Notes on the Human Geography of the Chinese-Tibetan Borderland

Abstract

The borderland is region unique in both its physiographical features and its human inhabitants-a wild mountainous country, aptly described by Edgar as a mass of sawtooth peaks, precipices, box canyons, sombre forests and pounding streams, a fascinating region presenting ethnological and other problems of great interest. 2 The height of the snow peaks projecting from the higher ranges-many of them 20,000 and at least three estimated to be over 25,000 feet FIG. I A part of the mountain barrier of the high3has earned for the lofty borderland. (Photograph by Hummel.) mountain complex the title of the Himalayas of Chinese Tibet, while the beauty of the lower valleys has suggested the alternative name of the Chinese-Tibetan Alps or more frequently the Szechwanese Alps. Ethnically as well as physiographically the region forms distinct boundary between China and Tibet; politically the area has been bone of contention between Lhasa and Peking for several centuries. An anthropological reconnaissance conducted by the author in the spring and summer of I926 afforded an opportunity of studying both region and inhabitants.4 The area under con-