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Ethnic Makeup |
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Tibetan
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The principal inhabitants
of Tibet, speaking the language that belongs to the Tibetan
sub-group of the Tibeto-Burmese group of the Sino-Tibetan language
family. There are three main dialects: U-Tsang, Kham and Amdo.
Most Tibetans undertake farming and animal husbandry. Urban
residents mostly engage in handicrafts, industry and commerce.
They believe in Tibetan Buddhism. The staple food is zanba (roasted
qingke barley flour or pea meal). They like to drink tea with
butter or milk and qingke wine. They also have a liking for
beef and mutton, but do not eat perissodactyls. In ancient times,
Tibetans buried their dead in the ground, but in modern times
Tibetans practice celestial burial (by which bodies all exposed
to birds of prey), cremation and water burial.
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Moinba
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Mainly distributed in
Moinyu in the southern part of the region, with some scattered
in Medog, Nyingchi and Cona counties. The Moinba speaks language
that belongs to the Moinba sub-group of the Tibeto-Burmese group
of the Sino-Tibetan language family. With complex dialects,
they have no written language. Most Moinba people can speak
and write Tibetan. Their livelihood is based on agriculture,
supplemented by animal husbandry, forestry, hunting and handicrafts.
Rice, corn, buckwheat and jizhaogu (glutinous highland millet)
are staple foods. Most Moinba people believe in Tibetan Buddhism,
but in certain areas, some people practice traditional shamanism.
The dead are generally given water burial, while burial in the
ground, celestial burial and cremation are also practiced. |
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Lhoba
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Mainly distributed in
Lhoyu in the southeast of Tibet, with some scattered in Mainling,
Medog, Zayu, Lhunze and Nang counties, the Lhoba also falls
into the Tibeto-Burmese group of the Sino-Tibetan language family.
Having no written language of their own, they normally use Tibetan
for written communications. Mainly engaged in agriculture, Lhoba
people are good at bamboo weaving. Corn and jizhaogu are staple
foods. They also eat rice and buckwheat. |
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Hui
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Most of the Hui people
living in the Tibet Autonomous Region today are descendants
of the Hui who moved to Tibet from Gansu, Shaanxi, Qinghai,
Sichuan and Yunnan provinces during the Qing Dynasty. A small
number of them came from Central Asia. Most live in cities and
towns, notably Lhasa, Xigaze and Qamdo, doing business and handicrafts
or working as butchers. They use both Tibetan and Chinese languages
in daily life, and Urdu and Arabic in religious activities.
They believe in Islam and mosques are found in Lhasa and some
other places. |
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Deng
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Mainly live in Zayu County, Nyingchi Prefecture. Their language
is also included in the Tibeto-Burmese group of the Sino-Tibetan
language family. Having no written language, they keep records
by notching wood, tying knots or arranging sticks or branches.
Deng people believe in ghosts instead of deities. They build
two-story structures. They live in the upper floor, and house
and breed domestic animals and poultry in the ground floor.
Prior to the 1950s, the Deng people mostly lived deep in the
mountains and forests, surviving on slash-and-burn cultivation
and hunting and gathering. Later, they moved into terraced
river valleys with the assistance of the government.
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Xiarba
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Mainly live in Lixin
Township in the vicinity of the Zham entry/exit port and Chentang
in Dinggye County. They are divided into four surnames and marriage
within the same surname is taboo. They believe in Buddhism.
Their homes are two-story wooden structures. |
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