Kangding County

Kangding or Dardo (Chinese: 康定, Pinyin: Kāngdìng; Tibetan in official transcription: Dardo or Darzêdo, in Wylie transliteration: dar mdo or dar rtse mdo) is the name of a county in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan Province, China. It is administrated at the city of Kangding. In the west, Dardo was previously known as Tachienlu or Tatsienlu, after the Chinese transcription Dǎjiànlú 打箭爐 of the Tibetan name Darzêdo.

It is both an ethnically Tibetan and Han Chinese township located in the historical Tibetan region of Kham. A raging river splits the city, thus the constant sound of water emanates throughout much of the city. The city features a sizable city square where young and old alike gather in the early hours of the morning to do tai-chi, play badminton, or socialize. This square comes alive on the weekends as well, when families tend to populate it. Traditional Tibetan and Sichuan restaurants are easily found throughout the city. A monastery sits on the mountains overlooking the city, and is accessible by cable car. As of October 2006 a stone amphitheatre is under construction at the upper monastery.

"Tachienlu is surely sui generis; there can be no other town quite like it. Situated eight thousand four hundred feet above the sea, it seems to lie at the bottom of a well, the surrounding snow-capped mountains towering perhaps fifteen thousand feet in the air above the little town which, small as it is, has hardly room to stand, while outside the wall there is scarcely a foot of level ground. It is wedged into the angle where three valleys come together, the Tar and the Chen rivers meeting just below the town to form the Tarchendo, and our first view of the place as we turned the cliff corner that here bars the gorge, was very striking, grey walls and curly roofs standing out sharply from the flanking hillsides."

During the Republic of China administration, Kangding was the capital of the now-defunct province of Xikang.

It is a fast growing city, perhaps 40% Han Chinese, 40% Tibetan, with the remaining being Qiangs, Yis and other ethnic groups. The city has a scenic cable car imported from Germany.

In 2008 the Chinese government opened an airport at Kangding in the province of Sichuan, with a 4000-meter runway. Announcement of the opening noted that this airport is the second-highest in the world, at 4280 meters (14040 feet) above sea level.

Translation of "Kangding County"

Tibetan: དར་མདོ་, German: Kangding, Spanish: Kangding, French: Xian de Kangding, Italian: Kangding, Dutch: Arrondissement Kangding, Japanese: 康定県, Norwegian (Bokmål): Kangding, Vietnamese: Khang Định, Chinese: 康定县.