Kham is known as the region of 'four rivers and six ranges', the most fertile and culturally rich province of Tibet. These are the tall tough warriors of Tibet (mid right photo) who have weathered the brunt of Chinese brutality. A particularly vicious Manchu named Chao Erh-Feng served as magistrate to a Chinese punitive expedition in 1905 which enforced the Chinese grip of eastern Kham, and by harshly suppressed the monasteries, smashing buildings, burning books (middle photo)  and executing thousands, added the territory to Sichuan. The Khampas fought back to drive the Chinese out after the 1911 overthrow of the Qing dynasty and retook Qamdo in 1918. China spent the next thirty years reneging on treaties lining 20,000 troops along the treaty line and crossing into western Kham and liberating the rest of Tibet. It is a land of stunning natural beauty; the photo top left is a glacial lake near Manigango; the lake below it (mid left) is on the southern road to Lhasa; the temple surrounded by prayer flags (top right) is in the eastern catchment of the Brahmaputra.