View source for Darchen

{{Infobox settlement
| official_name            = Kangsa Village གངས་ས་གྲོང་ཚོ།
| other_name               = Tarqên, Taqin, Lhara
| native_name              = དར་ཆེན 塔钦
| translit_lang1           = [[Standard Tibetan|Tibetan]]
| translit_lang1_type      = [[Tibetan script|Tibetan]]
| translit_lang1_info      = གངས་ས་གྲོང་ཚོ།
| translit_lang1_type1     = ZYPY
| translit_lang1_info1     = Kangsa Chongco
| translit_lang1_type2     = [[Tibetan script|Tibetan]]
| translit_lang1_info2     = དར་ཆེན
| translit_lang1_type3     = ZYPY
| translit_lang1_info3     = Tarqên
| translit_lang1_type4     =
| translit_lang1_info4     =
| translit_lang1_type5     =
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| translit_lang1_type6     =
| translit_lang1_info6     =
| translit_lang2           = [[Chinese language|Chinese]]
| translit_lang2_type      = [[Traditional Chinese character|Traditional]]
| translit_lang2_info      = 塔欽
| translit_lang2_type1     = [[Simplified Chinese character|Simplified]]
| translit_lang2_info1     = 塔钦
| translit_lang2_type2     = [[Pinyin]]
| translit_lang2_info2     = tǎqīn
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| nickname                 =
| settlement_type          = <!--For Town or Village (Leave blank for the default City)-->
| motto                    = <!-- images and maps  ----------->
| image_skyline            = Darchen.jpg
| imagesize                =
| image_caption            = Darchen
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| pushpin_map              = China Tibet
| pushpin_label_position   = <!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
| pushpin_map_caption      = Location within Tibet
| pushpin_mapsize          = <!-- Location ------------------>
| subdivision_type         = Country
| subdivision_name         = [[People's Republic of China|China]]
| subdivision_type1        = Region
| subdivision_name1        = [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]]
| subdivision_type2        = [[Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China|Prefecture]]
| subdivision_name2        = [[Ngari Prefecture]]
| subdivision_type3        = [[Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China#County level|County]]
| subdivision_name3        = [[Burang County]]
| subdivision_type4        = [[Human settlement|Nearby settlements]] (distance)
| subdivision_name4        = <!-- Politics ----------------->
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| established_title        = <!-- Settled -->
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| established_title2       = <!-- Incorporated (town) -->
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| established_date3        = <!-- Area    --------------------->
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| area_total_km2           = <!-- ALL fields dealing with a measurements are subject to automatic unit conversion-->
| area_land_km2            = <!--See table @ Template:Infobox Settlement for details on automatic unit conversion-->
<!-- Population   ----------------------->| population_as_of         =
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<!-- General information  --------------->| timezone                 = +8
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| coordinates              = {{coord|30|58|35|N|81|17|13|E|region:CN|display=inline,title}}
| elevation_m              = 4670
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'''Kangsa Village''' ({{bo|t=གངས་ས་གྲོང་ཚོ།}}), poetically known as '''Darchen''', '''Tarchan''' or '''Taqin''' ({{bo|t=དར་ཆེན|z=Tarqên}}, {{zh|t=塔欽|s=塔钦|p=tǎqīn}}), is a former [[Bhutan|Bhutanese]] enclave,<ref name="Statesman-Bhutan">{{cite news |last= Arpi|first= Claude|date=16 July 2016|title=Little Bhutan in Tibet|url=https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/little-bhutan-in-tibet-1500238963.html|newspaper=The Statesman}}</ref> currently held by the People's Republic of China and the seat of the [[Parga Township]], [[Purang County]], [[Tibet Autonomous Region]], [[China]]. Thus, it is commonly referred as '''Parga''' although there is another smaller settlement formally named [[Parga, Parga Township|Parga]] after which the Parga Township was named, located on the east of this settlement. It was also previously known as '''Lhara''' and still signposted as such. It was previously an important sheep station for nomads and their flocks and had only two permanent buildings; only one of which survived the [[Cultural Revolution]] and is now used to house Tibetan pilgrims.<ref name="Dorje 2009, p. 412">Dorje (2009), p. 412.</ref>
