Rinchengang

Rinchengang[1][2][lower-alpha 1] (Tibetan: རིན་ཆེན་སྒང, Wylie: rin chen sgang, THL: rin chen gang, ZYPY: Rinqêngang)[9] or Renqinggang[10][11] (Chinese: 仁青岗村; pinyin: Rén qīng gǎng cūn) is a town in the Chumbi Valley and the headquarters of the Xia Yadong Township of Yadong County, Tibet region of China. It is in the valley of Amo Chu where the route from Sikkim's Jelep La pass meets Amo Chu. It is also close to the Bhutan–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]

Rinchengang
རིན་ཆེན་སྒང
Town
仁青岗村 Rén qīng gǎng cūn
Rinchengang is located in Tibet
Rinchengang
Rinchengang
Rinchengang is located in China
Rinchengang
Rinchengang
Rinchengang is located in Asia
Rinchengang
Rinchengang
Coordinates: 27.43°N 88.928°E / 27.43; 88.928
CountryChina
CountyYadong
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.

In 2003, the governments of India and China agreed to use Rinchengang as a border trade mart, along with Changgu in Sikkim.[13][11] It is also the corresponding trade mart for Sherathang.[14]

Geography

Rinchengang is in the main Chumbi valley, on the west bank of the Amo Chu river. A stream called Yatung Chu that brings waters from the Jelep La and Nathu La passes on the Sikkim 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 of Darjeeling, 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 the Charitang valley towards Haa, and the western one going via the Doklam plateau to Sangbay. (See Map 1) From the Doklam plateau, there was also a route to the Dichu basin (Tendu and Sipchu).

In December 1903 Laurence 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 towns Kalimpong and Darjeeling as well as Sikkim's Gangtok. 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 a Kagyu Monastery on a hill top near Rinchengang, which is said to have been established by Cangba Ada, a monk from the Shangpa 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 of Old Yatung in the valley below.[23] During the Cultural Revolution in China the Kagyu Monastery took some damage. However a restoration was undertaken and many of the cultural relics are preserved.[24]

History

Colonial period

In the early 1900s, the people of Rinchengang were middlemen traders between central Tibet and the markets in Darjeeling and Calcutta.[25] Ekai Kawaguchi, a Japanese Buddhist monk who travelled in Tibet, chronicled the usage of mules to transport wool from Tomo-Rinchen-gang to Kalenpong. He recorded the fortress of Nyatong (Old Yatung) located close to the grazing grounds of Rinchengang.[8]

After the Younghusband Expedition (1903–1904), the British moved the trade mart to (new) Yatung and also opened the Nathu La pass for travel from Sikkim. Thus, Rinchengang was bypassed and it must have seen reduction in its prospects.

Post-colonial period
🌍
Map 2: Rinchengang and vicinity

In 1950, the People'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 (called rgya zog – Indian goods) went through the Chumbi Valley so much so that the Chumbi Valley was more prosperous than Beijing in the 1950s.[27]

All this came to an end with the Tibetan 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.

Present

In 2005 India and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding on border trade with regard to reopening Nathu 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]

Notes
  1. Other spellings include Richen Gang,[3] Richengang,[4] and Rinchengong.[5] It is now more commonly spelt in the Chinese pinyin spelling Renqinggang,[2] sometimes as Renchinggang.[6] Some authors use the traditional name of Chumbi Valley as a prefix, Tomo-Renchingang.[7][8]

References
  1. 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 to Rinchengang, only six miles from Yatung..."
  2. Mathou 2004, note 39, p. 405: "Renqinggang, also known as Rinchengang, is located south of Sharsingma in Yadong country."
  3. Shakabpa 2009, pp. 648–649: "In violation of Tibetan law, they [British troops] reached as far as Richen Gang, Dromo."
  4. Dozey, S. (1922), Darjeeling Past And Present: A Concise History Of Darjeeling District Since 1835, pp. 298–299 – via archive.org: "Further down is Yatung (13,200'); still further on is Richengang (9,530') where there is a collection of about 40 well-built houses."
  5. White 1971, p. 112: "At Rinchengong the road crossed the Am-mo-chhu [Amo Chu] by a substantial bridge, and our path opened out most lovely views, with splendid timber."
  6. Fatma 2017, p. 65: "She said there are fewer vehicles plying to Renchingang as there is no provision of staying back."
  7. Waddell 1905, p. 84.
  8. Kawaguchi 1909, p. 650.
  9. Xigazê Prefecture-Level City, KNAB place name database, retrieved 5 July 2021.
  10. "China-India border trade booms". Embassy of the People's Republic of China in India. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
  11. "Documents signed between India and China during Prime Minister Vajpayee's visit to China". Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. 23 June 2003. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  12. 陈林 楚武干 (14 December 2018). "Xīzàng rén qīng gǎng cūn: Shǒu biān hù guó lǜsè zhìfù_xīzàng xīnwén_zhōngguó xī cáng wǎng" 西藏仁青岗村：守边护国 绿色致富_西藏新闻_中国西藏网 [Renqinggang Village, Tibet: Keeping the Border and Protecting the Country and Becoming Rich Green]. www.tibet.cn.
  13. Mathou 2004, note 39, p. 405.
  14. Roy, Esha (2017-07-25). "Next to flashpoint, home tension bigger headache than China chill". The Indian Express.
  15. 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."
  16. Sandberg, Graham (1901), An Itinerary of the Route from Sikkim to Lhasa, Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, pp. 8–9 – via archive.org
  17. Rai, Remuna (6 July 2006). "The Return of Nathula" (PDF). Now! (Vol. 5 No. 143). Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  18. Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1854), Himalayan Journals – Notes of a Naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains etc., Vol. 2, London: John Murray, pp. 110–111 – via archive.org: "The Machoo river, rising from Chumulari, flows through the Choombi district, and enters Bhotan at a large mart called Rinchingoong [Rinchengang], whence it flows to the plains of India..."
  19. 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."
  20. White 1971, p. 112.
  21. Waddell 1905, pp. 82–83.
  22. Waddell 1905, pp. 83–84.
  23. Easton, An Unfrequented High through Sikkim and Tibet (1928), p. 48.
  24. "Gá jǔ sì, xīzàng gá jǔ sì, yà dōng gá jǔ sì, xīzàng yà dōng gá jǔ sì - wúliàng guāngmíng fójiào wǎng" 噶举寺,西藏噶举寺,亚东噶举寺,西藏亚东噶举寺 - 无量光明佛教网 [Yadong Kagyu Monastery, Tibet]. www.guang5.com. 2012-10-07. Retrieved 2021-03-30.
  25. Waddell 1905, p. 83.
  26. Arpi, Claude (10 September 2016). "Chinese War Preparations in Tibet ...in 1953". Indian Defence Review. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  27. Harris, Geographical Diversions (2013).
  28. 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."
  29. Weidong, Cheng (March 2013). "Yadong Revisited. The Opening of Rinchengang Border Trade Market" (PDF). News from China. Vol. XXV, no. 3. Embassy of the People's Republic of China in India. pp. 44–48. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  30. Dhungel, Pankaj (2020-12-30). "A tribute to Motilal Lakhotia, the man who took cars to Tibet on mules, yaks". EastMojo. Retrieved 2021-03-29.

Bibliography

Secondary sources

Primary sources

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