Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Gānzī Zàngzúzìzhìzhōu, 甘孜藏族自治州) takes up fully half of Sichuan, its boundaries forming the eastern edge of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and the eastern extent of historical Han-dominated China.
Ganzi, part of the ancient Tibetan Kham region, is one of the most beautiful, inspiring and forbidding destinations China has to offer, and unlike the Tibetan lands on the other side of the TAR border, its requirements for entry are less onerous, making it an attractive alternative to a flight or train into Lhasa for those seeking to experience Tibetan culture and rugged mountain landscapes.
The locals Tibetans are the fierce Khampas, known for their tendency to carry short swords on their person and cruise little nomad settlements on tricked-out motorcycles. Speaking of nomads, a number of stubbornly unsettled Tibetans in the regions still travel in caravans drawn by bell-jingling yaks, stopping off at far-flung towns to trade yak butter and yogurt for silver, gold and other needed things. All of Ganzi's towns center on a Buddhist site of some sort, be it the Tagong Monastery on the Lhagang Grasslands, with its a ancient Buddhist relics, or the library and ancient printing press of Dege, home to a treasure trove of Buddhist scriptures.
The border town of Kangding marks one of the entrance points into Ganzi, with the booming tourist town of Shangri-la (Zhongdian) at the southernmost point of the prefecture, and Dege, which also borders the TAR, one of its northermost.
Ganzi is dotted with nomad gathering spots-turned-towns like Tagong, sacred Buddhist sites like Seda's Buddhist Institute (once one of the largest in the world until the Chinese government practically razed the town) and Dege's Palpung Monastery, as well as places of natural beauty like Lake Manigango and Hailuoguo Glacier Park. Road trips, stops along the way, nights under the stars, weeks spent walking through the prefecture's capital of Ganzi Town's streets—all help to put the world in perspective and renew a person's soul.
Many travelers come out and are changed forever by the mountains, the people they meet and the unfathomable beauty of eastern Tibet: skies that go on forever, grasslands that stretch out farther than the skies, and peaks striving to connect them both.
As for itineraries, trips from Lijiang in Yunnan north through Shangri-la to Litang and across to Kangding are popular (and awesomely beautiful), as are treks from Kangding across to Litang or up north to Ganzi, then deeper toward Dege and eventually on to Xiahe in Gansu, the site of one of the greatest of Tibetan monasteries, Labrang.
Finally, be aware that Ganzi is not Tibet proper as defined by current borders, and you therefore do not need a Tibet travel permit. Nevertheless, the area is a stronghold of Tibetan culture and attracts a lot of government attention, especially when unrest flares up. If and when trouble does stir, expect to see a visible paramilitary and military presence and be prepared to show your passport and visa.
History
Ganzi, which historically comprised the greater part of Kham, is a part of the greater Tibetan nation and has long been home to an independent-minded collection of nomads, monks and town-dwelling Tibetans known collectively as Khampas.
Khampas are culturally different from Jyarong Tibetans (who largely live in Aba Prefecture), the Amdo Tibetans in Gansu and Qinghai, and the U-Tsang Tibetans centered in and around Lhasa.
Kham is a hard place to conquer (and live), and not many have tried very hard to do so, because the Tibetan Plateau in the region is vast and forbidding. For centuries the Khampas lived as a basically free entity nominally ruled by Mongol generals, local warlords, priest-kings in Lhasa and emperors very, very far away.
That began to change during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) as the Kangxi Emperor (1621-1722) sent troops into Kham on a 20-year punitive expedition intended to sinicize the unruly Khampas. The locals, however, resisted and regained their independence while nominally under Qing control, a situation that held until the Qing attempted to reassert direct control in the first years of the 20th century in response to the 1904 British incursion into Tibet under Francis Younghusband. With the 1912 dissolution of the Qing Dynasty and the subsequent tumultuous years of struggle in China among Kuomintang, regional warlords, European and Japanese imperialist powers and Communist factions, the rugged lands of Kham reverted, by and large, to local control.
That all changed in 1950 when the Red Army marched in and fought to subjugate the Khampa tribes once and for all. After many skirmishes, ambushes and atrocities, the final battle came at Litang, deep in the heart of Kham, where Tibetan partisans gathered in a monastery and fought against the Red Army's machine guns, planes and mobile artillery. Eventually, the Khampas lost control of the settled areas and took to the plateau with their herds and families, only to face bombardment and strafing by the Red Army air force. Needless to say, the Cultural Revolution didn't treat local Tibetan Buddhist sites (and people) too kindly.
Today, Kham is an an "Autonomous Prefecture" under the control of the provincial government of Sichuan. Sporadic acts of violence, repression and rebellion still plague the region, which can, of course, influence travel plans.
Climate
Ganzi/Kham is basically at the top of the world, so expect a sun that seems closer than average coupled with the crisp, cold winds swirling off Himalayan peaks. Bring a combination of heavy winter gear and loose spring clothing to protect you from the sun. Be ready to shed layers if you heat up from climbing or from the strong sun in summer.
A solid jacket, good jeans and proper boots are more or less mandatory if you plan to do more than be ferried about by Land Rover (and even then...). Nights can drop to freezing and the top of the day during summer can occasionally feel like 35°C (95°F)—until the elevation and the wind remind you where you really are.
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Ganzi is a huge piece of land that takes up almost 2/3 of Sichuan Province, but instead of having the diversity of cuisine that the rest of Sichuan has, Ganzi is known for a few staples.
Sampa, a barley and yak-butter paste, is the main meal for Tibetans outside of the cities (and within the cities, actually) and there are very few cities in Ganzi. Sampa might take some getting used to, not necessarily for the sweet-sour barley and butter taste, but for the process: you pour the barley powder into a ball and then add butter and milk and knead it with your fingers. If you have never done this before, you will most likely end up with gunk on your fingers and barley powder all over the floor. But with paractice you can make a nice, tight ball that could even be described as "chewy."
Other Ganzi staples are savory yak meat dumplings (máoniú ròu jiǎozi, 牦牛肉饺子) and yak butter tea (sūyóu chá, 酥油茶). Yak butter tea is a much maligned brew of black tea with yak butter. Some find the taste to be too sour or salty, but others love it. Give it a try—nothing feels better on the plateau than a hot, buttery cup of tea.
There are Sichuan style restaurants in all of the major towns (Litang, Kangding, Yading, Ganzi, etc.) and the dishes here are good, if not as awesome as in the lowland capital of Chengdu. And along the way (especially in tourist towns like Tagong, Ganzi and Litang) you'll be able to find slightly Western dishes like banana pancakes, sandwiches and other easy-to-make foods. Kangding has a new hostel up, the Zhilam hostel run by Americans from Oregon, that serves up the works.
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There are festivals throughout Ganzi during the summer, most notably the Horse Racing Festival in Litang that takes place every August. This horse racing festival is also celebrated privately in other areas of the prefecture, and you might be lucky enough to see the nomads race in some far off grassland miles and miles away from town, but those are experiences we can't dictate for you.
As for "nightlife" and such, the whole land goes dark when the sun sets. Parts of Litang and Kangding stay up late and party, but for the most part, nightlife in Ganzi is something you should seek out with the people you are travelling with or with the friends you meet.
Tibetans are "mystical" in Western culture and "always ready with a smile," but the reality is that Khampa Tibetans in Ganzi are oppressed, desperate and usually armed. Do not expect a foreign face to be a de facto welcome face—women have been assaulted in the past and drunken brawls are not common, but not uncommon either.
Nightlife might best be spent with good friends atop a hill staring at the biggest, most star-spangled sky in the world.
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