Gan Cuo
དཀར་འཚོ་སྐྱིད

Dr. Gartso Kyi (དཀར་འཚོ་སྐྱིད)/Gan Cuo(Chinese pinyin)) is Professor in the Department of Ethnology and Sociology at Qinghai University for Nationalities in Xining. She is the author of around 20 research articles and the editor of several books about Tibetan education, social history, legal culture and women’s hair ornaments. She obtained her master’s degree in 1998 with a dissertation on the social history of Tibetan tribes in the Zongka area during the Yuan and Ming dynasties, and she obtained her PhD in 2005 with a dissertation on Tibetan legal culture. She was previously a visiting scholar at Columbia University in January 2007.

Gartso Kyi was born in the village of Skal Mo Che and attended a Tibetan language primary school. She began study of Chinese when at age seven her family moved to the Tongde county city, where at that time the only primary school was a Chinese medium school. While completing her standard courses and university study primarily in Chinese, she continued to study Tibetan literary language during her holidays under the tutelage of her elder brothers. During her undergraduate years she was given an award for her achievements in the study of Tibetan literature.