# Tianwendian
## English
### Alternative forms

* T'ien-wen-tien (Wade–Giles)

### Etymology

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for 天文點／天文点 (Tiānwéndiǎn).

### Pronunciation

* This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA or enPR then please add some!

### Proper noun

Tianwendian
* An outpost in Hotan County, Hotan prefecture, Xinjiang, China, part of the disputed Aksai Chin.
** [1967, Summary of World Broadcasts: Far East‎, British Broadcasting Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page A-31, A-32:(2) On 12th July at 15. 00 hours, one Indian aircraft intruded into the air space over the Chip Chap River vally in Sinkiang, and carried out reconnaissance over China's civilian checkpoint at Tienwentien, and then flew east to Chipchap La for further activities.[...] (11) On 15th July at 12. 35 hours, one Indian aircraft intruded into the air space over the Chip Chap River valley in Sinkiang, and repeatedly circled over China's civilian checkpost at Tienwentien for provocation.]
** 1992 August 7 [1992 July 21], Zhai Qiyun (5049 0796 6663) [翟啓運], “Notes on Visit to Xinjiang Military Region”, in Daily Report: China‎, number 153, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Beijing RENMIN RIBAO pp 1,3, translation of original in Chinese, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 19–20:Yang Gongcheng [2799 0501 2052], a cadre of Xinjiang Military Region accompanying us told us that the conditions of two frontier stations on Kal Kunlun, Shenxianwan and Tianwendian were amon the worst in the whole army. […] In Company No.5, we met political instructor Zhen Shaowu [6774 1421 2976], who had just came down from the Tianwendian outpost standing 5,190 meters above sea level. He was a soldier with a strong will.
** 2015, P J S Sandhu, Vinay Shankar, G G Dwivedi, 1962: A View from the Other Side of the Hill‎, New Delhi: Vij Books India Pvt Ltd, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 46:China was particularly sensitive to the area of Tianwendian (Point 5243), which lies in the northern part of Aksai Chin and was also the location of the forward HQ of their northernmost Defended Area (Tien HQ Defence Area).[...]On 19 Apr 1962, the PLA General Staff passed order to the frontier guards of Xinjiang Military Region for 'strengthening the border defences in the Western Sector of the Sino-Indian border (Ladakh)'. Some more posts were to be established where gaps between teh Chinese posts were comparatively wider. The strength of the poss at Point 5243 and the Area of Kongka Pass was increased. Two more posts were established, i.e. one at Point 5500 (northwest of Tianwendian) and the second one on Point 5851 (southwest of Tianwendian) to provide depth.
** 2016, “Indian, Chinese armies decide to improve ties at functional level”, in News18‎:Border officials of the Indian and Chinese armies on Saturday resolved to improve ties at the functional level as they met on the occasion of New Year at the world's highest border personnel meeting point. "On the occasion of New Year, a ceremonial Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) was conducted first time today at Chinese Temporary Meeting Point at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) - Tianwendian (TWD), which is the world's highest-established BPM point," said Udhampur-based defence spokesman Colonel SD Goswami.
** 2019 March 1, Ren-juan Wei, Liang Peng, Chuan Liang, Christoph Haemmig, Matthias Huss, Zhen-xia Mu, Ying He, “Analysis of temporal and spatial variations in hydrometeorological elements in the Yarkant River Basin, China”, in Journal of Water and Climate Change‎, volume 10, number 1, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC:The annual precipitation at Kyagar is low for different reasons, including the geographical location of the station. For example, Tianwendian station is located in the south-eastern Karakoram Mountains, which receive water vapour from the Indian Ocean that falls out in precipitation due to uplift along the mountain slopes.
** 2021 January 16, Minnie Chan, “High altitudes send soldiers off course in China-India border region: experts”, in South China Morning Post‎, archived from the original on 16 January 2021:He had arrived at Tianwendian post just two days earlier, to take part in an outdoor long-distance running event.
** For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Tianwendian.