Garze Travel Guide

Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in Sichuan Province whose capital is Kangding (Dardo). Just located on the southeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it takes about 151,078 square kilometers in the western Sichuan.

Garze was traditionally part of the Tibetan region known as Kham. During the period of rule by the Republic of China (1911–1949), it became nominally part of Xikang province, which included parts of former Kham. In 1930, a Tibetan army invaded Garze, capturing it without much resistance. However, in 1932, the Tibetan army withdrew after suffering defeats elsewhere at the hands of the warlord of Qinghai, Ma Bufang. Chinese warlord Liu Wenhui reoccupied Garze, and signed an agreement with the Tibetans formalizing his control of the area east of the Yangtze River, which corresponds roughly with eastern Kham. In 1950, following the defeat of the Kuomintang forces by the People’s Liberation Army, the area fell within the control of the People’s Republic of China. Eastern Xikang was merged with Sichuan in 1955, where Garze became an autonomous prefecture.

On this land with an area of 153,700 square kilometers, magnificent mountains and rivers reflect human material civilization. Majestic buildings at the foot of the crystal snow peaks, love songs and dances on the wild land with waves of grass and flowers demonstrate the vitality of mountains and waters on the Kang-Tibetan Plateau, and the true love of the world. Over the ages, the anima of the nature combines perfectly and harmoniously with human wisdom: man of wisdom is endowed with the bold and unconstrained character of mountains and rivers, just as the latter has been gifted with human emotion and intelligence. They together make a wonder world of Kang-Tibetan holy land.