The Tibetan inhabited area of Sichuan Province includes the northern stretch of the ancient Tea Horse Road, and Kangding city was a very influential trade post along the route. Khamding ,elevation2590m,is the Capital of the Ganzi Tibetan Region, which has a population of 1 million (some 80% of whom are Tibetans), this town was once referred to as “the wildest settlement in China.” It used to be the most important market of the tea-horse trade. Nomadic Tibetan peoples came here to exchange animals and animal products with Chinese Han people trading tea.

Kangding is cradled in a narrow gorge along the raging Zheduo River that sitting 2500 meters above sea level,. The river's continual rumble can be heard in its alleyways where nomads from the west come to sell Tibetan herbal medicine, Khampa knives, traditional Tibetan garments, and the ever popular yak butter tea. For centuries the town has held the status of 'Gateway to Tibet' while serving as a demographic border that separates Han China from the predominantly Tibetan and Qiang populations to the west.

Kangding has an interesting mix of cultures. The city's thriving market sells blocks of Ya'an tea and electronic equipment from China's Eastern seaboard alongside a variety of Tibetan goods like prayer flags and leather saddles. A mosque for the growing Hui minority population and a Catholic Church built by French missionaries in the nineteenth century stand amidst Tibetan Buddhist temples and lamaseries.