ASIAN ALPINE E-NEWS
Issue No. 54 August 2019

Contents
Journey through south Yushu of Qinghai Province, eastern Tibet
Nangqen to Mekong Headwaters, July 2019
Tamotsu (Tom) Nakamura
Part 1 Buddhists’ Kingdom-Monasteries, rock peaks, blue poppies

Page 2~16

Part 2 From Mekong Headwaters to upper Yangtze River.

Page 17~32

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Journey through south Yushu of Qinghai Province, eastern Tibet
Nangqen to Mekong Headwaters, July 2019
Tamotsu (Tom) Nakamura

Part 1 Buddhists’ Kingdom – Monasteries, rock peaks, blue poppies“Yushu used to be a strategic point of Qinghai, explorers’ crossroads and killing field of frontier.”
Geography and Climate of Yushu
With an elevation of around 3,700 metres (12,100 ft), Yushu has an alpine subarctic climate, with long, cold,
very dry winters, and short, rainy, and mild summers. Average low temperatures are below freezing fromearly/mid October to late April; however, due to the wide diurnal temperature variation, the average highnever lowers to the freezing mark. Despite frequent rain during summer, when a majority of days sees rain,
only June, the rainiest month, hasless than 50% of possible sunshine;
withmonthlypercent

possiblesunshine ranging from 49% in Juneto 66% in November, the city
receives 2,496 hours of brightsunshine annually.
The

monthly

24-hour

averagetemperature ranges from −7.6 °C(18.3 °F) in January to 12.7 °C(54.9 °F) in July, while the annual
mean is 3.22 °C (37.8 °F). About
three-fourthsof

theannualprecipitation of 486 mm (19.1 in) is
delivered from June to September.

Above is Jeku Monastery in Yushu town

Geography and Potentials of NangqenNangqen County is located in the southeast of Yushu Prefecture, its south and southeast are adjacent toTingchen, Chamdo, Riwoche consists of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), and its west and northwest
connects with Dzato (Zadoi) County, north and northeast with Yushu County. The Nangqen County has nine
townships and one town with a total population of 105,800.
The county seat Shamda Town is located in the river valley of Upper Mekong area, agriculture is its major
economy with supplements of animal husbandry. The average elevation is 3644m above sea level and averagetemperature is 3.8°C.
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With a warm and moist Climate Nangqen is very rich in natural resources:
The county has available pastures of 442,413 ha or 86% of total area of the county, and arable land of 7,333
ha. In addition to abundant precipitation, there is abundant surface water, all belonging to the Mekong River
water system.Zachu, Zichu, Palchu. Rechu and Jichu rivers flow in parallel from northwest to southeast
throughout the county, and they reserve 142.59kw hydrological energy in theory. The County provides 65,500
cubic meters of water for per person, which is 7.4 times of the world’s average per capita water amount and24 times of that for China.

Nangchen lies in the southern rim of Qinghai Province with fertile borderlands adjacent to the Tibet
Autonomous Region (TAR). In 1922 two explores met together by chance at Yushu (Jekungdo). They were
Parisian traveler, David Neel and British military-explorer, Brigadier George Pereira. They headed to Lhasa
for being the first to reach Lhasa from east. Russian explorers entered Yushu. A French explorer was killed
at Yushu. He traveled to seek for the source of the Mekong River His partner Bernard could fine one theMekong headwaters as the first westerner. After a half century a tragedy took place. New China sent2

Mongolians to south Yushu for mass slaughter of Tibetans.

A glance at contemporary Tibet
The incorporation of Tibet into the People's Republic of China, (called the "Chinese invasion of Tibet" by theTibetan Government in Exile; called “Peaceful liberation of Tibet" in China, was the process by which thePeople's Republic of China (PRC) gained control of Tibet. These regions came under the control of China after
attempts by the Government of Tibet to gain international recognition, efforts to modernize its military,negotiations between the Government of Tibet and the PRC, a military conflict in the Qamdo area of Western
Kham in October 1950, and the eventual acceptance of the Seventeen Point Agreement by the Governmentof Tibet under Chinese pressure in October 1951. Scholars call the incorporation a Chinese annexation ofTibet. The Government of Tibet and Tibetan social structure remained in place in the Tibetan AutonomousRegion under the authority of China until the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when the Dalai Lama fled into exile
and after which the Government of Tibet and Tibetan social structures were dissolved.

