Nathu La

Not to be confused with Naku La.

Nathu La
Stairs leading to the border on the Indian side
Elevation	4,310 m (14,140 ft)
Location	India (Sikkim) China (Tibet, Yadong County)
Range	Dongkya Range, Himalaya
Coordinates	27°23′13″N 88°49′51″E
Nathu La Location in Tibet Nathu La Nathu La (Sikkim) Nathu La Nathu La (India) Nathu La Nathu La (China)

Nathu La
Simplified Chinese	乃堆拉山口
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Nǎi duī lā shānkǒu

Nathu La (Tibetan: རྣ་ཐོས་ལ་, Wylie: Rna thos la, THL: Na tö la) is a mountain pass in the Himalayas between China's Yadong County in Tibet, and the Indian state of Sikkim. The pass, at 4,310 m (14,140 ft), connects the towns of Kalimpong and Gangtok to the villages and towns of the lower Chumbi Valley.

Sealed by China and India after the 1962 Sino-Indian War, Nathu La was re-opened in 2006 following numerous bilateral trade agreements. The opening of the pass shortens the travel distance to important Hindu and Buddhist pilgrimage sites in the region and was expected to bolster the economy of the region by playing a key role in the growing Sino-Indian trade. However, trade under-performed, and is limited to specific types of goods and to specific days of the week. It is also one of the five Border Personnel Meeting points between the two armies of both countries.

Name and meaning

Nathu La was formerly known as Gnatui pass. It has been explained as "a place where snow is deepest and the wind strongest". It is also explained as "the whistling pass", or more commonly as the "listening ears pass" or "pass of the listening ear". La means "pass" in Tibetan.

Geography

In 1905 Laurence Waddell placed Nathu La at a height of 14,250 ft (4,340 m) and 10 mi (16 km) north of Jelep La. Over the years preference for Nathu La over Jelep La has varied according to new infrastructure projects, road connectivity, including the state of connectivity beyond Teesta River. The pass is 52 km (32 mi) from Yatung (Chumbi Valley) of Tibet, and roughly the same distance, 52 to 54 km (32 to 34 mi), east of Gangtok, Sikkim's capital. Nathu La is one of over a dozen passes which connects Sikkim to Tibet.

Nathu La has moderately shallow, excessively drained, coarse, and loamy soil on a steep slope (30–50%) with gravelly loamy surface, moderate erosion, and moderate stoniness. It has several sinking zones and parts of it are prone to landslides. To preserve the fragile environment of Nathu La on the Indian side, the Government of India regulates the flow of tourists. Road maintenance is entrusted to Border Roads Organisation, a wing of the Indian Army.

In the winter, the pass is blocked by heavy snowfall. Because there is no meteorological centre in Nathu La, systematic measurements of meteorological data (such as temperature and rainfall) are not available for the region. However, it is known that in the higher reaches of the Himalayas around the region, summer temperature never exceeds 15 °C (59 °F).

History

Map of south-east Sikkim and lower Chumbi Valley (Survey of India, 1923): Nathu La, labelled 'Natu La', depicted with a cart track passing through it.

Nathu La (and Jelep La) were part of the trade routes and treaties of the British Empire during the the 19th and early 20th century. During the Great Game, Britain felt the need to develop a route to Tibet. To this purpose, Colonel Francis Younghusband and a small number of troops were dispatched in June 1903. The journey to Tibet via Sikkim, and the journey back via Gangtok, was through Nathu La. In 1904 a larger expedition of 5000 Sikh and Gurkha troops, with Younghusband leading them, successfully marched in to Tibet via Nathu La.

In 1949, when the Tibetan government expelled the Chinese living there, most of the displaced Chinese returned home through the Nathu La–Sikkim–Kolkata route. The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, used this pass to travel to India for the 2,500th birthday celebration of Gautama Buddha, which was held between November 1956 and February 1957. Later, on 1 September 1958, Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi, and Palden Thondup Namgyal (son of—and internal affairs adviser to—Tashi Namgyal, the Chogyal of Sikkim) used this pass to travel to nearby Bhutan.

