Xikang

西康省 Xikang Province
Capital	Kangding

Xikang or Sikang (西康省 Xīkāng Shěng), is a defunct province of the Republic of China, comprising most of the Kham region of traditional Tibet. Xikang was a "Special Administrative District" until 1939, when it became an official province. The provincial capital was Kangding.

History

In May 1930 this province was invaded by the army of Tibet. With the province locked in internal struggles, no reinforcements were sent to support the Sichuan troops stationed in Xikang. As a result, the Tibetan army captured, without encountering much resistance, Garze and Xinlong (Zhanhua). When a negotiated ceasefire failed, Tibet expanded the war attempting to capture parts of southern Qinghai province. In March 1932 their force invaded Qinghai but was defeated by the Qinghai warlord Ma Bufang in July, routing the Tibetan army and driving it back to Xikang. The Qinghai army captured counties that had fallen into the hands of the Tibetan army since 1919. The victory on the part of the Qinghai army threatened the supply lines to the Tibetan forces in Garze and Xinlong. As a result, this 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, Dege and other counties east of the Jinshajiang River.

In 1950, following the defeat of the Kuomintang by the Communists in the Chinese Civil War, Xikang was split along the Yangtze River into Xikang to the east and a separate Qamdo Territory (昌都地区) to the west. Qamdo was merged into Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965. The rest of Xikang was merged into Sichuan province in 1955.

See also

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