{{Short description|Village in the Chumbi Valley of Tibet, China}}
{{Infobox settlement | name = Chumbi | native_name = {{lower|0.1em|{{bo-textonly|ཆུ་འབི}} • {{lang|zh-hans|春丕村}}}} | native_name_lang = | settlement_type = Village | image_map = File:Bundesarchiv Bild 135-S-18-14-12, Tibetexpedition, Landschaftsaufnahme, Talausgang.jpg | map_caption = Chumbi valley in early 20th century | official_name = | coordinates = {{Coord|27.4445|88.922 |display=inline,title}} | pushpin_map = Tibet#China#Asia#World | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = China | subdivision_type1 = Autonomous Region | subdivision_name1 = Tibet | subdivision_type2 = Prefecture-level city | subdivision_name2 = Shigatse | subdivision_type3 = County | subdivision_name3 = Yadong | subdivision_type4 = Town | subdivision_name4 = Xarsingma | postal_code = }}
thumb|right|280px|Map of lower Chumbi Valley (Survey of India, 1923): Chema is at the intersection of the Amo Chu Valley and the route from Nathu La.
'''Chumbi''' ({{bo|t=ཆུ་འབི|w=chu 'bi|s=chu bi}}; {{zh|t=春丕|p=Chūn pī}}) is a historic village in the Chumbi Valley or the Yadong County of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It is in the valley of the Amo Chu River, where the route from Sikkim's Cho La Pass meets the Amo Chu Valley.<ref> {{harvp|Markham, Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle|1876|p=civ}}: "Next, to the north, is the Cho-la pass, 15,000 feet high, which is the direct route from Tumlung to Chumbi." </ref> The "Chumbi Valley" of the European nomenclature derives its name from the village of Chumbi.<ref> {{harvp|Waddell|1905|p=80}}: "we marched up the valley, to the village of Chumbi, which has given the valley the name by which it is known to Europeans..." </ref>{{efn|It is likely that prior to the European involvement, the term "Chumbi Valley" might have been used only for the lower Chumbi Valley below Yatung. The Tibetans call the overall Chumbi Vally "Tromo" with its headquarters at Phari.}} It was the administrative center of the lower Chumbi Valley until the Chinese take-over of Tibet in 1950, after which Yatung became its headquarters. Chumbi is also associated with the Sikkim's royal family, which had a summer palace in the village.{{sfnp|Mullard, Opening the Hidden Land|2011|loc=p. 40, note 25}}<ref> {{harvp|White, Sikhim & Bhutan|1909|p=111}} "It was instructive, in view of the then disputed question as to whether Chumbi, as the people themselves maintained it ought to be, should be restored to Sikhim, to note the close intimacy that exists between Chumbi and Sikhim." </ref>
== History == The Chumbi Valley was originally part of the Lepcha territory.<ref> {{harvp|Siiger, The Lepchas|1967|p=44}}: "Further eastwards, beyond the Sikkim border, lies the Chumbi alley, which used to be Lepcha territory, but which now belongs to Tibet" </ref> In the 13th or 14th century, it began to be colonised by Khampas from the Kham region of Tibet.<ref> {{harvtxt|Perry, Nepali around the World|1997|p=9}}: "There was earlier contact with the Lepcha in the 13th or 14th century by Kham people from Tibet who colonised the Chumbi valley, but they only later went into Sikkim." </ref> A Minyak prince called Khye Bumsa ({{bo|w=Gyad 'bum bsags}}) is said to have settled in Chumbi and established a small kingdom. He later built an alliance with the Lepchas in present-day Sikkim and expanded into that region. The ruins of the house built by Khye Bumsa were reportedly present in the Chumbi village till the end of the 19th century.<ref>{{harvp|Mullard, Opening the Hidden Land|2011|loc=pp. 39–40}}: "[25] Until the late nineteenth century, close to the summer palace of the Sikkimese royal family in Chumbi there stood ruins that were said to be the remains of ''Gyad ’bum sags' '' house." </ref>
The lower Chumbi valley appears to have been under the control of the Lepchas till the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama. A Lepcha chieftain called Gaeboo Achyok (Gyalpo Ajok, {{reign|{{circa|1660}}|1676}}) based at Damsang (in the present day Kalimpong district) faced invasions from the Bhutanese and obtained Dalai Lama's assistance. The Bhutanese captured and executed Achyok, after which the Tibetans continued to fight the Bhutanese. The end result of these conflicts is not clearly documented, but the Bhutanese were evicted from the lower Chumbi Valley and its control passed to the Sikkimese and Tibetans in some form.<ref> {{harvp|Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History|1984|p=122}}: "In 1676 the Bhutanese attacked Sikkim and captured three hundred homesteads in the Chumbi valley. Again Tibetan troops marched against Bhutan and the Bhutanese withdrew from Sikkim, giving up the Chumbi valley." </ref><ref> {{harvp|Shakabpa, One Hundred Thousand Moons|2009|pp=363–364}}: "Thereby, the Bhutan forces fled back to their homes, while the Tibetans and Mongolians took back the lost territories and expelled the Bhutanese from Sikkim." </ref><ref> {{harvp|Aris, Bhutan|1979|p=248}}: "Five columns advanced by way of ''sPa-gro'' [Paro], ''Gling-bzhi'', Bum-thang, ''bKra-shis-sgang'' [Trashigang] and ''Phag-ri'' [Phari], but their only lasting achievement was the expulsion of the Bhutanese troops from Sikkim." </ref>{{efn|The "Sikkim" mentioned in these sources is mainly southeastern Sikkim, which appears to have extended on both the sides of the Jelep La pass. Chogyals' Sikkim was to the west of the Teesta River.{{sfnp|Mullard, Opening the Hidden Land|2011|p=151}} After the elimination of the Damsang chieftaincy, the way was opened for the Chogyals to expand east of the river.}}
The Sikkim Chogyals constructed a palace at Chumbi during the reign of Chakdor Namgyal ({{reign|1700|1717}}), who is said to have received the lower Chumbi valley as an estate from the Tibetan government.{{sfnp|Mullard, Opening the Hidden Land|2011|p=40|loc=note 25}} It came to be used as a regular summer residence of the Chogyals since 1780.{{sfnp|Mullard, Opening the Hidden Land|2011|p=40|loc=note 25}} The Chogyals regarded the people of the lower Chumbi Valley as their subjects until 1959, irrespective of the prevailing official boundaries.<ref>{{citation |last=Balikci |first=Anna |title=Lamas, Shamans and Ancestors: Village Religion in Sikkim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3UCwCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA73 |year=2008 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-3348-4 |at=p. 73, note 52}}</ref>
== Geography == The village of Chumbi is roughly in the centre of the stretch of Amo Chu valley between Yatung and Rinchengang. The road from the Cho La pass on the Sikkim border arrives here. On the Sikkimese side of the pass, there was a direct road to Tumlong, the capital of Sikkim and the seat of its royalty in the 18th and 19th centuries.
