Various Minority Groups
Nyingchi is a multinational area with a population of 140,000. Besides the Tibetan people, who compose the majority, the Moinba, Lhoba, Deng and Nu peoples have lived here for generations.
The Tibetan People
The Tibetan population in this area is over 110,000, and accounts for over 90 percent of the total, dominating almost the whole area, except for Medog County. Their customs are similar to Tibetan people from other areas. Those from the Gongbo area (ranging from the Main La Mountain to the Segyi La Mountain), Gongbo Tagung and Gongbo Gyailha (at the foot of Namjagbarwa Peak) have a similar dialect with those from Lhasa, but have distinctive costumes. The men and women wear a long, sleeveless pullover, usually black or purple, known as goshiu, made of pulu for summer and fur and leather for winter. Nowadays, the people trim the collar, cuffs and lower half of the front of goshiu with cloth or satin.
A Tibetan girl of Nyingchi Headware of a Tibetan girl of Nyingchi
A typical Gongbo hat is cylindrical, lined with green silk and trimmed with colorful satin, and is now worn only by the elderly. The young people prefer the sangling hat from Qoiling, Sang'ang in Shannan Prefecture, which is decorated with bright satin. The Gongbo boots are divided into two kinds, ngado and rijor, for both men and women. The former are worn daily, and the latter, elaborately made of high-quality material, are worn only during festivals. The Moinba People
The Moinba people were recognized in 1964 by the State Council as one of China's minority groups. The population of the Moinba people in Nyingchi is about 6,800, accounting for 5 percent of the total. They have their own language, but with many dialects. The two major dialects, Fenlho and Boranme, which are vastly different from each other, belong to the Tibetan subbranch of the Tibetan-Myarma branch of the Chinese-Tibetan language. Without their own written language, most of the Moinba people speak and write the Tibetan language. They use the Tibetan calendar.
The Moinba people can be found mainly in Medog County and the Pailung Moinba Village in Nyingchi County. Medog was formerly called Bema, and was referred to as "Boyu Bema" in classical Tibetan Buddhist scripts, which means "hidden lotus flower." It is regarded as a holy land by Buddhists. Medog has a varied topography, with a landscape of high mountains and deep gorges covered with dense jungles. Located on the southern slope of the Namjagbarwa Peak,it has a climate
Moinba women are skilled at weaving
of "Xishuangbanna on the plateau," which is between subtropical and tropical, different from the rest of Tibet. From the top to the base of the mountain, the plants vary from alpine-frigid to tropical. Medog County has many mountains over 6,000 meters above sea level, which are capped with snow year-round, with exposed ridges dotted with alpine plants, such as lichen and snow lotus.Below the snow line are coniferous trees, such as snow pine trees, dragon spruces and firs, among which monkeys and squirrels can be seen cavorting lively. Between 2,000 meters and 3,000 meters above sea level, where the climate is warm and humid, is a primeval forest composed of such broadleaf trees as azalea and nanmu, where tigers dwell. In the lower area, which is spring-like year-round, are residences and green orchards. The foot of the mountain, only 600 meters above sea level, is tropical, where cicadas sing and frogs croak, and where rice can be harvested twice a year. The rich botanical resources make Medog a large natural greenhouse of Tibet.
Radios are accessible to Moinba people
who used to be poor
According to the elderly Moinba people, the present Moinba people are descendants of those who moved from Zhuba (present-day Bhutan) 200 years ago to escape an earthquake. Six households were the first group to arrive _ over 30 people; the second group comprised nearly 100 households _ about 600 or 700 people; and the third group moved here sporadically, most of whom arrived in Medog, but some lost their way and settled in the Pailung Village in Nyingchi County. They were the ancestors of the present Moinba people in Nyingchi.
Most of the Moinba people live off farming _ raising corn, rice, jizhua rice and other crops. They also engage in forestry and animal husbandry, and are good hunters. Some of them make stone woks, rattan and bamboo works, or sugar, and some weave cloth. Their residences are uniquely structured buildings made of wood, and every household has barns for grains and salted meat,
supported by wooden pillars and a large disc to prevent mildew and to keep out rats. The Moinba people live mostly in Medog ravines, and, without any highway to act as a contact with the outside world, partly maintain the primitive slash-and-burn farming method. Located at the southern foot of the Himalaya Mountains, Medog County enjoys favorable natural conditions. Subtropical and tropical fruits such as the banana, tangerine, lemon and watermelon can be grown here. There are also forest products,
A Moinba girl
such as the edible fungus, mushroom and some special tropical medicines. Due to the special geographical conditions, rattan net bridges and sliding ropes from ancient times still exist in some parts of Medog.