Nangqen Kingdom – No longer frontier
Nagai (86), Nakamura (84) and Kakihara (71), an elderly group left Chengdu for Xining on July 3. I alreadyvisited Nangqen twice in 2018. We stayed at Xining 2,165m for acclimatization. Fortunately, we could view
Maqin Kangri from the flight Xining~Yushu as below. Photos of developing Xining are shown too.

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Tar Monastery with many Han tourists

Fast developing Xining cityOur most capable Tibetan guide Awang received us at the Xining airport. On July 4 we flew to Yushu 3,600m
and first paid a visit to the monument of Wen Cheng of Tang Dynasty who got married with Tibetan king in
the 7th century. Yushu town has already thoroughly beem reconstructed from the 2011 big earthquake.

Road to Wen Cheng monument with thousands prayer flags and monks at Yushu
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Whenever I come to the west China I am overwhelmingly moved by the fastest change of development andreally feel “Here is no longer frontier”. Construction of infrastructures are going on throughout theborderlands of China. High speed railways,highways and paving of ordinary roads areaccelerated. We come across boards of “One beltone road” here and there. 800km highway fromYushu to Xining is now in services.
High speed railway connects Xining~Urumuchand Chengdu~Xi’an in 8 hours.
Journey starting from Yusha passes highlands
3,700m to 5,000m. The first objective was ahistorical Tana Monastery near to south Tibet
Autonomous Region. The second objective wasthe Mekong headwaters to the upper Yangtze
River.

Highway Yushu to Xining

Right-up of Yushu town
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Rock peaks on the way from Yushu to Nangqen
On July 6 we departed from Yushu to Nangqen. We crossed a pass 4,493m and upper Mekong River.

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Meconopsis-blue poppy

PrimulaMeconopsis blue poppy

Qinghai highland is a paradise for the lover of Blue Poppy. It is “The Land of the Blue Poppy” named byFrank Kingdon-Ward.
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After passing a junction to Zadoi we crossed a couple of 4,000m passes and the upper Mekong. It took fourhours to drive from Yushu to Shamda town, county capital of Nangqen, Buddhists kingdom.

Nangqen is fertile borderlands and Buddhists Kingdom. There are 93 monasteries in Nangqen
County (This is the greatest
number as one county).
In the Tibet Autonomous
Region (TAR) under strong
influence of Dalai Lama
13th,monasteries
arestrictlywatchedandcontrolled, and monks arebecoming less. In the other
hand, Qinghai Province is aterritory of Panchen Lama
recognized by the Beijing
government.
Therefore,
construction of monasteries
is being accelerated.

On the way from Yushu to Nangqen

Nangqen Shamda town and upper Mekong River9Symbol of Shamda, capital city of Nangqen County, Buddha statue and 108 stupas

To historical Tana Monastery
On July 8 we headed to Tana Monastery. Morning temperature was 9℃. We passed the gorge zone as below
and crossed a high pass of 4,712m which led to a junction to Zadoi and Tana Monastery.

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Tana Monastery is in far distance, 170km and five hours drive from Shamda. Road is well paved to a point
near the monastery. Many monasteries hung on the cliffs. There is a holy waterfall.

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Approaching to Tana Monastery – long way

On the way to Tana Monstery, rock peaks appearing
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Tana Monastery surrounded with seven rock peaks

Gesar and the Kingdom of Ling
In Tibet, that Gesar was an historical figure is rarely questioned. Some scholars there argued
he was born in 1027, on the basis of a note in a 19th-century chronicle, the Mdo smad chos'byung by Brag dgon pa dkon mchog bstan pa rab. Certain core episodes seem to reflect events
recorded at the dawn of Tibetan history: the marriage to a Chinese princess is reminiscent oflegends concerning king Songtsän Gampo's alliance marriage with Princess Wencheng in 641,for example.[27] Legends variously place him in Golok, between Dotō and Domé, or in Markham,Kongpo, Tanak, Öyuk or the village of Panam on the Nyang River. Given that the mythologicaland allegorical elements of the story defy place and time, the historicity of figures in the cycle
is indeterminate. Though the epic was sung all over Tibetan-speaking regions, with Kham andAmdo long regarded as the centres for its diffusion,[31] traditions do connect Gesar with theformer Kingdom of Ling (Wylie: gling). In Tibetan, gling means "island" but can have, as with
the Sanskrit word dvīpa, the secondary meaning of "continent". Ling was a petty kingdom
located in Kham between the Yangtze and Yalong River. An historical kingdom of Lingtsang(Wylie: gling tshang) existed until the 20th century.
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King Gesar in Tana Monastery (left) and Danba, Sichuan (right)