About {{convert|2|mi}} upstream from Chumbi lies the town of Yatung (Shasima), the present headquarters of the Yadong County. Downstream from Chumbi are the twin villages of Chema and Pipitang, where the route from the Nathu La pass arrives, and Rinchengang, which receives the route from the Jelep La pass.
== Notes == {{notelist}}
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
== Bibliography == {{refbegin}} * {{citation |last=Aris |first=Michael |title=Bhutan: The Early History of a Himalayan Kingdom |publisher=Aris & Phillips Ltd. |location=Warminster, England |date=1979 |isbn=0-85668-082-6 |ref={{sfnref|Aris, Bhutan|1979}}}} * {{citation |last=Bhanja |first=K. C. |title=Lure of the Himalaya |publisher=Gilbert & Co |location=Darjeeling |year=1944 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.13673 |via=archive.org}} * {{citation |last=Buchanan |first=Walter |title=A Recent Trip into the Chumbi Valley, Tibet |journal=Geographical Journal |volume=LIII |number=6 |date=June 1919 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_geographical-journal_1919-06_53_6/page/403/ |via=archive.org}} * {{citation |last=Easton |first=John |title=An Unfrequented High through Sikkim and Tibet |url=https://archive.org/details/unfrequentedhigh00john |year=1928 |location=London |publisher=The Scholartis Press |via=archive.org}} * {{citation |last=Fatma |first=Eram |title=India–China Border Trade: A Case Study of Sikkim's Nathu La: A Case Study of Sikkim's Nathu La |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yb2rDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT65 |year=2017 |publisher=KW Publishers |isbn=978-93-86288-64-6}} * {{citation |last=Kawaguchi |first=Ekai |title=Three Years in Tibet |publisher=The Theosophist Office |location=Adyar, Madras |year=1909 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.pahar.1848 |via=archive.org}} * {{citation |last=Lamb |first=Alastair |title=The McMahon Line: a Study in the Relations Between, India, China and Tibet, 1904 to 1914, Vol. 1: Morley, Minto and Non-Interference in Tibet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vak5AQAAIAAJ |year=1966 |publisher=Routledge & K. Paul}} * {{citation |last=Markham |first=Clements R. |title=Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet and of the Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa |publisher=Trubner and Co |location=London |date=1876 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.granth.86263 |via=archive.org |ref={{sfnref|Markham, Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle|1876}}}} * {{citation |last=Mullard |first=Saul |title=Opening the Hidden Land: State Formation and the Construction of Sikkimese History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_1J4tgrYDUC&pg=PA184 |date=2011 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-20895-7 |ref={{sfnref|Mullard, Opening the Hidden Land|2011}}}} * {{citation |last=Perry |first=Cindy L. |title=Nepali around the World: Emphasizing Nepali Christians of the Himalayas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XRzkAAAAMAAJ |year=1997 |publisher=Ekta Books |ref={{sfnref|Perry, Nepali around the World|1997}}}} * {{citation |last=Shakabpa |first=Tsepon Wangchuk Deden |title=Tibet: A Political History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iKziAAAAMAAJ |year=1984 |orig-date=first published Yale University Press 1967 |publisher=Potala Publications |location=New York |isbn=0-9611474-0-7|ref={{sfnref|Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History|1984}}}} * {{citation |last=Shakabpa |first=Tsepon Wangchuk Deden |title=One Hundred Thousand Moons: An Advanced Political History of Tibet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lGyrymfDdI0C |year=2009 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-17732-1 |ref={{sfnref|Shakabpa, One Hundred Thousand Moons|2009}}}} * {{citation |last=Siiger |first=Halfdan |title=The Lepchas: Culture and Religion of a Himalayan People, Part I |publisher=The National Museum of Denmark |location=Copenhagen |year=1967 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.pahar.3338/mode/2up |via=archive.org |ref={{sfnref|Siiger, The Lepchas|1967}}}} * {{citation |last=Waddell |first=L. Austin |title=Lhasa and its Mysteries |publisher=John Murray |location=London |year=1905 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.79988 |via=archive.org}} * {{citation |first=J. Claude |last=White |title=Sikhim & Bhutan: Twenty-One Years on the North-East Frontier, 1887—1908 |publisher=Edward Arnold |location=London |year=1909 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.granth.88535 |via=archive.org |ref={{sfnref|White, Sikhim & Bhutan|1909}}}} {{refend}}
Category:Populated places in Shigatse Category:Villages in China Category:Yadong County