Metsang

Metsang belongs to the Amdo highlands around Ngapa, where valleys, pasture, and routes toward the Sichuan basin supported communities with varied livelihoods. Herding was central in suitable uplands, while cultivation and market exchange supplied resources unavailable from animals alone. Elevation and seasonal weather shaped movement between places, making local knowledge essential to travel. Goods such as wool, livestock, tea, grain, and salt connected pastoral and farming environments.

Metsang was ruled by the Mé Gyelpo, or king of Mé. A local account describes the expansion of his territory through submission, marriage and warfare, with ministers advising on internal and external affairs. The villages associated with Kirti Monastery were outside his authority. Monasteries and local leaders formed part of a wider Amdo world in which religious institutions, pastoral households and neighboring political powers maintained overlapping relationships.