Talk:Changtang

one changthang or two?

I've never been clear if the area in Ladakh (in India) is a continuation of the Tibetan Changthang, and unfortunately this article doesn't do anything to clear that up. It's marked as a Tibetan stub of the article page, despite clearly referring more to the Ladakhi section in the body of the article, and on the discussion page it's claimed by wikiproject India. I suspect the two are distinct regions, as the western part of Tibet is too mountainous to qualify as a plateau, but if anyone has any leads on this they would be welcome.--Keithonearth (talk) 19:21, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

I'm confused also after reading the article as it stands now. I've always encountered the term in reference to the enormous "blank space on the map", if you will, north of the more densely inhabited areas of Central Tibet, the Lhasa region. (If you look at a topographic map of the region, you'll see what I mean.) I've never heard the term used with respect to Ladakh, but I'm no expert. In any case, thank you for calling attention to a very confusing article. --Gimme danger (talk) 23:11, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

I have heard it used in reference to a region of eastern Ladakh, as well as the area north of central Tibet (as you say), and I've got books I can reference regarding it's Ladakhi use, but I'm not sure if the Ladakhi area is continuous with the Tibetan one...but I think not. I'll look in to it...Mind you I have wondered if they are continuous or two distinct regions for quite some time now, I'm not sure I'll sort that out myself. Glad you are taking an interest. It is (They are) a fascinating area(s).--Keithonearth (talk) 07:19, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

OK, I've got it sorted. A proper reference and everything. The Ladakhi Changthang is a continuation of Tibetan Changthang. Or more accurately, The changthang is mostly in the Tibet, with a bit of it in Ladakh. --Keithonearth (talk) 22:55, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Topics to cover

Here are some ideas for things to cover in this article. Please feel free to edit, the following as things come up--Keithonearth (talk) 22:51, 26 December 2008 (UTC):

• Changpa (indigenous nomads), their relationship with the settled agriculturists in neighboring regions
• traditional products (wool, pashm, salt)
• the traders traversing this area. ie Ladakh/Lhasa and Lhasa/Mongolia.
• the Great game history (at one time it was thought that a Russian army could roll across the Changthang and into British India) and European explorers (who found this to be wrong)
• overview of the wildlife, endangered and otherwise.
• the importance to China for minerals, Nuclear testing, and transport.

Relationship to Qiang?

Something obvious that this article does not address... what is the relationship of the Chang/Qang/Chi'ang/Qiang plateau and the Changpa/Champa to the Qiang people, historical or modern? Changtang is a name that is normally only used in an Indian context, and seems to have been back-extended through Dharamsala's irredentism to northwestern TAR. But, what do the people who are actually living now in that part of the TAR call themselves? Do they even have consciousness of a "Changtang" region that extends across the Indian border? Shrigley (talk) 08:38, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

Very unlikely that the similarity is more than a coincidence. "Chang" (/tɕʰɑ̀ŋ/) is the modern Central Tibetan pronunciation of the word for "north". From its spelling (byang), we can see that the initial was a voiced bilabial in Old Tibetan (ca. 7th century CE). Per Wikipedia, 羌 has been applied to western non-Han groups since the first millennium BCE at the latest. Baxter and Sagart reconstruct 羌 as khjang in Middle Chinese and *C.qʰaŋ (the C representing some unknown consonant that became silent) in Old Chinese. So, it was always a voiceless velar or uvular initial. These words have apparently always rhymed but otherwise did not sound particularly similar until recently. – Greg Pandatshang (talk) 23:22, 1 May 2016 (UTC)

History

@Kautilya3:, sources are already in articles linked from my summary addition. Popolon (talk) 10:43, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

I am not convinced. For example, the Era of Fragmentation page doesn't show that Guge controlling any part of Changtang. Please verify the content carefully and rewrite it as per WP:Verifiability. -- Kautilya3 (talk) 11:05, 17 February 2020 (UTC)