Xikang

former province of the Republic of China 西康省 Sikang Province (1939–1950)
Capital	Kangting
former province of the People's Republic of China 西康省 Xikang Province (1950–1955)
Capital	Kangding (1950–1951) Ya'an (1951–1955)

Xikang or Sikang (Chinese: 西康省; pinyin: Xīkāng Shěng) was a province of the Republic of China comprising most of the Kham region of traditional Tibet, where the Khampa, a subgroup of the Tibetan people, live. The eastern part of the province was inhabited by a number of different ethnic groups, such as Han Chinese, Yi, Qiang people and Tibetan, while the western part of the province was inhabited by Tibetans. Xikang, then known as Chuanbian (川邊), was a special administrative region of the Republic of China until 1939, when it became an official province. The provincial capital was Kangding from 1939 to 1951 and Ya'an from 1951 to 1955. The province had a population of some 3.4 million in 1954.

History

Following the Wuchang Uprising in October 1911 which led to the downfall of the Qing dynasty, this region 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 this region was invaded by the army of Tibet, precipitating the Sino-Tibetan War. With the district locked in internal struggles, no reinforcements were sent to support the Sichuanese troops stationed here. As a result, the Tibetan army captured, without encountering much resistance, Garze and Xinlong Counties. When a negotiated ceasefire failed, Tibetan forces expanded the war attempting to capture parts of southern Qinghai province. In March 1932 their force invaded Qinghai but was defeated by the local Hui warlord Ma Bufang in July, routing the Tibetan army and driving it back to this district.

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

In 1932 Liu Wenhui in cooperation with the Qinghai army, sent out a brigade to attack the Tibetan troops in Garze and Xinlong, eventually occupying them, Dêgê and other counties east of the Jinshajiang River. The 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 Sikang 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.

In 1950, following the defeat of the Kuomintang by the Communists 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 Sikang was merged into Sichuan in 1955.

Administrative divisions

1950–1955

Name	Administrative Seat	Simplified Chinese	Hanyu Pinyin	Subdivisions
Yan'an	Yan'an	雅安市	Yǎ'ān shì	none
Yan'an Division	Yan'an County	雅安专区	Yǎ'ān Zhuānqū	9 counties
Xichang Division	Xichang County	西昌专区	Xīchāng Zhuānqū	12 counties
Xikang Province Tibetan Autonomous Region	Kangding County	西康省藏族自治区	Xīkāng Shěng Zàngzú Zìzhìqū	20 counties & 2 bureaux
Liangshan Yi Autonomous Region	Zhaojue County	凉山彝族自治区	Liángshān Yízú Zìzhìqū	7 counties

See also

• Map showing the locations of provinces of the ROC
• Kham