View source for Migyitun

{{Use Indian English|date=February 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                    = Migyitun
| native_name             = Mikyimdün
| native_name_lang        = <!-- ISO 639-2 code e.g. "fr" for French. If more than one, use {{lang}} instead -->
| settlement_type         = Town
| image_map               =
| map_alt                 =
| map_caption             =
| pushpin_map             = China Tibet#India Arunachal Pradesh
| pushpin_map_alt         = Migyitun
| pushpin_map_caption     = Location of the town in the Tibet A. R.
| pushpin_label_position  =
| coordinates             = {{coord|28.6602754|93.3735291 |region:CN-54|display=inline,title|format=dms}}
| coor_pinpoint           =
| coordinates_footnotes   =
| subdivision_type        = Country
| subdivision_name        = China
| subdivision_type1       = [[Autonomous regions of China|Autonomous region]]
| subdivision_name1       = [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]]
| subdivision_type2       = [[Prefecture-level city]]
| subdivision_name2       = [[Shannan, Tibet|Shannan]]
| subdivision_type3       = [[County (People's Republic of China)|County]]
| subdivision_name4       = [[Lhöntse County|Lhöntse]]
| established_title       =
| established_date        =
| unit_pref               = Metric
| elevation_footnotes     =
| elevation_ft            =
| elevation_m             = 2800
| population_as_of	  =
| population_footnotes	  =
| population_note	  =
| population_total	  =
| population_density_km2	  =
<!-- General information  --------------->
|timezone               = [[China Standard Time|China Standard]]
|utc_offset             = +8
| coor_type             = <!-- can be used to specify what the coordinates refer to -->
<!-- Area/postal codes & others -------->
|postal_code_type       =
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|website                =
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'''Migyitun''' ({{bo|t=ཀློ་མི་ཁྱིམ་བདུན|w=klo mi khyim bdun|s=lo mi khyim dün}}),{{sfnp|Huber, The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain|1999|p=180}} also called '''Tsari''' ({{bo|t=རྩ་རི|w=rtsa ri}}) or '''Zhari'''  ({{zh|扎日乡}}), is a town in the [[Lhöntse County]] of [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]]'s [[Shannan, Tibet|Shannan Prefecture]]. It is on the banks of the [[Tsari Chu]] river close to the [[McMahon Line]], the ''de facto'' border with India's [[Arunachal Pradesh]]. It is also a key part of the Buddhist Tsari pilgrimage, made once in twelve years, that makes a wide circumambulation of the [[Dakpa Sheri]] mountain.<ref name=Arpi>[[Claude Arpi]], [http://claudearpi.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-pure-crystal-mountain-pilgrimage-of.html The Pure Crystal Mountain Pilgrimage of Tsari], extract from ''1962: The McMahon Line Saga'', posted 25 June 2014.</ref>
== Etymology ==
The original Tibetan name ''Lo Mikyimdün'' ({{bo|w=klo mi'i khyim 'dugs}}) means "seven households of ''Lo''", where ''Lo'', a short form of ''Loyül'' or "Lopa country", which appears to cover the village area and the valley to the south. (This was distinguished from "Tsari", the "sacred ground", upstream of Migyitun.) The name refers to an old story regarding seven Tibetan families that came to live in this tribal territory a long time ago. People belonging to the [[Tagin people|Tagin]] tribe of Assam Himalayas still live in the village.{{sfnp|Huber, The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain|1999|pp=131, 184}}<ref>Foreword by B. G. Verghese, {{harvp|Krishnatry, Border Tagins of Arunachal Pradesh|2005|p=ix}}</ref>{{efn|Even though originally an ethnic description, over time, "Lopa" has acquired the sense of "barbarian", and is now considered a pejorative term. It is sometimes reused with an alternative spelling "Lhopa", meaning "southerner".{{sfnp|Huber, The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain|1999|p=180}}}}
