The village is known locally as Shasima (Sharsingma) to the Tibetans, believed to be aLepcha name.[6]During theBritish Raj era, it was called Yatung, the name having been transferred from another location called "Yatung" in the valley between theJelep La andRinchengang. The original location later came to be calledOld Yatung.[1][7]
The Chinese administration of Tibet uses the name Yatung (often transliterated "Yadong" in Chinese pinyin) for the county, and the name Shasima for the town.
Map of lower Chumbi Valley (Survey of India, 1923): Old Yatung marked as "Yatang" on the way from Jelep La and New Yatung marked as "Yatang (Shasima)"
Yatung is at the confluence of the Khambu Chu (Tibetan:ཁམ་བུ་མ་ཆུ,Wylie:kham bu ma chu) and Tromo Chu (or Machu,Chinese:麻曲;pinyin:Má qū) rivers, which join here to form theAmo Chu river before it flows into Bhutan.[b]Downstream along Amo Chu are further villages ofChumbi,Pipitang andChema, within four miles distance.[8] A further village after them isRinchengang, which is regarded as a market town for cross-border trade.
The road toNathu La andJelep La passes[c] on the Sikkim border takes off from Pipitang/Chema. The Tibetans of Chumbi Valley (referred to as "Tromowa") used to use this route to reachKalimpong in British India, which was a major trading centre.[3][9]
Prior to 1904, there was a small village calledYusa[d] on the bank of the Amo Chu river.During theYounghusband Expedition, the British troops camped on the vacant high ground above the Yusa village. Younghusband named the location "New Chumbi", treating it as an outpost ofChumbi, which was then the most prominent town in the lower Chumbi Valley. He also had a bungalow house constructed at New Chumbi.[11][13]During the three years of British administration of the Chumbi Valley (1904–1908), the British administrator lived in the house and it came to function as the administrative headquarters of the Chumbi Valley. A trade market, a hospital and a post-and-telegraph office (PTO) also came to be located here.[14] During this period, the location was called simply "Chumbi", and treated as an extension of the Chumbi town.[3][e]
After the Chumbi Valley was transferred back to Tibet in 1908, the British government in London ruled that the British official in the Chumbi Valley would thereafter function as the "British Trade Agent at Yatung", thereby imparting the name Yatung to this location.[16]It was calledYatung–Shasima orNew Yatung to distinguish it from the original Yatung.[1] But, over time, "Yatung" came to mean the new location.
From 1905 onwards, Yatung functioned as a trade agency for traders from British India, taking over the functions of Old Yatung, which was never used by the British again.[1] Chinese customs office was still at Old Yatung and goods coming via Jelep La were checked there.Scholars note that the new trade agency did not bring any significant improvements to trade, which remained at roughly Rs. 30,000 level.[17] The Chinese amban in Lhasa posted a deputy at Yatung, who is said to have been obstructive of trade relations.[18]
In 1910, China's assistant amban at Chamdo,Zhao Erfeng, arranged aneffective Chinese invasion of Tibet. TheDalai Lama escaped from Lhasa in the nick of time and made his way to Yatung, where he received British protection. Chinese officials came here to negotiate with the Dalai Lama. But he declined their entreaties and moved on toSikkim, where he stayed until the Chinese power was exhausted in Tibet.[19][20] Chinese garrisons were posted at Yatung and other key locations of Tibet, and the powers of the Tibetan officials were stripped.[21]
Not long afterwards, China underwent the 1911Xinhai Revolution, and the Chinese garrisons at Yatung and Gyantse became mutinous. Their commander, General Chung Ying, overthrew the amban and declared himself the successor, claiming to act on behalf of the newRepublic. The amban's officials then sought refuge from the British trade agent. But the troops were out of control and the Tibetans in open rebellion. Soon, the troops, and then the General, fled Tibet, through Yatung and Sikkim. British India gave them safe passage to China.[21][f]
David MacDonald, a British officer with Lepcha heritage, worked as the trade agent at Yatung from 1909 to 1924. The post was combined with that of Gyantse trade agency till 1936, after which British India appointed Norbu Dhondup.[g] Sonam Tobden Kazi took up the post in 1942 and served till the end of British Raj in 1947.[25]
^Amo Chu is a Bhutanese name for the river, which is used in English. Tibetans call it Machu.
^Only Nathu La is operational in post-war trade normalisation with India.
^Also calledYusakha,[10] with alternative spellingsEusaka andEusakha.[11][12] Shasima would appear to be the name of the larger area around the village.
^The British house was referred to by the Dalai Lama as "Gyelten Kotri in Dromo Sharsing[ma]".[15]
^Chung left Lhasa in December 1912, but stayed in Chumbi for a few months and crossed into India on 14 April 1913. After returning to Peking, he found the former amban Lien Yu in an influential position.[22] Chung was tried and executed in 1915.[23]
^Norbu Dhondup was a native of the Indian border land, either Sherpa or Tibetan, who was taken from the Darjeeling High School to assist the Younghusband Mission as a translator. He subsequently rose through ranks and commanded great respect from the British as well as the Tibetans.[24]
^abcEaston, An Unfrequented High through Sikkim and Tibet (1928), p. 14: "The Chumbi valley is the highway for the Tibetans to Western civilisation by way of the marts of Kalimpong. At Chumbi orYatung, which is also calledShashima, they meet the river Amo Chu and, turning half right, travel south-west over the passes Dzalep La or Nathu La to Sikkim and Kalimpong."
^McKay, Tibet and the British Raj (1997), p. 87: "The original Yatung (which became known as Old Yatung) was a small village of no importance, located in a bleak and isolated valley off the main trade route."
^abWaddell, Lhasa and its Mysteries (1905), p. 89: "This position, selected 9780 feet above the sea level, was christened "New Chumbi," and we moved there the following day, crossing to the left bank by a fine cantilever bridge, with a guard-house at one end. Below our camp is the pretty village ofEusaka, amidst willows and pines, and beyond it the small monastery ofBakcham on a terrace above the river..."
^Buchanan, A Recent Trip into the Chumbi Valley (1919), p. 406: "On passing old Chumbi the valley opens out, the road still keeping close to the Amochu River. We pass a tiny village known asEusakha, and in a few minutes are in New Yatung, the headquarters of the British Trade Agent.".
^Viceroyalty of His Excellency the Earl of Minto, Vol. III, Simla: Government Monotype Press, 1910, p. 70 – via archive.org: 'On the 28th January the Political Officer in Sikkim was informed by the Government of India that the designation of the Assistant Political Officer in Chumbi would in future be "British Trade Agent at Yatung".'
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