CHAPTER XII 



THE CHINO-THIBETAN BORDERLAND 



" The Marches of the Mantzu " 



IT is impossible to define, with any approach to accuracy, the 

 poHtical boundary between Szechuan and Thibet. Indeed, 

 no actual frontier has ever been agreed upon, consequently 

 it does not exist, except at one point, on the highway leading 

 from Tachienlu, via Batang, to Lhassa. There, on the Ning- 

 ching shan, three and a half days' journey west of Batang, stands 

 a four-sided stone pillar, some 3 feet high, having been erected 

 in A.D. 1728. The guide-book to Thibet says : " All to the east 

 is under Peking ; the territory to the west is governed by 

 Lhassa." As to the regions north and south of this stone, 

 nothing is said. 



For all practical purposes the Min River, from Sungpan Ting 

 in the north-west to Kuan Hsien, maybe regarded as the frontier 

 thereabouts. From Kuan Hsien southwards an imaginary line 

 drawn through Kiung Chou, Yachou, Fulin to Ningyuan Fu, 

 and thence to the Yangtsze River, may be accepted as com- 

 pleting the frontier line. This constitutes a well-defined 

 ecclesiastical boundary between the peoples. Also it corre- 

 sponds very closely with the western limits of the Red Basin, 

 which constitutes an unmistakable physiographic al frontier. 

 It is true that at certain points, such as Lifan Ting, Monkong 

 Ting, Tientsuan Chou, and Tachienlu, the Chinese have suc- 

 ceeded in establishing trading-centres and military depots. 

 But in all these places the population is mixed and the centres 

 themselves surrounded on two or more sides by non-Chinese 

 people. West of the boundary here indicated the Chinese 

 occupy a very limited aggregate area, being confined to the 



high roads and to a few valleys suitable for rice and maize culti- 



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