== Location and background ==
{{OSM Location map
| float = right
| height= 250
| width= 250
| zoom = 9  <!--(1=whole world, 18=a street)-->
| coord = {{coord|28.55|93.25}}
| nolabels = 1
| caption = Dakpa Sheri mountain and the locations marking the ''rongkor'' pilgrimage{{sfnp|Huber, The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain|1999|p=95}}<ref name="arpi">{{cite news |last1=Arpi |first1=Claude |author1-link=Claude Arpi |title=Chinese village in Arunachal: India must speak up! |url=https://www.rediff.com/news/special/claude-arpi-chinese-village-in-arunachal-india-must-speak-up/20210121.htm |access-date=23 January 2021 |work=Rediff |date=21 January 2021}}</ref>
|mark-coord ={{coord|28.60071|93.22632}} |label=Dakpa Sheri |label-size=11 |label-pos=top |mark-size=10 |mark=Triangle black.svg |mark-title=[[Dakpa Sheri]] |mark-description=Dakpa Sheri
|mark-coord2={{coord|28.5405505|93.1791981}} |label2=Potrang |label-size2=11 |label-pos2=bottom  |mark-size2=6 |mark2=Blue pog.svg |mark-title2=Potrang |mark-description2=Sacred lake
|mark-coord4={{coord|28.6331911|93.0731067}}  |label4=Yume |label-size4=11 |label-pos4=left  |mark-size4=6 |mark4=Red pog.svg |mark-title4=Yume |mark-description4=
|mark-coord6={{coord|28.4345031|93.2038913}} |label6=Taksing|label-size6=11 |label-pos6=right |mark-size6=6 |mark6=Red pog.svg |mark-title6=[[Taksing]] |mark-description6=
|mark-coord8={{coord|28.6404479|93.3817051}}  |label8=Longju |label-size8=11 |label-pos8=bottom |mark-size8=6 |mark8=Red pog.svg |mark-title8=[[Longju]] |mark-description8= -->
|mark-coord9={{coord|28.3721762|93.4835391}} |label9=Gelensiniak |label-size9=11 |label-pos9=bottom |mark-size9=6 |mark9=Red pog.svg |mark-title9=[[Gelensiniak]] |mark-description9=
|mark-coord10={{coord|28.660275|93.373529}}  |label10=Migyitun |label-size10=11 |label-pos10=right  |mark-size10=6 |mark10=Red pog.svg |mark-title10=Migyitun |mark-description10=
|mark-coord11={{coord|28.6789045|93.2532511}}  |label11=Chikchar|label-size11=11 |label-pos11=left  |mark-size11=6 |mark11=Red pog.svg |mark-title11=Chikchar |mark-description11=
|mark-coord15={{coord|28.7180216|93.0519733}}  |label15=Chosam|label-size15=11 |label-pos15=right  |mark-size15=6 |mark15=Red pog.svg |mark-title15=Chosam |mark-description15=
|mark-coord21={{coord|28.6916|93.3306}} |label21=Tsari Chu|label-size21=11 |label-pos21=right  |mark-size21=12 |mark21=AS-rzeka-icon.svg |mark-title21=Tsari Chu |mark-description21=
|mark-coord22={{coord|28.4159|93.0841}}  |label22=Subansiri|label-size22=11 |label-pos22=bottom  |mark-size22=12 |mark22=AS-rzeka-icon.svg |mark-title22=[[Subansiri River]] |mark-description22=
|mark-coord23={{coord|28.5309|93.1026}}  |label23=Yume Chu|label-size23=11 |label-pos23=left  |mark-size23=12 |mark23=AS-rzeka-icon.svg |mark-title23=Yume Chu |mark-description23=
}}
The town of Migyitun is almost exactly where the [[Tsari Chu]] river cuts through the highest ridge line in the area. It was considered a border town of Tibet, south of which was the [[Assam Himalaya]]n tribal territory (now called [[Arunachal Pradesh]]).<ref name=Arpi/><ref>
{{harvp|Rose & Fisher, The North-East Frontier Agency of India|1967|pp=9.1–9.2}}: "Bailey has left no doubt that Tibetan authority stopped at the frontier town of Migyitun. He wished to cross to the Indian side but was unable to do so. The cane bridge across the Tsari had been destroyed, and when he asked the Tibetans to rebuild it, they insisted that they lacked the skill for a bridge of that type."