Map of Sikkim and Chumbi Valley with the Nathu La pass second from the right (CIA, 1965)

After the People's Republic of China took control of Tibet in 1950 and suppressed a Tibetan uprising in 1959, the passes into Sikkim became a conduit for refugees from Tibet. During the 1962 Sino-Indian War, Nathu La witnessed skirmishes between soldiers of the two countries. Shortly thereafter, the passage was sealed and remained closed for more than four decades. Between 7 and 13 September 1967, China's People's Liberation Army and the Indian Army had six-day "border clashes", including the exchange of heavy artillery fire. In 1975, following a referendum, Sikkim acceded to India and Nathu La became part of Indian territory. China, however, refused to acknowledge the accession at that time.

In 2003, with the thawing of Sino-Indian relations, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to China led to the resumption of talks on opening the border. Later in 2004, the Indian Defence Minister's visit to China led to the formal opening of the pass. The opening, originally scheduled for 2 October 2005, was postponed due to last-minute infrastructure problems on the Chinese side. Finally, after decade of talks, Nathu La was opened on 6 July 2006, becoming one of the three open trading border posts between China and India at the time, the other two being Shipkila in Himachal Pradesh and Lipulekh (or Lipulech) at the trisection point of Uttarakhand–India, Nepal and China. The reopening, which also signified the formal recognition of Tibet as part of China by India and Sikkim's accession to India by China, coincided with the birthday of the reigning Dalai Lama. In the years before the reopening, the only person permitted to cross the barbed-wire frontier had been a Chinese postman with an Indian military escort, who would hand over mail to his Indian counterpart in a building at the border.

The opening of the pass was marked by a ceremony on the Indian side that was attended by officials from both countries. A delegation of 100 traders from India and 100 Tibetans crossed the border to respective trading towns. Despite heavy rain and chilly winds, the ceremony was marked by the attendance of many officials, locals, and international and local media. The barbed wire fence between India and China was replaced by a 10 m (30 ft) wide stone-walled passageway. It was also decided to mark the year 2006 as the year of Sino-Indian friendship.

It is also one of the five officially agreed Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) points between the Indian Army and the People's Liberation Army of China for regular consultations and interactions between the two armies.

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  Distant mountains of Bhutan, the Tibetan side, and international border fence as seen from the Indian side at Nathu La
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  The Chinese Military Checkpost in Nathu La
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  Indian and Chinese officers at Nathu La
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  A gate at Nathu La
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  Alice S. Kandell hiding behind a Sikkimese soldier to take a photograph of a Chinese soldier along the Nathu La pass, 1965

Flora and fauna

Because of the steep elevation increase around the pass, the vegetation graduates from sub-tropical forest at its base, to a temperate region, to a wet and dry alpine climate, and finally to cold tundra desert devoid of vegetation. Around Nathu La and the Tibetan side, the region has little vegetation besides scattered shrubs. Major species found in the region include dwarf rhododendrons (Rhododendron anthopogon, R. setosum) and junipers. The meadows include the genera Poa, Meconopsis, Pedicularis, Primula, and Aconitum. The region has a four-month growing season during which grasses, sedges, and medicinal herbs grow abundantly and support a host of insects, wild and domestic herbivores, larks, and finches. The nearby Kyongnosla Alpine Sanctuary has rare, endangered ground orchida and rhododendrons interspersed among tall junipers and silver firs.

There are no permanent human settlements in the region, though it has a large number of defence personnel who man the borders on both sides. A small number of nomadic Tibetan graziers or Dokpas herd yak, sheep and pashmina-type goats in the region. There has been intense grazing pressure due to domestic and wild herbivores on the land. Yaks are found in these parts, and in many hamlets they serve as beasts of burden. The region around Nathu La contains many endangered species, including Tibetan gazelle, snow leopard, Tibetan wolf, Tibetan snowcock, lammergeier, raven, golden eagle, and ruddy shelduck. Feral dogs are considered a major hazard in this region. The presence of landmines in the area causes casualties among yak, nayan, kiang, and Tibetan wolf.

The avifauna consists of various types of laughing thrushes, which live in shrubs and on the forest floor. The blue whistling-thrush, redstarts, and forktails are found near waterfalls and hill-streams. The mixed hunting species present in the region include warblers, tit-babblers, treecreepers, white-eyes, wrens, and rose finches. Raptors such as black eagle, black-winged kite and kestrels; and pheasants such as monals and blood pheasant are also found.

