| Official Name: | Kangsa Village གངས་ས་གྲོང་ཚོ། | ||||||
| Other Name: | Tarqên, Taqin, Lhara | ||||||
| Native Name: | དར་ཆེན 塔钦 | ||||||
| Translit Lang1: | Tibetan | ||||||
| Translit Lang1 Type: | Tibetan | ||||||
| Translit Lang1 Info: | གངས་ས་གྲོང་ཚོ། | ||||||
| Translit Lang1 Type1: | ZYPY | ||||||
| Translit Lang1 Info1: | Kangsa Chongco | ||||||
| Translit Lang1 Type2: | Tibetan | ||||||
| Translit Lang1 Info2: | དར་ཆེན | ||||||
| Translit Lang1 Type3: | ZYPY | ||||||
| Translit Lang1 Info3: | Tarqên | ||||||
| Translit Lang2: | Chinese | ||||||
| Translit Lang2 Type: | Traditional | ||||||
| Translit Lang2 Info: | 塔欽 | ||||||
| Translit Lang2 Type1: | Simplified | ||||||
| Translit Lang2 Info1: | 塔钦 | ||||||
| Translit Lang2 Type2: | Pinyin | ||||||
| Translit Lang2 Info2: | tǎqīn | ||||||
| Pushpin Map: | China Tibet | ||||||
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within Tibet | ||||||
| Subdivision Type: | Country | ||||||
| Subdivision Name: | China | ||||||
| Subdivision Type1: | Region | ||||||
| Subdivision Name1: | Tibet | ||||||
| Subdivision Type2: | Prefecture | ||||||
| Subdivision Name2: | Ngari Prefecture | ||||||
| Subdivision Type3: | County | ||||||
| Subdivision Name3: | Burang County | ||||||
| Subdivision Type4: | Nearby settlements (distance) | ||||||
| Population Blank1 Title: | Major Nationalities | ||||||
| Population Blank1: | Tibetan | ||||||
| Population Blank2 Title: | Regional dialect | ||||||
| Population Blank2: | Tibetan language | ||||||
| Timezone: | +8 | ||||||
| Coordinates: | 30.9764°N 81.2869°W | ||||||
| Elevation M: | 4670 | ||||||
| Module: |
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Kangsa Village, poetically known as Darchen, Tarchan or Taqin, is a former Bhutanese enclave,[1] currently held by the People's Republic of China and the seat of the Parga Township, Purang County, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Thus, it is commonly referred as Parga although there is another smaller settlement formally named Parga after which the Parga Township was named, located on the east of this settlement. It was also previously known as Lhara and still signposted as such. It was previously an important sheep station for nomads and their flocks and had only two permanent buildings; only one of which survived the Cultural Revolution and is now used to house Tibetan pilgrims.[2]
Darchen is situated right in front of the sacred mountain, Mount Kailash. Its altitude is 4,670m (15,321 feet) and it is the starting and ending point for the parikrama/kora of Mount Kailash.[3]
It is only a one-day bus drive (about 330 km) from the town of Shiquanhe or (Ali) to the northeast, where Gunsa Airport, opened 1 July 2010, is located, offering flights twice a week to Lhasa and Chengdu.[4] [5] A rough but motorable road extends from Darchen till a few kilometers beyond Diraphuk, below the Drolma La Pass on the Kailash pilgrimage route.[6]
It contains a couple of restaurants and the Ganges guesthouse and restaurant, the Zhusu guesthouse next door, and the Gandise Hotel where Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers are stationed from spring until October, and where pilgrims must get their travel permit stamped, and buy a "ticket" if they wish to circumambulate Mt. Kailash. There are also a few houses, the Swiss-funded Tibetan Medical and Astro Institute and dispensary where doctors are trained in Traditional Tibetan medicine, a number of stores and kiosks, and some camping grounds. Traditionally, pilgrims only eat vegetarian food in the region due to its proximity to the sacred Lake Manasarovar and Mount Kailash.[2] [7] [8]
Darchen was once an enclave of Bhutan, held for almost 300 years and from where Bhutan raised revenue, until the People's Republic of China annexed it in 1959.[1] [9]
To the north of Tarqen there's a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery Qögu Gönba (ཆོས་སྐུ་དགོན་པ). Not very far to the south of Tarqen, the Qiu Gönba (a.k.a. Jiu Monastery) is a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery at the settlement of Qiu or Jiu (བྱིའུ) or Xungba (གཞུང་པ) village of Parga township, by Lake Mapam Yumco.