Tsong-Ka, Vbu-shing-kun And Dbyar-mo-thang

The Northeastern Tibetan Plateau was one of the most furious battlegrounds between the Chinese Tang Empire and Tibetan Empire from the 7th- 8th centuries. This strategic area was known as southeast Longyou province(陇右道)in Chinese during the early 7th century, and when this area was under the control of the Tibetan Empire through the late 7th and 8th centuries it became part of the mdo smad province of Tibet.This thesis focuses on studying some of the key place names found in the Dunhuang Tibetan manuscripts, such as "tsong-ka-che-chung," "vbu-shing-kun," and "dbyar-mo-thang." In the first chapter, the author analyses the Chinese Tang administrative division of parts of the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau in the 7th century and 8th centuries. In the second chapter, the author discusses the process of the Tibetan Empire's annexing and controlling of the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau in the late 7th century, especially after 755 AD, concluding that Tibetan "tsong-ka-chen-po" was the Chinese Huangshui county(湟水县),which was the administrative seat of Shanzhou(鄯州)and Longyou province(陇 右道)；and "tsong-ka-chung-po" was the Chinese Shanchen(鄯城),which was located on the upper Tsong river (Tsong-chu in Tibetan, Huangshui湟水in Chinese). Both of them played important roles during the period of the Tibetan Empire's administration of the whole region. In the last section of this chapter, the author argues that Tibetan vbu-shing-kun was the Chinese Meixiang country(美相县),which originated from Tibetan name vbu-shing meaning "musk." In the last chapter, the author discusses the Tibetan Empire's governance of the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau during the late period of 8th century and 9th century, emphasizing that dbyar-mo-thang-khrom-chen-po was the ancient Da-xia river(古大夏川)and that the present Da-xia river (大夏河,bsang chu in Tibetan) was referred to as dbyar-mo-thang during the Mongolian Yuan dynasty. This has contributed to inconsistent usage of the place name of the Da-xia river.