Dêmqog (Tibetan: ཌེམ་ཆོག, Wylie: Demchog, ZYPY: Dêmqog, historical: bDe-mChog),[2] traditionally transliterated as Demchok,[3] is a village in the disputed Demchok sector that is administered as part of the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region by China.

Dêmqog ཌེམ་ཆོག་, 典角村 Demchok
Village
Dêmqog Show map of Tibet Dêmqog Show map of China
Coordinates: 32°41′40″N 79°27′45″E
Country	China
Region	Tibet
Prefecture	Ngari Prefecture
County	Gar County
Township	Zhaxigang
Elevation	4,240 m (13,920 ft)
Population  (2019)[1]
• Total	171

Geography

The Line of Actual Control (LAC) passes along the northwest side of the village, following the Charding Nullah upstream from the nearby Indus River. The Indian-administered village of Demchok, Ladakh is roughly 600m away, across the stream.[4][5] The Indian-claimed border extends 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Demchok, while the Chinese-claimed border extends 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Demchok.[6]^: 39, 48

Dêmqog is located on the west bank of the Indus, roughly 30 km from Zhaxigang.[7] It has an average altitude of over 4,000m.[7]

History

17th to 19th centuries

The village of Demchok was mentioned in the Chronicles of Ladakh as the boundary point between Tibet and Ladakh demarcated in the 1684 Treaty of Tingmosgang.[8]

When Henry Strachey visited the area in 1847, he described Demchok as a single hamlet with settlements on both the sides of the Lhari stream and the stream as the prevailing border between Ladakh and Tibet.[9] A governor (wazir-e-wazarat) of Ladakh visited the area in 1904–05 and found the Tibetan Demchok village housing 8 to 9 huts of zamindars (landholders) while the Ladakhi Demchok village had only two zamindars.[10] When Sven Hedin visited the area in the November 1907, he described Demchok as four or five huts lying on the southeastern bank of the Lhari stream in Tibet, with the Ladakhi side of the Lhari stream only containing the pyramidal Lhari peak and the ruins of two or three houses.[11][12]

Chinese administration

By 1984, there were only three households living in Dêmqog.[1] In 1984, committees from the Tibet Autonomous Region, Ngari Prefecture, and Gar County governments selected 24 people from 5 households to move from Jiamu Village, over 100 km away in Shiquanhe, to move to Dêmqog, although 3 of those residents returned to Jiamu Village the following year because they found the climate unsuitable.[1]

In 1990, Dêmqog was administratively established as a village.[1] In that year, 9 households were selected from Jiamu Village to move to Shoubian in Dêmqog, and there were a total of 15 households in Dêmqog divided into two working groups.[1]

From 2011 to 2018, the Gar County government invested more than CN¥42 million on facilities and rebuilding the local residences.[5] The construction of the two-storey single-family villas, which replaced the previous low-rise adobe houses, was completed in 2018.[5]

In 2017, Dêmqog was named a National Civilized Village [zh] by the Central Guidance Commission on Building Spiritual Civilization.[13]

Demographics

In 2019, there were 171 people in 51 households living in Dêmqog.In 2015, the per capita income was CN¥8,234.[14]

Economy

The local economy of Dêmqog is largely based on cattle and sheep grazing.[5] The northeast corner of the village contained a small border trade market largely containing Indian handicrafts and Chinese daily necessities that operated from 1999 to 2008.[5]

Residents of Dêmqog receive government subsidies for living in a border region and for living in grasslands.[14][5]

In 2012, travel writer Romesh Bhattacharji stated that China expected to set up a trading village in Dêmqog, but India never renewed trade after the war. He stated that the southern Dêmqog village has only commercial buildings whereas the northern village has security-related buildings.[15]

Education

In 2015, the primary and secondary school enrollment rate for school-age children was 98%.[14][5]

Infrastructure

Before 2011, Dêmqog lacked electricity and running water.[5] By 2017, the village was completely electrified by two photovoltaic power stations and had water pumped from two newly drilled wells.[5] The village also has full cellular network coverage, contains 2 public toilets, and has a landfill.[5]

See also

• List of towns and villages in Tibet

References

Bibliography

• India, Ministry of External Affairs (1962), Report of the Officials of the Governments of India and the People's Republic of China on the Boundary Question, Government of India Press
  • Indian Report: Part 1 (PDF); Part 2 (PDF); Part 3 (PDF); Part 4 (PDF)
• Hedin, Sven (1922), Southern Tibet: Discoveries in Former Times Compared with My Own Researches in 1906–1908: Vol. IV – Kara-korum and Chang-Tang, Stockholm: Lithographic Institute of the General Staff of the Swedish Army
• Lamb, Alastair (1964), The China-India border, Oxford University Press
• Lamb, Alastair (1965). "Treaties, Maps and the Western Sector of the Sino-Indian Boundary Dispute" (PDF). The Australian Year Book of International Law. 1 (1): 37–52.
• Lange, Diana (2017), "Decoding Mid-19th Century Maps of the Border Area between Western Tibet, Ladakh, and Spiti", Revue d'Études Tibétaines,The Spiti Valley Recovering the Past and Exploring the Present