Kham (Wylie transliteration: Khams; Tibetan: ཁམས ; Simplified Chinese: 康; Pinyin: Kāng) province is one of several provinces comprising traditional Tibet (the others are Amdo and Ü-Tsang). Upon annexation of Tibet by China, the name of the region was changed to Xikang Province (西康省 Xīkāng Shěng). It was, however, only a "special administrative district" until 1939 , when it became the status of a Chinese province - nominally and without much cohesion.
Kham comprises a total of 50 contemporary counties, distributed between the Chinese provinces of Sichuan (16 counties), Yunnan (3 counties), and Qinghai (6 counties) as well as the eastern portion of the Tibet Autonomous Region (25 counties). Kham has a rugged terrain characterized by mountain ridges and gorges running from northwest to southeast. Numerous rivers, including the Mekong, Yangtze, Yalong Jiang, and the Salween flow through Kham.