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  A barren hillside near Nathu La
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  A small lake near Nathu La
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  Vegetation of the region
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  Flowering rhododendron bushes near Nathu La, 1938

Economy

Border trade

Up until 1962, before the pass was sealed, goods such as pens, watches, cereals, cotton cloth, edible oils, soaps, building materials, and dismantled scooters and four-wheelers were exported to Tibet through the pass on mule-back. Two hundred mules, each carrying about 80 kilograms (180 lb) of load, were used to ferry goods from Gangtok to Lhasa, which used to take 20–25 days. Upon return, silk, raw wool, musk pods, medicinal plants, country liquor, precious stones, gold, and silverware were imported into India. Most of the trade in those days was carried out by the Marwari community, which owned 95% of the 200 authorised firms.

Since July 2006, trading is open Mondays through Thursdays. Exports from India exempted from duty include agricultural implements, blankets, copper products, clothes, cycles, coffee, tea, barley, rice, wheat, flour, dry fruits, vegetables, vegetable oil, tobacco, snuff, spices, shoes, kerosene oil, stationery, utensils, milk processed products, canned food, dyes, and local herbs. Chinese exports to India exempted from duty include goat skin, sheep skin, wool, raw silk, yak tail, yak hair, china clay, borax, butter, common salt, horses, goats, and sheep. Restrictions are placed on traders, with permits only given to those who were Sikkimese citizens before the kingdom merged with India in 1975.

There were fears among some traders in India that Indian goods would find a limited outlet in Tibet, while China would have access to a ready market in Sikkim and West Bengal. The reopening of the pass was expected to stimulate the economy of the region and bolster Indo-Chinese trade, but this has not happened. Figures released by the Tibet Autonomous Regional Bureau of Commerce show that in the 51 days of trading in 2006, only US$186,250 worth of trade passed through Nathu La.

A major concern of the Indian government is the trafficking of wildlife products such as tiger and leopard skins and bones, bear gall bladders, otter pelts, and shahtoosh wool into India. The Indian government has undertaken a program to sensitise the police and other law enforcement agencies in the area. Most of such illicit trade currently takes place via Nepal.

Border ceremonies and tourism

See also: Borders ceremonies of India

On the Indian side, only citizens of India can visit the pass on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, after obtaining permits one day in advance in Gangtok. The pass is particularly useful for pilgrims visiting monasteries in Sikkim such as Rumtek, one of the holiest shrines in Buddhism. For Hindus, the pass reduces the journey time to Lake Manasarovar from fifteen days to two days.

An Indian war memorial and BPM point at Nathu La

Mail exchange

Twice a week at 8:30 am in an exchanging lasting only 3 minutes, on Thursdays and Sundays, the international surface mail between India and China is exchanged by postmen of the respective countries at Nathu La's Sherathang border post. While the volume of mail is declining due the advent of email and internet, it is mostly from the Tibetan Refugees in India or among the locals with relatives on both sides of the border. This arrangement reduces the mail delivery time for the people of border areas to few days which would otherwise takes weeks to be delivered via the circuitous logistics chain. In this short exchange, no words is spoken as both sides do not understand each other's language, mail is exchanged, an acknowledgement letter is signed, sometimes empty mail bags are exchanged due to dwindling mail volume. This system, since the times of chogyals, continues uninterrupted even during the India-China disputes at 14,000 altitude where temperature drops to minus 20 C.

On Indian side, the mail from mainland India is received at India Post’s Siliguri office, sent to Indian Army's Upper Tadong-based 77 Field post office, then "the mail, mostly letters are vetted and then sealed in a bag and a manifest issued for the Chinese post office at Yathung in Tibet’s Chumbi Valley is sent to the India Post’s Gangtok head office, from where the sealed bag is collected by the Sherathang postman. While the mail exchange on the Indian side of the border takes place every Sunday, the exchange on the Chinese side takes place every Thursday."

Transport

China National Highway 318 (Shanghai to Zhangmu) is connected to Chumbi Valley from Shigatse via provincial road S204, about 30 km from Nathu La and Jelep La on the Sikkim border. There has been talk of extending the Qinghai-Tibet Railway to Yadong.