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(above) Largest nunnury in Qinghai 改迦尼姑 (below) Veiled 5,725m south of Yushu town
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Journey through south Yushu of Qinghai Province, eastern Tibet
Nangqen to Mekong Headwaters, July 2019Tamotsu (Tom) Nakamura

Part 2 From Mekong Headwaters to upper Yangtze RiverOn July 9 we left Shamda, Nangqen County
capinal early morning for Zadoi, a gateway toMekong headwaters. The new road was well
paved and promised us a comfortable drive.
The road passed higher than 4,000m vivid
green grasslands throughout the route. Itwas interrupted with hairy caterpillars at
4,470m point. After two passes of 4,851m and
4,672m we went down to a Mekong tributary,Jiqu, at 4,180m, windlessperfect weather.

5,500m rock peaks were viewed in distance.
In the surrounding a hard of yak wasgrazing. We further crossed two passes of 4,435m and 4,713m and then we stood at a shore of the Mekong
mainstream, Zaqu. We arrived at Zadoi town at 5:30pm. It was surprising that the Zadi township hadcompletely changed to modern large city with uniform new houses and buildings of Chinese style in only sixyear. Season (June) of caterpillar fungus was over, people became rich and streets were full of a great turnout.

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Fertile Qinghai grasslands, a shore of Jiqu, a tributary of the upper Mekong.

Wild fox
2HareAwang explained meanings of prayer flags color. “White” represents peace, “yellow” desires to be rich, “Red”
angry, revenge.

Developing Zadoi town at 4,100m

Hotel in Zadoi

Zadoi town of 6 years ago was very shabby and dirty. There was only one hotel with uncomfortable, but now
changed to modern city. many new and, to our surprise, a drug store wanted payment in Japanese Yen. Our
driver also preferred to Japanese Yen. Japanese Yen was circulating in such remote borderlands.
July10 we departed from Zadoi
headingtotheMekong

headwaters. The weather wasnot good. A route to Zaqin
4,240m was changed. 6 years
ago the road directly ascended
to 4,700m pass from near
Zadoi town, and we enjoyed astanning panorama of thepeaks south of Zadoi town, but
now the new road went onalong the north bank of theMekongRiverandthen

entered a tributary that led toZaqin. After one hour leaving
Zaqin there was a trailer accident to close the road. We had to return to Zadoi.
July 11 07:00 am 7℃. It was fine. Good weather encouraged us for heading to the headwaters. We left Zadoi
3at 08:00am and passed Zaqin at 09:00 towards north. We entered a valley west of Qiajajima massif. Thehighest peak Qiajajima I 5,930m was first ascended by a Japanese party. At noon we crossed a pass of
5,002m 日阿東拉埡 Mekong-Yangtze Divide to tributaries of upper Yangtze River, Tongtienhe. On the way
we entered a valley in the eastern side for reconnaissance. Although to our regret Qiajajima was not in oursight hindered by a ridge in front, we could photograph many 5,500m~5,700m rock peaks. Yellow poppy,Meconopsis integrifolia were in full blossom.
Same as the Mekong, Yangtze changes its name in each section. From river mouth to Yibin of Sichuan
Province it is called as Changjian. From Yibin to Yushu of Qinghai is River of Golden Sand, from Yushu toriver source is Tongtienhe. We stayed at Zhidoi.

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As shown on the map of previous page,noglacierisnotdevelopinginQiajajima massif. In the other hand,massifs 5,800m of the western side
have many glaciers. There is a distinct
difference between the west and east.
In June, 2013, Nakamura and Shintani
stayed at 4,800m to enter the glacierareas, but because of caterpillar fungus
villagers and horsed went out to collectthe fungus. We could not organize
horse caravan to access to the glaciers.
It was a bitter experience.
In 2008 New Zealand party entered theglaciers from the north side and climbed many peaks that remained untouched. Here are their photographs.

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On July 12 we departed from Zhidoi. We first visited a historical Gasa Monastery 嘎薩寺. We returned to Yushuon the same day. The road from Zhidoi to Yushu passes high altitude almost 4,500m~4,800 all the way. Typicalgreen grasslands continue. Qinghai highlands has the largest pastures for raising yaks and sheep in thewhole Qinghai-Tibet plateau. Raising of yaks is the fundamental basis of ecnonmy. Quolity yak milk products
such as butter are supplied to Lhasa and the other cities.

6Rock peaks in the Mekong Headwaters
5,500~5,700m

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High pass at 5,002m sharing watershed of Mekong and YangtzeRock peaks and a tributary of upper Yangtze, road to Zhidoi
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