The Tibetan Ethnic Minority in China

Tibetan people are perhaps China's most popular and mysterious ethnic minority. They live among the world's highest mountains on a vast beautiful Tibetan plateau. The Tibetan ancestors once had a powerful empire about 1,400 years ago, and after that, Tibetan people vied for control of Central Asia with Han Chinese and Mongols. Now, there are about 7,000,000 Tibetan people, and they are one of the biggest of China's 55 ethnic groups. Tibetan people don't only live in Tibet. They also live in several Chinese provinces west and northwest of Tibet. Tourists like to go to many Tibetan areas, such as Lhasa, Jiuzhaigou, and Shangri-la. Content Preview · Who are the Tibetan people · History of Tibetan People · Where do Tibetan People Live in China · What Language do Tibetan People Speak · Religion of Tibetan Ethnic · Tibetan Festivals · Customs and Traditions of Tibetan People · Tibetan Ethnic Areas Who are the Tibetan people The Tibetan people are mountain dwellers who live in a vast Tibetan plateau composed of several of the world's highest mountain ranges. These include the Himalayan range north of India that is the highest range in the world, the Kunlun range, and the Qilian mountain range along Gansu Province. The Himalayan Mountains include Everest that is the tallest mountain in the world. It has become a notable tourist attraction in Tibet. Kawagebo Mountain is part of the Kunlun range and is the tallest mountain in Yunnan. Recommended Tibet Tours: History of Tibetan People In ancient times, the ancestors of the present Tibetans lived along the Yaluzangbu (Brahmaputra) River. In the 6th century, the chieftain of the Yarlung tribe conquered several nearby tribes to become king. He was known as Zanpu (king) and established the Po dynasty. Tibetan People History of the Tibetan Imperial Age and Afterwards In the early 7th century, Songtsan Gampo (first King of Tibet) unified the whole of Tibet and shifted the capital to Lhasa. This empire was known in Chinese history as the Tupo kingdom. In 641, Songtsen Gampo married Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD), and he was granted the title of "The King of China's West." By the reign of the emperor Ralpacan, in the opening years of the 9th century, the empire included the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang, the Himalayas, and reached into the provinces of Gansu and Yunnan. During the Ming Empire (1368–1644) period, the Dalai Lamas began to rule the Tibetans. This is when they started to build the Potala Palace in Lhasa to be the palace of the Dalai Lamas and also a fortress in 1645. Recommended Tibet Tours: · 8-Days Qinghai Lake, Zhangye, and Dunhuang Tour Where do Tibetan People Live in China With a population of about 7 million, the Tibetan people live mainly live in the Tibet Autonomous Region in southeast China and in the neighboring provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan. Their population is rapidly growing in China. It is thought that about 100,000 Tibetans live in India and Nepal. Tibetans in Four Ancient Tibetan Regions The land of the Tibetans is divided into the old former Tibetan provinces called U-Tsang, Kham, Ngari, and Amdo. The center of the old Tibetan empire is U-Tsang. U-Tsang is where Lhasa and the major Tibetan towns of Tibet are. To the east of Tibet is Kham. Kham has peaks amid heavily forested valleys where the headwaters of several of Asia's biggest rivers spring. Part of Kham is in Yunnan. Amdo is in the northwest, and much of it is in Sichuan Province, Gansu Province, and Qinghai Province. Lhasa is the capital and largest city. This is where the Dalai Lamas once lived as head of their government. The second-largest city is Shigatse that has a population of about 800,000 people where the Tibetans live with the Chinese. Tibetan People in Adjacent Provinces Outside of Tibet or U-Tsang, about 1.2 million Tibetan people live in the high mountains of Sichuan. You can meet them if you visit the Jiuzhaigou area. About 150,000 live in Yunnan. About 21% of Qinghai Province's 7 million people are Tibetans. About half a million Tibetans live in Gansu. High altitude beautiful places abound in their traditional homeland areas outside of Tibet. These places include Huanglong National Park and Jiuzhaigou National Park in Sichuan, Shangri-la in Yunnan, and Qinghai Lake in Qinghai Province. In the high mountains on the edge of the mountainous plateaus, Tibetan culture merges with and gives way to the cultures of other Tibetan ethnic groups who live in high altitudes such as the Qiang who live in the mountainous region north of Chengdu near Jiuzhaigou. Recommended Tibet Tours: · 8 Days Chengdu Pandas, Sichuan Cuisine and Lhasa Tibetan culture Tour

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