Xikang Province

Xikang Province 西康省
Province of the Republic of China (1939–1950)
← 1939–1950 →   →
Xikang Province (red) in the Republic of China
Capital		Kangding (1912-1931) Ba'an (1931-1935) Ya'an (1935-1936) Kangding (1935-1949) Xichang (1949-1950)
Historical era		20th Century
•	Established	1939
•	Fall of Xichang	27 March 1950
•	Disestablished	1950
Area
•	Estimate	451,521 km2(174,333 sq mi)
Population
•	Estimate	1,748,458
	Density	3.9 /km2  (10 /sq mi)
Today part of		China  India Arunachal Pradesh

Xikang Province 西康省
Province of the People's Republic of China (1950–1955)
← 1950–1955 →   →
Xikang Province (orange) in the People's Republic of China
Capital		Kangding (1950-1951) Ya'an (1951-1955)
Historical era		20th Century
•	Established	1950
•	Disestablished	1955
Area
•	1953	451,521 km2(174,333 sq mi)
Population
•	1953	3,381,064
	Density	7.5 /km2  (19.4 /sq mi)
Today part of		China  India Arunachal Pradesh

Xikang or Sikang (Chinese: 西康省; pinyin: Xīkāng Shěng) was a province of the Republic of China comprising most of the Kham region of traditional Tibet, where the Khampa, a subgroup of the Tibetan people, live. The eastern part of the province was inhabited by a number of different ethnic groups, such as Han Chinese, Yi, Qiang people and Tibetan, while the western part of the province was inhabited by Tibetans. Xikang, then known as Chuanbian (川邊), was a special administrative region of the Republic of China until 1939, when it became an official province. The provincial capital was Kangding from 1939 to 1951 and Ya'an from 1951 to 1955. The province had a population of some 3.4 million in 1954.

Following the Wuchang Uprising in October 1911 which led to the downfall of the Qing dynasty, this region was established as the Chuanbian Special Administrative District (川邊特別行政區) by the newly founded Republic of China.

In June 1930 this region was invaded by the army of Tibet, precipitating the Sino-Tibetan War. With the district locked in internal struggles, no reinforcements were sent to support the Sichuanese troops stationed here. As a result, the Tibetan army captured, without encountering much resistance, Garze and Xinlong Counties. When a negotiated ceasefire failed, Tibetan forces expanded the war attempting to capture parts of southern Qinghai province. In March 1932 their force invaded Qinghai but was defeated by the local Hui warlord Ma Bufang in July, routing the Tibetan army and driving it back to this district.

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