Between the Kokonor and the Gannan valleys the Yellow River runs through gorges and basins (Guide, Jainca, Rebgong, Tongde), where Tibetans farm barley in the river terraces and herd on the grass above.
Rongwo, the great monastery of Rebgong, is a later foundation (Wikipedia's Amdo article names it without a date), and Kumbum and Labrang are later still: in 1200 this is a country of clan chiefs, village headmen and small temples. Dantig, the old teaching house of the Amdo Buddhist revival, stands on the Xia edge at Hualong (Dantig). Nothing is known of how the clans stand toward each other.
Who he is
- Title
- Clan chiefs and village headmen of the Yellow River Tibetans, with the lamas of the small teaching houses
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No chief or lama is named for 1200 in any source reached.
Overlord
None. Xia holds Jishi and Kuozhou on the north-east edge; the chiefs of Rebgong and Guide are not shown to answer to it.
What it holds
- River terraces and villages at Guide, Rebgong (Tongren) and Jainca
- Summer pasture on the plateau above the river (Tongde, Zeku, Henan)
- Fords and ferries on the Yellow River (general pattern)
How it was acquired
By inheritance and custom.
Allies and rivals
Xia at Kuozhou and Jishi (neighbour); the Tsongkha tribes of the lake; the Gannan villages to the south-east; the Golog to the south-west.
How things stand that morning
Self-governing. No dated event for the winter.
Wealth
Barley, herds, wool, tolls on the river fords.
Military
Clan levies; no numbers.
Places of note
- Tongren (Rebgong): Valley centre; not a town in 1200.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Geography and the later monastic history are firm; the 1200 political picture is the general pattern only.
On the map: Ground is drawn in the province record Yellow River Tibetans.
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, Amdo (read this session)
- Wikipedia, Tsongkha (cites Twitchett 1994, Smith 2006, Tuttle 2013; 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.