CH'ANG-TU

Pinyin Qamdo, Tibetan Chab-do mountainous area in the far eastern part of Tibet, China, bordering on the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and on Myanmar (Burma) to the south and on the Chinese provinces (sheng) of Yunnan and Szechwan to the southeast and east. In Ch'ang-tu the great fold systems of the Himalayas and the northern Nien-ch'ing-t'ang-ku-la Mountains swing southeast, forming a series of high parallel ranges with a predominantly northwest to southeast axis, between which the upper streams of the Salween (Nu Chiang), Mekong (Lan-ts'ang Chiang), and Chin-sha Chiang (a tributary of the Yangtze River) flow from northwest to southeast through deep, forested chasms. The Ning-ching Mountains between the Mekong and the Chin-sha have peaks rising to 14,000 feet (4,200 m). The range to the west of the Salween, the Po-shu-la Ling, is even higher, with peaks above 21,000 feet (6,400 m). Most of the area is uninhabited, and large parts remain virtually unexplored. In the 1950s a highway was built through the northern part of this area from Ch'eng-tu in Szechwan, via Ch'ang-tu, where it divides into two routes that ultimately reach Lhasa, capital of Tibet.