Gyalthang (Shangri-La, about 3,300 m: recalled) and Dechen (Deqen) are the high southern end of the Kham plateau: broad grass basins and steep gorges of the Jinsha, Mekong and Salween, where the Tibetan villagers keep barley, yaks and horses.
To the south, Weixi and Lijiang are the Dali kingdom's marches (Mainland Southeast Asia sheet); we give anchors there. Dali's king at the turn of the year is Duan Zhixing; the infobox of Wikipedia's Dali page gives his reign as 1172 to 1200, the ruler table 1171 to 1200, and the family tree dates his successor 1200 to 1204, so who sits on the Dali throne in the first weeks of 1200 is not pinned. Dali's horses are what the Song value in it (Wikipedia, Dali Kingdom); its northern edge is a loose rein over Naxi and other chiefs (recalled).
Nothing dated crosses this frontier in the winter of 1199-1200.
Who he is
- Title
- Valley chiefs and village headmen of Gyalthang (Zhongdian) and Dechen (Deqen)
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No chief is named. Wikipedia's Dali Kingdom page does not mention Lijiang, Weixi, Zhongdian or Tibetans in its account of Dali's extent; it says only that Song Taizu drew Dali's limit at the Dadu river and that Dali's chief value to the Song was its horses.
Overlord
None known; the Dali kingdom (Duan Zhixing, reign ending 1200) lies to the south, across the 27.2 N / 100 E line the ownership tool uses between this sheet and the Mainland Southeast Asia sheet.
What it holds
- High basins, villages and yak grass at Gyalthang and Dechen
- Passes on the tracks to Markam and to Lijiang
- A share of the salt and tea carried through (general pattern)
How it was acquired
By custom. The Tibetan Empire held this country in the 8th century (recalled); it did not keep it.
Allies and rivals
Markam and the Salween valley to the north; the Dali marches of Weixi and Lijiang to the south (Dali's chiefs, msa sheet).
How things stand that morning
Self-governing Tibetan villages at the Dali edge. No dated event.
Wealth
Horses, yaks, barley, salt and tea in transit; 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.
In 1200
- 1200 (the year is not pinned)Duan Zhixing's reign ends and his successor's begins (Wikipedia, Dali Kingdom: 1172-1200 in the infobox, 1200-1204 for the next ruler).Depends on: The natural end of Duan Zhixing's reign at Dali; the sources disagree whether it falls in 1200 or 1204 for the next ruler. Stopped by: Only events at Dali (his death or deposition earlier or later) move it; the campaign may place it in the first year or later.
Later, on the likely course
- 1253A Mongol column marches from Lintao through Kham into Dali; the Mongols hold the Jinsha crossing (Wikipedia, Dali Kingdom).Depends on: Kublai's campaign of 1253. Stopped by: A Mongol failure at Lintao or Dali, or a campaign turned elsewhere.
Places of note
- Shangri-La (Gyalthang): Basin centre; not a town in 1200.
- Deqen (Dechen), approximate: Valley centre.
Where the sources disagree
- Wikipedia's Dali Kingdom page gives Duan Zhixing's reign as 1172-1200 (infobox), 1171-1200 (ruler table) and 1200-1204 for the next ruler (family tree): the transition year is ambiguous.
- The ownership tool gives Weixi (27.17 N) and Lijiang to the Mainland Southeast Asia sheet and Gyalthang (99.7 E) and Dechen to this sheet; the line is 27.2 N and 100.0 E.
Evidence: Geography and Dali's king-list ambiguity; nothing political about the Tibetan villages.
On the map: Ground is drawn in the province record Dechen, Gyalthang.
Primary sources for Tibet (centre)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, Buton Rinchen Drub (Bu ston Rin chen grub) (1322). Optional background. Read online
- The Blue Annals, Go Lotsawa Zhonnu Pal ('Gos lo tsa ba gZhon nu dpal) (1476 to 1478). The fullest Tibetan account of who mattered around 1200, written three centuries later from earlier biographies and lineage records, many now lost. Read online
- The collected works of Lama Zhang, and the early Kagyu lives, Lama Zhang (Zhang Yudrakpa Tsondru Drakpa) and his disciples; the biographers of Drigung, Taklung and Phagmodru (the 1160s to the early 13th century). The nearest contemporary witnesses to the lords of central Tibet in 1200. Read online
- The Sakya genealogy, and the works of the Sakya hierarch of 1200, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen (Grags pa rgyal mtshan) and Sakya Pandita; the genealogy by Ngawang Kunga Sonam (the hierarchs' writings about 1170 to 1250; the genealogy 1629). Sakya in 1200 was ruled by Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen, the third of the five founders, with his nephew Kunga Gyaltsen (later Sakya Pandita, born 1182) under his teaching. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Indo-Tibetica (the temples and inscriptions of western Tibet), with the Royal Genealogy of Ngari, Giuseppe Tucci (editor and translator); the genealogy by Ngawang Drakpa (Ngag dbang grags pa) (the inscriptions and temple records of the 11th to 15th centuries; Indo-Tibetica published 1932 to 1941; the genealogy about 1497). Guge, Purang and Ladakh in 1200 are among the least documented kingdoms in the atlas. Read online
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, Dali Kingdom (read this session)
- Wikipedia, Tea Horse Road (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.