</ref>
The Tsari Chu valley is considered holy ground by the Tibetans. [[Dakpa Sheri]] (or Takpa Shiri), a mountain peak to the west of Migyitun, is regarded so sacred that [[Dakpa Sheri#Kora|its circumabulation]] is believed to derive as much merit as the circumambulation of [[Mount Kailas]]. The Dakpa Sheri mountain attracts annual pilgrims who circle it over 3 days, passing through seven steep mountain passes. In addition, there is a larger pilgrimage that takes place once every 12 years that goes through the tribal territory of Assam Himalaya. It goes down to the confluence with the [[Subansiri River|Subansiri river]] (or Chayul Chu river, as it is known in this segment). Then it follows Chayul Chu upstream and later [[Yume Chu]], to return to the starting point at [[Chösam]].{{sfnp|Rose & Fisher, The North-East Frontier Agency of India|1967|p=9}} In order to induce the Assam Himalayan tribes to allow unmolested passage to the pilgrims, the Tibetan government gave lavish presents to them.<ref name=Arpi/>
The Migyitun town played a central role in the longer 12 year-pilgrimage. Tibetan officials and pilgrims numbering about 20,000 assembled in the town to make arrangements for the pilgrimage.{{sfnp|Mehra, The McMahon Line and After|1974|p=229}}
== History ==
[[File:McMahon-Line-map-Subansiri-secor.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The [[McMahon Line]] in the Subansiri sector: "Mygyi Tun" marked where the Tsari Chu crosses the high ridge line]]
[[File:1940 map of Tsari Chu and McMahon Line by Survey of India.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The [[McMahon Line]] depicted in a Survey of India map of 1940 (shown as approximate)]]
=== McMahon Line ===
During the negotiations for the [[McMahon Line]] in 1914,{{efn|China calls the McMahon Line "illegal", claiming that Tibet was not independent. But the claim finds no support among the international law scholars.<ref>{{citation |first=Robert D. |last=Sloane |title=The Changing Face of Recognition in International Law: A Case Study of Tibet |journal=Emory International Law Review |volume=16 |number=1 |pages=107–186 |date=Spring 2002 |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Print?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/emint16&id=113 |via=Hein Online}}: "To my knowledge, without exception, every independent scholar who has examined this question concluded that Tibet qualified under international law as a sovereign state in 1950, the year during which the People's Liberation Army (PLA) invaded and colonized Tibet."</ref><ref>{{citation |title=The Simla Agreements in International Law |first=M.C. van Walt |last=van Praag |journal=Tibet Policy Journal |publisher=The Tibet Policy Institute |number=1 |date=December 2014 |pages=26–55 |url=https://tibetpolicy.net/tibet-policy-journal-i/}}: "Thus we must conclude that not only were the Simla agreements valid and enforceable under international law as between the parties to those agreements, but China had and still has ''no legal basis to deny their validity''."</ref>}} the [[British India]]n negotiators were cognisant of the fact that Migyitun was Tibetan and also that the neighbouring Dakpa Sheri mountain was regarded by them as a holy mountain. Taking these factors into account, they promised that the border would be drawn short of the high ridge line, and avoid including the annual pilgrimage route in Indian territory as far as practicable.<ref>
{{harvp|Mehra, The McMahon Line and After|1974|pp=228–229}}: "He [Charles Bell], therefore, planned to inform the Lonchen that the proposed boundary line left the highest mountain ranges before reaching the Tsari heights thereby placing the latter, and the short pilgrimage route, in Tibetan territory. But a part of it did perhaps come within British domain.... Bell, on his part, undertook to ensure that the frontier would be so laid as to leave Migyitun on the Tibetan side. Such monasteries and other sacred places as fell into British territory, he had already assured the Lonchen, would be protected and put to no harm."