Most of the Moinba people belong to the Nyinma Sect of Tibetan Bud
The Lhoba People
The Lhoba people are one of China's minority groups, recognized in 1965 by the State Council. They have lived in the Lhoyu area in Tibet for generations. "Lhoba" means "southerners." Its population in Nyingchi area is over 2,200, accounting for 1.6 percent of the total population in the area. They mainly populate Mainling, Medog and Zaya along the borders of India and Nepal.
The Lhoba people have their own language, which belongs to the Tibet-Myarma branch of the Chinese-Tibetan language. Without their own written language, they use Tibetan. Most live in the forest, mainly by growing simple crops and livestock farming, weaving, gathering and making bamboo works. Hunting is one of the major sidelines. The costume of the Lhoba people is distinct from that of the Tibetan people. Hunting year-round, the Lhoba men usually wear fur clothes and fur hats, with long hunting knives slung from their
A Lhoba man weaving a bamboo item
waists. The Lhoba women wear narrow-sleeved, round-necked blouses, tight, straight skirts and leggings. Men and women all wear heavy ornaments around their necks and waists. The Lhoba people drink wine made from corn, qingke and millet, and treat guests who have traveled far with the wine. With their patriotic tradition of fighting invaders, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Lhoba people in Lhoyu fought spies from the British Empire heroically.
Lhoba people mainly live on farming
The religion of the Lhoba people is primitive. They have over 30 totems, including the sun, moon, tiger, leopard, bear, pig, ox, ram, dog and eagle. They worship nature _ the celestial bodies, mountains, rocks, lands, trees, water and fire, ghosts and their ancestors. Before they set off for a long journey or hunting, they will kill animals and offer them to the god of mountains. The most widely used method to find answers to their questions is killing a rooster and examining its liver.They believe that
they can see good or ill luck from the veins on a rooster's liver.There are two kinds of wizards: the first, called "Myigyi," specializes in killing roosters and telling fortunes from the livers; the other kind is "Nyiubo," who kills animals to exorcize illnesses and bad luck. For this reason, every household raises many chicks.
With the government's help, the Lhoba people in Mainling moved from the mountains to a level land after the 1959 democratic reform. New villages were built and the slash-and-burn farming method was replaced by walking ploughs, seeders and electric shellers. They elect their own representatives, who participate in the administration of the autonomous county and region. Now, the Lhoba people, who used to record things by inscribing wooden boards and
Lhoba girls
knotting ropes, have produced government officials,university graduates, doctors and technicians. Their old custom of killing animals as sacrifices and chanting scriptures to exorcize evil spirits have changed.
The Deng People
The Deng people live mainly in the valleys of the E Qu, Zayu Qu, Gedo Qu and Dolai Qu rivers in Zayu township of Zayu County, their population being about 1,500, accounting for 1 percent of the total area. Their language belongs to the Tibetan-Myarma branch of the Chinese-Tibetan language.
Deng women are good at weaving
The Deng people live mostly by agricultural production, raising millet, corn, and vegetables, such as the pepper, bean and taro. Gathering is the major sideline. They also hunt and raise domestic fowls. The Deng people's costume is different from those of the other minority groups in Tibet, but similar to those of some minority groups from Yunnan Province. The Deng women wear long, sleeveless blouses and straight skirts, and wear silver, cresent-shaped fine-toothed combs, with ornamental engraving, in their hair. The men wear long, sleeveless shirts and scarves, which are made of cloth woven by the Deng women. They all carry a long knife, a necessity of everyday life and production. The Deng people believe that everything in nature has a soul, and have a custom of killing animals to exorcize ghosts.
The Deng people enjoy drinking and smoking. Their houses are long and windowless, like porches, with bamboo or wooden walls and floors. They have distinctive wedding and funeral customs, and have many taboos. Before 1951, the Deng people lived in the primeval forests flanking the Sang'ang Qu River at the southern end of the Hengduan Mountains. Having no transport facilities, they rarely had contact with the outside world, and life was difficult. A Deng folksong goes: "We live like monkeys in the deep forest, and see no sunlight all the year round." Now their life has undergone great transformation. Flanking the Zayu River are new villages, with new dwellings and terraced fields, the fragrance of rice filling the air. With the improvement of their living standards, their mindset has changed. Now they are masters of their own lives and enjoy equal rights with the other Chinese people.
The other minority groups in Zayu County of the Nyingchi area include the Nu people (nearly 400), Dulong people, Lili people and Naxi people.
To accelerate the development of the economy and culture of the local minority groups, protect their legal rights and interests, and strengthen national unity, since 1985, the government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region has established the Namyi Lhoba Township in Mainling County (May 1985), Pailung Moinba Township in Nyingchi County (April 1988) and Dagmo Lhoba Township in Medog County (April 1988), according to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the PRC Law on National Regional Autonomy. With the continuous development of the social economy, the Moinba, Lhoba and Deng peoples in the three minority townships and four bordering counties of the Nyingchi area are happily thriving.