Tianwendian (Chinese: 天文点; pinyin: Tiānwén diǎn; lit. 'astronomical point') is the name of a border outpost and a military defence area of China in the northern Aksai Chin region under its administration (as part of Xinjiang).[3][4] The region is roughly equivalent to the portion of Depsang Plains under Chinese control. Its headquarters, the Tianwendian outpost, is in the Chip Chap River valley close to China's Line of Actual Control with India.
Name
Tianwendian means "astronomical point" in Chinese. The first two characters "tiānwén" (天文; lit.'celestial pattern') is the Chinese word for "astronomy." The name is said to have been used to describe a military defence area in northern Aksai Chin in the run-up to the 1962 Sino-Indian War.[3][5] The region was also referred to as the "sky defence area" (Chinese: 天防区; pinyin: Tiān fángqū).[5] The name is an obvious allusion to the high elevation of the area, reported as 6200 metres above sea level.[6][5]
The region extends till the next defence area to the south, viz., Heweitan ("river beach").[7]
The Depsang Bulge area has been referred to as the "South Tianwendian Valley",[8]
its river Burtsa Nala as "Tiannan",[9]
and its mountain pass to the Jeong Nala valley as the "Tianhexi Pass"—the "western pass between Tian(wendian) and He(weitan)".[10] In this respect, Tianwendian is the Chinese equivalent of India's "Depsang Plains".[8]
In the 1980s, a specific outpost named Tianwendian was established close to China's Line of Actual Control with India's Daulat Beg Oldi sector.[11][12] Now it is more common to use the name to refer to the outpost than the defence area.
Military outpost
Chinese claim lines in the Depsang Plains: 1956 claim in green, 1962 pre-war position in purple, 1962 ceasefire line in brown; The position marked 16820 corresponds to Point 5243. (US Army HQ, 1962)
China originally established a military outpost in 1959 at Point 5243 (Chinese: 5243哨卡), which is at an elevation of 5243 meters above sea level.[13][14][15][5]
It was composed of a border company.[16][17]
In the run up to the 1962 war, China called the entire area Tianwendian Defence Area and used the Point 5243 post as its headquarters.[14][15]
The newer Tianwendian post was established after the 1962 war. China said it was an astronomical observatory. A few years later India realised that it was an not an observatory but a military post. Over the years, China has continued to expand the post.[12]
^ abSandhu, Shankar & Dwivedi 2015, p. 44: "The northernmost area is called the Tianwendian or the Astronomical Defence Area which has very high (6200 m) and low mountain peaks and, a comparatively shallow and broad Chip Chap River Valley."
^地貌气候. 和田县政府门户网站 (in Simplified Chinese). 29 April 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019. 海拔5 000米以上的天文点、空喀山口一带，
^ abcd
分享至 (Fengxiang Zhi) (28 May 2018). "Nàxiē nián, wǒ zài zhōng yìn biānjiè de jiānshǒu" 那些年，我在中印边界的坚守 [In those years, I stood firm on the Sino-Indian border]. Sina. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020. 总卡5243哨卡...我们天防区的总卡叫5243，海拔高度就是5243米，是天防区最低的哨卡 [The headquarters is 5243 checkpoint... The headquarters in our sky defense area is called 5243, and the altitude is 5243 meters, which is the lowest checkpoint in the sky defense area.]
^ ab
Wai, Jiao Bu, ed. (2014), China's Foreign Affairs, China Department of Policy Planning / World Affairs Press, p. 189, The two countries also promptly handled the situation when their border troops came to a face-to-face situation in South Tianwendian Valley (Depsang Plains area referred to by the Indian side).
^Burtsa Nala, OpenStreetMap, retrieved 8 September 2022.
^Tianhexi Pass, OpenStreetMap, retrieved 8 September 2022.
^Tianwendian, OpenStreetMap, retrieved 8 September 2022.
^
陈杰 (Chen Jie) (19 December 2013). 王建民 (Wang Jianmin) (ed.). "守防在昆仑之巅 记新疆军区某边防团天文点边防连[组图]" [Defence at the top of Kunlun: A border defense company at the astronomical point of a border defense regiment in the Xinjiang Military Region [Photos]] (in Chinese). China.com.cn. Retrieved 14 December 2019. 天文点边防连组建于1959年。 [The Tianwendian Border Defence Company was established in 1959.]
^Bhat, Vinayak (25 August 2017). "China's string of radars in Ladakh track every move of Indian Army – ThePrint". ThePrint. Retrieved 5 January 2020. The Depsang area came into the limelight during 2013 Daulat Beg Oldie incident when the PLA pitched tents and constructed watchtowers much higher than required. At that time, China had also constructed a huge radar on a hillock north of their post called Tianwendian.
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