</ref>
These arrangements were confirmed in the notes exchanged between [[Henry McMahon|McMahon]] and [[Lonchen Shatra]] and the border line was drawn accordingly. The line avoided both the north–south ridge line (which would have placed Dakpa Sheri on the border) and the east–west ridge line (which would have placed Migyitun on the border), and cut across the region along a diagonal. A suitable buffer south of Migyitun was retained within Tibet, but not so much as to include the confluence of the Mipa Chu river with Tsari Chu. McMahon believed that there was a "wide continuous tract of uninhabited country" along the south of the watershed.{{sfnp|Mehra, The McMahon Line and After|1974|pp=231–232}}
=== 1930s ===
For various diplomatic reasons, the McMahon Line remained unimplemented for a couple of decades. It was revived in 1930s by [[Olaf Caroe]], then Deputy Foreign Secretary of British India. The notes exchanged between McMahon and Lonchen Shatra were published in a revised volume of Aitchison's ''Treaties'' and maps were revised to show the McMahon Line as the boundary of Assam. The Surveyor General of India made adjustments to the McMahon Line boundary "based on more accurate topographical knowledge acquired after 1914". But he left certain portions approximate as he did not have enough information. Scholar Steven Hoffmann remarks that Migyitun, [[Longju]] (to the south of Migyitun) and [[Thagla Ridge]] (in Tawang) were among such places.{{sfnp|Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis|1990|pp=21–22}}
The maps drawn from 1937 onwards show the boundary more towards the watershed near Migyitun than the original treaty map. The Dakpa Sheri mountain and the pilgrimage route is shown entirely within Tibetan territory. But, at Migyitun, the  border is immediately to its south.
{{clear}}
== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
==Bibliography==
* {{citation |last=Hoffmann |first=Steven A. |title=India and the China Crisis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BpSRwC5_EPUC |year=1990 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-06537-6 |ref={{sfnref|Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis|1990}}}}
* {{citation |last=Huber |first=Toni |title=The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain: Popular Pilgrimage and Visionary Landscape in Southeast Tibet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ac4PUrEtVtsC |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-535313-6 |ref={{sfnref|Huber, The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain|1999}}}}
* {{citation |last=Krishnatry |first=S. M. |title=Border Tagins of Arunachal Pradesh: Unarmed Expedition 1956 |publisher=National Book Trust |year=2005 |isbn=978-81-237-4460-5 |url=http://14.139.206.50:8080/jspui/bitstream/1/779/1/ARUNACHAL%20PRADESH.pdf |ref={{sfnref|Krishnatry, Border Tagins of Arunachal Pradesh|2005}}}}
* {{citation |last=Mehra |first=Parshotam |title=The McMahon Line and After: A Study of the Triangular Contest on India's North-eastern Frontier Between Britain, China and Tibet, 1904-47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a4cnAQAAMAAJ |year=1974 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9780333157374 |ref={{sfnref|Mehra, The McMahon Line and After|1974}}}}
* {{citation |last=Raghavan |first=Srinath |title=War and Peace in Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EbtBJb1bsHUC |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-00737-7 |ref={{sfnref|Raghavan, War and Peace in Modern India|2010}}}}
* {{citation |last1=Rose |first1=Leo E. |last2=Fisher |first2=Margaret W. |title=The North-East Frontier Agency of India |series=Near and Middle Eastern Series |volume=76 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=skxH_wsvqtUC&pg=PA9 |year=1967 |publisher=Office of Public Affairs, Department of State |ref={{sfnref|Rose & Fisher, The North-East Frontier Agency of India|1967}}}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/11306568 Tsari Chu river] and [https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/11528668 Mipa Chu river]  marked on OpenStreetMap, retrieved 18 January 2021.
* [https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/9310973#map=10/28.4944/93.4351&layers=C Subansiri river marked on OpenStreetMap], retrieved 18 January 2021.
[[Category:Shannan, Tibet]]
[[Category:Sino-Indian border dispute]]
[[Category:Sino-Indian War]]
[[Category:Tawang district]]