Batang County 巴塘县 ·འབའ་ཐང་རྫོང་།
County
Twin lakes in Batang, Sichuan
Location of Batang County (red) in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (yellow) and Sichuan
Batang Location of the seat in Sichuan Show map of Sichuan Batang Batang (China) Show map of China
Coordinates (Batang County government):30°01′12″N99°15′00″E / 30.02000°N 99.25000°E /30.02000; 99.25000
Country	China
Province	Sichuan
Prefecture	Garzê
County seat	Qakyung (Batang)
Area
• Total	7,852 km2 (3,032 sq mi)
Population  (2020)[1]
• Total	49,967
• Density	6.364/km2 (16.48/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)
Postal code	627650
Area code	0836[2]
Website	www.batang.gov.cn

Batang County (Tibetan:འབའ་ཐང་རྫོང་།;Chinese:巴塘县) is acounty located in westernGarzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture,Sichuan Province,China. The main administrative centre is known asBatang Town (officially: Xiaqiong or Qakyung).

1990 statistics give its population as 47,256, with 42,044 living in rural areas and 5,212 living in urban areas. The nationalities mainly consist ofTibetans,Hans, andYis,Hui, andQiang. By far the most numerous group are the Tibetans whose population is given as 44,601. It is 260 km (160 mi) from north to south and 45 km (28 mi) west to east and has an area of 8,186 km² (3,161 sq mi).

It borders onXiangcheng County andLitang County in the east.Derong County to the south,Markam andGonjo counties ofTibet andDêqên County ofYunnan in the west, across theJinsha or "Golden Sands" River (the upper course of theYangtze). It bordersBaiyu County to the north.^[3]

It is warmer here than most of Tibet (because of the lower altitude) and is reported to be a friendly, easy-going place, surrounded by barley fields.^[4][5] The plain surrounding the town is unusually fertile and produces two harvests a year. The main products include: rice, maize, barley, wheat, peas, cabbages, turnips, onions, grapes, pomegranates, peaches, apricots, water melons and honey. There are alsocinnabar (mercury sulphide) mines from which mercury is extracted.^[6]

The low-lying Batang Valley (altitude about 2,740 m) was one of the few regions of Tibet with a Chinese settlement before 1950. There were AmericanProtestant and FrenchCatholic missions here focused on medical and educational projects. "Many Bapa (natives of Batang) acquired high bureaucratic positions following the Chinese occupation in consequence of their familiarity with the Chinese language and modern education."^[3]

The name Batang is a transliteration from Tibetan meaning a vast grassland where sheep can be heard everywhere (fromba - the sound made by the sheep + Tibetantang which means a plain or steppe).^[7][8]

In ancient times Qiang people lived here, and in theHan dynasty a kingdom calledBainang ('White Wolf') became established. It was an integral part of Tibet during theTang dynasty. China made some inroads during theYuan andMing dynasties, andMushi, the tribal chief of the Lijang region of Yunnan, was supported by the Ming government in his control of the region between 1568 and 1639. In 1642,Gushri Khan, the leader of theQoshotMongols was invited by the leaders of Tibet to aid them and he placed this whole region under his control^[3] and the administration of theDalai Lamas.

Batang was visited in the 1840s by two French priests, AbbéÉvariste Régis Huc (1813–1860) and AbbéJoseph Gabet and a young Tibetan priest, who had been sent on a mission to Tibet and China by thePope. They described it as a large, very populous and wealthy town.

It marked the furthest point of Tibetan rule on the route toChengdu^[9]

The town was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1868 or 1869.^[10] Mr. Hosie, on the other hand, dates this earthquake to 1871.^[11]

The region of Batang remained under Tibetan control until 1910. Mr. Hosie, who briefly visited the region in 1904 mentions that 400 Tibetan troops were stationed to the south of the town to protect the frontier.^[11]