Darchen is situated right in front of the sacred mountain, [[Mount Kailash]]. Its altitude is 4,670m (15,321 feet) and it is the starting and ending point for the [[parikrama]]/[[Kora (pilgrimage)|kora]] of Mount Kailash.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bubriski |first=Kevin |title=Kailash Yatra: a Long Walk to Mt Kailash through Humla |last2=Pandey |first2=Abhimanyu |publisher=Penguin Random House |year=2018 |location=New Delhi |pages=151-160}}</ref>
It is only a one-day bus drive (about 330&nbsp;km) from the town of [[Shiquanhe]] or (Ali) to the northeast, where [[Gunsa Airport]], opened 1 July 2010, is located, offering flights twice a week to [[Lhasa]] and [[Chengdu]].<ref name=":0">Mayhew and Kohn (2005), p. 209.</ref><ref name=fourth>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101214214139/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-07/01/c_13378773.htm "Tibet's fourth civil airport opens."]</ref> A rough but motorable road extends from Darchen till a few kilometers beyond Diraphuk, below the Drolma La Pass on the Kailash pilgrimage route.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bubriski |first=Kevin |title=Kailash Yatra: a Long Walk to Mt Kailash through Humla |last2=Pandey |first2=Abhimanyu |publisher=Penguin Random House |year=2018 |location=New Delhi |pages=160}}</ref>
It contains a couple of restaurants and the Ganges guesthouse and restaurant, the Zhusu guesthouse next door, and the Gandise Hotel where [[Public security bureau (China)|Public Security Bureau]] (PSB) officers are stationed from spring until October, and where pilgrims must get their travel permit stamped, and buy a "ticket" if they wish to circumambulate Mt. Kailash. There are also a few houses, the Swiss-funded Tibetan Medical and Astro Institute and dispensary where doctors are trained in [[Traditional Tibetan medicine]], a number of stores and kiosks, and some camping grounds. Traditionally, pilgrims only eat vegetarian food in the region due to its proximity to the [[Sacred lake|sacred]] [[Lake Manasarovar]] and Mount Kailash.<ref name="Dorje 2009, p. 412"/><ref name="Kotan Publishing 2004, p. 141">Kotan Publishing (2004), p. 141.</ref><ref>Mayhew and Kohn (2005), pp. 210.</ref>
== History ==
Darchen was once an enclave of Bhutan, held for almost 300 years and from where Bhutan raised revenue, until the People's Republic of China annexed it in 1959.<ref name="Statesman-Bhutan"/><ref>[http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/13session/A-HRC-13-40-Add1_EFS.pdf United Nations A/HRC/13/40/Add.1]</ref>
==Nearby monasteries==
To the north of Tarqen there's a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery Qögu Gönba (ཆོས་སྐུ་དགོན་པ). Not very far to the south of Tarqen, the Qiu Gönba ({{bo|t=བྱིའུ་དགོན་པ}}, {{zh|极物寺}}, a.k.a. Jiu Monastery) is a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery at the settlement of Qiu or Jiu (བྱིའུ) or Xungba (གཞུང་པ) village of Parga township, by Lake [[Mapam Yumco]].
==See also==
*[[List of towns and villages in Tibet]]
==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==Bibliography==
*[[Alice Albinia|Albinia, Alice]]. (2008) ''Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River''. First American Edition (2010) W. W. Norton & Company, New York. {{ISBN|978-0-393-33860-7}}.
*Dorje, Gyurme. (2009) ''Tibet Handbook''. Footprint Handbooks, Bath, England. {{ISBN|978-1-906098-32-2}}.
*Kotan Publishing (200) ''Mapping the Tibetan World''. Reprint 2004. {{ISBN|0-9701716-0-9}}.
* Mayhew, Bradley and Kohn, Michael. (2005) ''Tibet''. 6th Edition. {{ISBN|1-74059-523-8}}.
* Bubriski, Kevin and Abhimanyu Pandey. (2018) ''[https://lib.icimod.org/record/33919 Kailash Yatra: a Long Walk to Mt Kailash through Humla.]'' Penguin Random House, New Delhi. {{ISBN|978-0670091119}}
[[Category:Populated places in Tibet]]