Dartsedo (Kangding) is the mouth of the Dar and Tse rivers (the Zheduo and the Yala: the Tibetan name, recalled) where the Dadu's mountain valleys open on to the road to the Ya'an plain.
Wikipedia's Kangding page calls it the old border between Kham and Sichuan and a trading town 'for many centuries', but dates nothing; its Tea Horse Road page puts the Kangding market under the Ming and Qing, not the Song. So on 1 January 1200 we draw no town and no kingdom: a gorge with a few villages and a bridge or two, inside the Minyak country, on the track by which Yazhou's tea goes west in the hands of Tibetan porters and traders. The Song licensed tea-and-horse markets were on its own ground (Yazhou, Maozhou: see Tea-horse road west); no Song post stood at Dartsedo.
Who he is
- Title
- Valley chiefs of the Minyak and Tibetan villages at the meeting of the Zheduo and Yala rivers
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No chief is named. Wikipedia's page on the Kingdom of Chakla says it 'had been founded around the city of Dartsedo' by the late 1200s, and its infobox says 1407; either way it is not there on 1 January 1200.
Overlord
None; the Song's tea and horse offices sit on the Sichuan side at Yazhou, not here.
What it holds
- The gorge crossing and the villages at the meeting of the rivers
- The right to sell porterage, shelter and guides to the tea traders (general pattern)
- Pastures on the Zheduo side towards Tagong
How it was acquired
By custom.
Allies and rivals
The Minyak chiefs of Tagong and the Muya valleys (kin); the Song officials at Yazhou and Lizhou (trade); the Gyalrong over the ridge to the north-east; the Hor on the north road.
How things stand that morning
No kingdom, no town, no Song post. Self-governing villages. Nothing dated.
Wealth
Porterage, shelter and the exchange of Tibetan wool, musk and herbs for tea, cloth and salt (general pattern). No figures.
Military
Village levies; no numbers.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1270 to 1299 (the late thirteenth century in the text; the infobox says 1407)Chakla is founded round Dartsedo (Wikipedia, Kingdom of Chakla, text).Depends on: Yuan and Sakya-era politics in Kham and a chief of the Dartsedo valleys rising above his neighbours. Stopped by: No such chief rises, or the Minyak and valley houses stay divided; the sources do not say how the founding came about, so the campaign may delay it or drop it.
Places of note
- Kangding (Dartsedo): Gorge crossing at the meeting of the rivers; not yet a town.
Where the sources disagree
- Wikipedia's Chakla page gives 'late 1200s' in the text and 1407 in the infobox without explaining the gap. Both are after 1200.
- Wikipedia's Tea Horse Road page names Dartsedo (Kangding) on the Sichuan-Tibet branch but dates its prosperity to the Ming and Qing.
Evidence: The absence of a town is the finding; two undated or later Wikipedia sentences and geography.
On the map: Ground is drawn in the province record Minyak.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, Kingdom of Chakla (founded 'by the late 1200s' in the text, 1407 in the infobox; read this session)
- Wikipedia, Kangding (Dartsedo; read this session)
- Wikipedia, Tea Horse Road (read this session)
- Wikipedia, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (read this session)
- Author's recall of the secondary literature (Petech, Tucci, Stein, Davidson, Smith, Kapstein, Dunnell): not re-read this session, so marked 'recalled' in the text
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.