Map 1: Map of lower Chumbi Valley (Survey of India, 1923): Rinchengang is at the intersection of the Amo Chu Valley and the route from Jelep La.
Rinchengang[1][2][a](Tibetan:རིན་ཆེན་སྒང,Wylie:rin chen sgang,THL:rin chen gang,ZYPY:Rinqêngang)[9]orRenqinggang[10][11](Chinese:仁青岗村;pinyin:Rén qīng gǎng cūn) is a town in theChumbi Valley and the headquarters of theXia Yadong Township ofYadong County,Tibet region of China. It is in the valley ofAmo Chu where the route fromSikkim'sJelep La pass meets Amo Chu. It is also close to theBhutan–China border (Doklam area), which is currently in dispute. In December 2018, Rinchengang village had a population of around 550 people.[12] The inhabitants are engaged in animal grazing or work as forest rangers. Some also carry supplies to Chinese border troops.[12]
In 2003, the governments of India and China agreed to use Rinchengang as a border trade mart, along withChanggu in Sikkim.[13][11] It is also the corresponding trade mart forSherathang.[14]
Rinchengang is in the main Chumbi valley, on the west bank of theAmo Chu river. A stream calledYatung Chu that brings waters from theJelep La andNathu La passes on theSikkim border, joins Amo Chu here.[15][16] The town has one of the largest tracts of flat land in the Chumbi valley covering around 580 sq km of grasslands and forests.[17][12] It is also one of the last villages in the Amo Chu valley before the river enters Bhutan.[18]
Being a spacious location and close to both Sikkim and Bhutan, Rinchengang seems to have always played the role of a trading centre.Archibald Campbell, the Deputy Commissioner ofDarjeeling, wrote in 1848 that the people of all three countries, Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet, traded here.[19]
There was a bridge over Amo Chu at Rinchengang,[16][20] which provided routes into Bhutan on both the banks of the Amo Chu river: the eastern one going via theCharitang valley towardsHaa, and the western one going via theDoklam plateau toSangbay. (See Map 1) From the Doklam plateau, there was also a route to theDichu basin (Tendu andSipchu).
In December 1903Laurence Waddell passed through Rinchengang on his way to Lhasa and described it as follows:[21]
Craggy mountains rise on either side into jagged snow-streaked peaks banded by dark pines, and between, the clear green waters of the Mo river... The meadow here is a quarter of a mile broad, and its turfy terraces, sprinkled with the frosted remains of last year’s wild-flowers... are dotted freely over with fine large houses, two- and three-storeyed in the Swiss chalet style, with widely-projecting eaves and wooden balconies carved and gaudily painted. The village of Rinchengang consists of about forty of these handsome houses, much superior to any native house in Sikhim or even at Darjeeling. They are closely clustered between narrow lanes, and all are picked out in bright colours, giving an air of prosperity and comfort.
Rinchengang was prosperous. Being on the route from the Jelep La pass, it participated in the trade between Tibet and the Indian townsKalimpong andDarjeeling as well as Sikkim'sGangtok. Indian traders were not allowed beyond the Yatung customs house (Old Yatung). So traders from Rinchengang exploited the gap, leading to their prosperity.[22]
There is aKagyu Monastery on a hill top near Rinchengang, which is said to have been established by Cangba Ada, a monk from theShangpa Kagyu sect in 1747. According to British traveller John Easton, the hilltop was called Yatung ("nose bridge mountain") and from it was derived the name ofOld Yatung in the valley below.[23]During theCultural Revolution in China the Kagyu Monastery took some damage. However a restoration was undertaken and many of the cultural relics are preserved.[24]
In the early 1900s, the people of Rinchengang were middlemen traders between central Tibet and the markets in Darjeeling and Calcutta.[25]Ekai Kawaguchi, aJapaneseBuddhist monk who travelled in Tibet, chronicled the usage of mules to transport wool fromTomo-Rinchen-gang toKalenpong. He recorded the fortress ofNyatong (Old Yatung) located close to the grazing grounds of Rinchengang.[8][better source needed]
After theYounghusband Expedition (1903–1904), the British moved the trade mart to (new)Yatung and also opened theNathu La pass for travel from Sikkim. Thus, Rinchengang was bypassed and it must have seen reduction in its prospects.
In 1950, thePeople's Liberation Army moved into Tibet and they established barracks at Richengang.[26] The presence of the Army also meant that the trade through the Chumbi Valley boomed. New roads and communications were established. Sugar, textiles and food items (calledrgya zog – Indian goods) went through the Chumbi Valley so much so that the Chumbi Valley was more prosperous thanBeijing in the 1950s.[27]
All this came to an end with theTibetan uprising of 1959. Tensions between India and China increased, and both the countries hampered trade.[27] Following the Sino-India war in 1962, the border crossings at Nathu La and Jelep La were closed. They were not reopened till 2005.
In 2005 India and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding on border trade with regard to reopeningNathu La. China built anew trade mart at Donqingang on the hilltop near the Kagyu monastery in 2006, and trade between the Chumbi Valley and Sikkim was resumed. In a throwback to the old times, the Indian traders were not allowed to go beyond Donqingang. Rinchengang, 11 km away, was still inaccessible.[28][29]
Before the construction of Rinchengang as a market, according to a trader from Sikkim,Motilal Lakhotia,[30] "Richengang was just a small settlement with some houses and cultivated fields and something they would just pass by on their tedious journey."[17]
^Other spellings includeRichen Gang,[3]Richengang,[4]andRinchengong.[5]It is now more commonly spelt in the Chinese pinyin spellingRenqinggang,[2] sometimes asRenchinggang.[6] Some authors use the traditional name of Chumbi Valley as a prefix, Tomo-Renchingang.[7][8]
^India, White Paper I (1959), p. 108: "By order of Military Control Commission freedom of movement is not being permitted to our Trade Agents even in the vicinity where the Trade Agencies are located. For example the I.T.A. Yatung was not permitted to go toRinchengang, only six miles from Yatung..."
^abMathou 2004, note 39, p. 405: "Renqinggang, also known asRinchengang, is located south of Sharsingma in Yadong country."
^Shakabpa 2009, pp. 648–649: "In violation of Tibetan law, they [British troops] reached as far asRichen Gang, Dromo."
^White 1971, p. 112: "AtRinchengong the road crossed the Am-mo-chhu [Amo Chu] by a substantial bridge, and our path opened out most lovely views, with splendid timber."
^Fatma 2017, p. 65: "She said there are fewer vehicles plying toRenchingang as there is no provision of staying back."
^Fader (2002), p. 43: "It [Rinchengang] was a large village located along the main valley river, the Amo Chu (...), at the Amo's confluence with the river Yatung."
^Campbell, A. (April 1848)."Itinerary from Phari in Thibet to Lassa, with appended Routes from Darjeeling to Phari".Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal:274–275 – via archive.org.: "The principal town in the neighbourhood of Khari [Phari] is Rinchingong [Rinchengang], a large mart, two marches east of Choombi. It belongs to Tibet. Here the people of Bootan, Sikim and Tibet meet to trade."
^Harris, The Mobile and the Material (2017), p. 161: "Donqingang is the market on the China side; it is 11km away from Rinchengang, but Indian traders are not allowed to go here."