The Gangtok–Nathu La road was completed and formally opened on 17 September 1958. Later known as National Highway (NH) 310, an alternative axis was constructed in 2020. The road has an average rise of 165 feet (50 m) per km over a stretch of 52 kilometres (32 mi).

India had been planning an extension of rail services from Sevoke in West Bengal's Darjeeling district to Sikkim's capital Gangtok, 38 miles (61 km) from Nathu La. However the broad gauge line has been shortened to a 45 km extension to Rangpo, due for completion in 2022.

References and notes

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

• Smith, W. W. (1913), Records of the Botanical Survey of India. Vol 6. No 7. The Alpine and Sub-Alpine Vegetation of South-East Sikkim., Superintendent Government Printing, India
• Ecodestination of India. Sikkim Chapter. (PDF), Hosted by Department of Science & Technology, Sikkim. Sponsored by Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Goverment of India., ENVIS (Environmental Information System) Centre on Eco-Tourism, Sikkim., 4 June 2006, archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2007{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
• Carrington, Michael (2003). "Officers, Gentlemen and Thieves: The Looting of Monasteries during the 1903/4 Younghusband Mission to Tibet". Modern Asian Studies. 37 (1): 81–109. ISSN 0026-749X.
• Arora, Vibha (2008). "Routing the Commodities of Empire through Sikkim (1817–1906)" (PDF). Commodities of Empire: Working Paper No.9. Open University. ISSN 1756-0098. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
• — Arora, Vibha (2013), Curry-Machado, Jonathan (ed.), "Routeing the Commodities of the Empire through Sikkim (1817–1906)", Global Histories, Imperial Commodities, Local Interactions, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 15–37, doi:10.1057/9781137283603_2, ISBN 978-1-349-44898-2, retrieved 27 October 2021

Further reading

Books

• Easton, John (1929). An unfrequented highway through Sikkim and Tibet to Chumolaori. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9788120612686.
• Macdonald, David (1930), Touring in Sikkim and Tibet, Self-published (1930), Thacker, Spink & Co. (1943) and Asian Educational Services (1999), ISBN 9788120613508
• Bajpai, G. S. (1999). China's Shadow Over Sikkim: The Politics of Intimidation. Lancer Publishers. ISBN 978-1-897829-52-3.
• Huggler, Justin; Coonan, Clifford (20 June 2006). "China reopens a passage to India". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 October 2006.
• Forbes, Andrew; Henley, David (2011). China's Ancient Tea Horse Road. Cognoscenti Books. ASIN B005DQV7Q2. ISBN 978-1-300-46486-0.
• Harris, Tina (1 April 2013). Geographical Diversions: Tibetan Trade, Global Transactions. University of Georgia Press, United States. ISBN 978-0-8203-4573-4.
• Ling, L. H. M.; Lama, Mahendra P. (2016). India China: Rethinking Borders and Security. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-13006-1.
• Fatma, Eram (15 May 2017). IndiaChina Border Trade: A Case Study of Sikkim's Nathu La. China Centre, Calcutta University. KW Publishers Pvt Ltd. ISBN 978-93-86288-64-6.

Think tanks

• Mohanty, Satyajit (June 2008), "Nathu La. Bridging the Himalayas." (PDF), IPCS Issue Brief 73, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi
• Hasija, Namrata (1 April 2012). "Nathu La: Amidst the "Listening Ears" (A Trip Report)". Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
• Subba, Bhim B (2013). "India, China and the Nathu La: Realizing the Potential of a Border Trade". Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi.
• Singh, VK (Autumn 2014). "The Skirmish at Nathu La (1967)" (PDF). Scholar Warrior. Center For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS): 142–149.
• Bhandari, R.K. (2 December 2014), "Urgent Need for Steps to Make Nathu La Route to Kailash Mansarovar Safe for Pilgrims" (PDF), vifdatabase.com
• Chettri, Pramesh (21 June 2018). "India-China Border Trade Through Nathu La Pass: Prospects and Impediments". HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies. 38 (1). ISSN 2471-3716.

External links

• The dictionary definition of Nathu La at Wiktionary
• Quotations related to Nathula at Wikiquote
• Media related to Nathu La at Wikimedia Commons
• India, China reopen Nathu La pass at Wikinews