Darchen

{{Infobox settlement

| official_name = Kangsa Village གངས་ས་གྲོང་ཚོ།

| other_name = Tarqên, Taqin, Lhara

| native_name = དར་ཆེན 塔钦

| translit_lang1 = Tibetan

| translit_lang1_type = Tibetan

| translit_lang1_info = གངས་ས་གྲོང་ཚོ།

| translit_lang1_type1 = ZYPY

| translit_lang1_info1 = Kangsa Chongco

| translit_lang1_type2 = Tibetan

| translit_lang1_info2 = དར་ཆེན

| translit_lang1_type3 = ZYPY

| translit_lang1_info3 = Tarqên

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| translit_lang2 = Chinese

| translit_lang2_type = Traditional

| translit_lang2_info = 塔欽

| translit_lang2_type1 = Simplified

| translit_lang2_info1 = 塔钦

| translit_lang2_type2 = Pinyin

| translit_lang2_info2 = tǎqīn

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| image_skyline = Darchen.jpg

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| image_caption = Darchen

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| pushpin_map = China Tibet

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| subdivision_name = China

| subdivision_type1 = Region

| subdivision_name1 = Tibet

| subdivision_type2 = Prefecture

| subdivision_name2 = Ngari Prefecture

| subdivision_type3 = County

| subdivision_name3 = Burang County

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| timezone = +8

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| coordinates = {{coord|30|58|35|N|81|17|13|E|region:CN|display=inline,title}}

| elevation_m = 4670

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Kangsa Village ({{bo|t=གངས་ས་གྲོང་ཚོ།}}), poetically known as Darchen, Tarchan or Taqin ({{bo|t=དར་ཆེན|z=Tarqên}}, {{zh|t=塔欽|s=塔钦|p=tǎqīn}}), is a former Bhutanese enclave,{{cite news |last= Arpi|first= Claude|date=16 July 2016|title=Little Bhutan in Tibet|url=https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/little-bhutan-in-tibet-1500238963.html|newspaper=The Statesman}} currently held by the People's Republic of China and the seat of the Parga Township, Purang County, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Thus, it is commonly referred as Parga although there is another smaller settlement formally named Parga after which the Parga Township was named, located on the east of this settlement. It was also previously known as Lhara and still signposted as such. It was previously an important sheep station for nomads and their flocks and had only two permanent buildings; only one of which survived the Cultural Revolution and is now used to house Tibetan pilgrims.Dorje (2009), p. 412.

Darchen is situated right in front of the sacred mountain, Mount Kailash. Its altitude is 4,670m (15,321 feet) and it is the starting and ending point for the parikrama/kora of Mount Kailash.{{Cite book |last=Bubriski |first=Kevin |title=Kailash Yatra: a Long Walk to Mt Kailash through Humla |last2=Pandey |first2=Abhimanyu |publisher=Penguin Random House |year=2018 |location=New Delhi |pages=151-160}}

It is only a one-day bus drive (about 330 km) from the town of Shiquanhe or (Ali) to the northeast, where Gunsa Airport, opened 1 July 2010, is located, offering flights twice a week to Lhasa and Chengdu.Mayhew and Kohn (2005), p. 209.[https://web.archive.org/web/20101214214139/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-07/01/c_13378773.htm "Tibet's fourth civil airport opens."] A rough but motorable road extends from Darchen till a few kilometers beyond Diraphuk, below the Drolma La Pass on the Kailash pilgrimage route.{{Cite book |last=Bubriski |first=Kevin |title=Kailash Yatra: a Long Walk to Mt Kailash through Humla |last2=Pandey |first2=Abhimanyu |publisher=Penguin Random House |year=2018 |location=New Delhi |pages=160}}

It contains a couple of restaurants and the Ganges guesthouse and restaurant, the Zhusu guesthouse next door, and the Gandise Hotel where Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers are stationed from spring until October, and where pilgrims must get their travel permit stamped, and buy a "ticket" if they wish to circumambulate Mt. Kailash. There are also a few houses, the Swiss-funded Tibetan Medical and Astro Institute and dispensary where doctors are trained in Traditional Tibetan medicine, a number of stores and kiosks, and some camping grounds. Traditionally, pilgrims only eat vegetarian food in the region due to its proximity to the sacred Lake Manasarovar and Mount Kailash.Kotan Publishing (2004), p. 141.Mayhew and Kohn (2005), pp. 210.