"In 1727, as a result of the Chinese having entered Lhasa, the boundary between China and Tibet was laid down as between the head-waters of the Mekong and Yangtze rivers, and marked by a pillar, a little to the south-west of Batang. Land to the west of this pillar was administered from Lhasa, while the Tibetan chiefs of the tribes to the east came more directly under China. This historical Sino-Tibetan boundary was used until 1910. The statesDer-ge,Nyarong, Batang, Litang, and the fiveHor States—to name the more important districts—are known collectively in Lhasa as Kham, an indefinite term suitable to the Tibetan Government, who are disconcertingly vague over such details as treaties and boundaries."^[12] See also the account by the FrenchAbbé Huc from the middle of the 19th century.^[6]

The AbbéAuguste Desgodins, who was on a mission to Tibet from 1855 to 1870, wrote: "gold dust is found in all the rivers and even the streams of eastern Tibet". He says that in the town of Bathan or Batan, with which he was personally acquainted, there were about 20 people regularly involved in washing for gold in spite of the severe laws against it. Among other mines in this region of Tibet, Abbé Desgodins reported there were five gold mines and three silver mines being worked in the Zhongtian Province in the upperYangtze Valley, seven mines of gold, eight of silver and several more of other metals in the upperMekong Valley and mines of gold, silver, mercury, iron and copper in a large number of other districts. "It is no wonder than that a Chinese proverb speaks of Tibet as being at once the most elevated and the richest country in the world, and that theMandarins are so anxious to keep Europeans out of it."^[13]

TheQing government sent Feng Quan, an imperial official, to Kham to begin reasserting Qing control soon after the British invasion of Tibet underFrancis Younghusband in 1904, which alarmed theManchu Qing rulers in China, but the locals revolted and killed him.

The British invasion was one of the triggers for a Qing effort to retake Kham in 1904, when Feng Quan was sent into Tibet. His policies of land reform and reductions to the numbers of monks led to theBatang uprising which started at a Batang monastery. Christian missionaries had already withdrawn from Batang in 1887.^[14][15]

The Qing government inBeijing then appointedZhao Erfeng, the governor ofXining, "Army Commander of Tibet"^{[citation needed]} to reintegrate Tibet into China. He was sent in 1905 (though other sources say this occurred in 1908)^[16][17] on apunitive expedition and began destroying many monasteries inKham andAmdo and implementing a process of sinification of the region:^[18] The situation was soon to change, however, as, after the fall of the Qing dynasty in October 1911, Zhao's soldiers mutinied and beheaded him.^[19]

In February 1910, Qing General Zhong Ying invaded Lhasa in order to directly control Tibet for the first time in Tibet's history. This invasion led to the13th Dalai Lama's escape to India, then his return to proclaim Tibet's total independence from China in 1913, and the end of their "priest-patron" relationship.^[20]

The American medical missionary, DrAlbert Shelton, lived nearly 20 years in Batang but was killed, apparently by a bandit, in 1922 on a high mountain pass near Batang at the age of 46.^[21]

In 1932 theSichuan warlord,Liu Wenhui (刘文辉; 1895–1976), drove the Tibetans back to theYangtze River and even threatened to attackChamdo. At Batang, Kesang Tsering, a half-Tibetan, claiming to be acting on behalf ofChiang Kai-shek (Pinyin: Jiang Jieshi. 1887–1975), managed to evict Liu Wen-hui's governor from the town with the support of some local tribes. A powerful "freebooter Lama" from the region gained support from the Tibetan forces and occupied Batang, but later had to withdraw. By August 1932 the Tibetan government had lost so much territory the Dalai Lama telegraphed the Government of India asking for diplomatic assistance. By early 1934 a ceasefire and armistices had been arranged with Liu Wen-hui and Governor Ma of Chinghai in which the Tibetans gave up all territory to the east of the Yangtze (including the region of Batang) but kept control of theYaklo (Yenchin) district which had previously been a Chinese enclave to the west of the river.^[22]

The bloodless occupation^{[citation needed]} ofChamdo, the major city of the old Tibetan province ofKham, by the 40,000 man army of thePeople's Republic of China on October 19, 1950, when the whole region fell under Chinese control, served as an important precursor to the eventual defeat of the Lhasa government.^[23] Chamdo's governor at the time of the occupation wasNgapoi Ngawang Jigme, who later became an official in the government of the People's Republic of China. The previous governor of Chamdo wasLhalu Tsewang Dorje.

Batang County is divided into 5towns and 12townships.

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