide.
  2. ^ Yajun Mo, "The New Frontier: Zhuang Xueben and Xikang Province", in "Chinese History in Geographical Perspective", edited by Yongtao Du and Jeff Kyong-McClain, p. 124, Lexington Books, 2013
  3. ^ Lin, Boundary, sovereignty and imagination (2004), p. 29: "According to the Kuomintang, the boundary of this new Xikang province encompassed, not only part of the southwestern province of Sichuan that was then dominated by the Han Chinese warlord Liu Wenhui, but also a huge portion of the ethnographic Tibetan area west of the Upper Yangtze River that was then effectively administered by the autonomous Tibetan government."
  4. ^ Lin, Boundary, sovereignty and imagination (2004), p. 29: "In addition, the newly carved provincial boundary also extended deep into the Tibetan-Assam tribal territory, including areas south of the theoretically existing McMahon Line that had been signed away to British India by Lhasa in 1914."
  5. ^ "第一次全国人口普查公报". Archived from the original on August 5, 2009. Retrieved November 17, 2009.
  6. ISBN 978-0-415-58264-3
    . Retrieved 2011-12-27. area and spreading Sun Yat-sen's Three People's Principle among the Tibetan and Khampa minorities, Kesang Tsering set up a field headquarters in Batang (Pa'an). There he appointed his own Xikang provincial government staff and issued an

Bibliography
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