Tibetans
The people of Tibet inhabit the Tibetan Plateau, the highest continuous landmass in the world, which averages over 3,500 meters in height, including the Himalayas in the south, the Zangbo (or Brahmaputra) River Valley, and the northern Changthang Desert. There are between 4 and 6 million Tibetans, of whom some 2.4 million live in the area of the present Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. There are also substantial populations in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan, Gansu, and Sichuan and in Qinghai, formerly the Tibetan province of Amdo. Since 1959, there have also been some 100,000 Tibetan exiles in India and the southern Himalayas and small refugee populations in Western countries.
The Tibetans are basically of East Asian type, with considerable variations. The nomads of the east, the Khampas, are tall and aquiline featured, while the people of the central provinces of U and Tsang are smaller and have high cheekbones. Several dialects of one language family, the Tibeto-Burman, are spoken, with the Lhasa dialect providing the cultivated norm and classical Tibetan being used for scriptures.
The Tibetan way of life has been based on the harsh realities of geography, with nomadic animal husbandry, particularly the yak; agriculture, with barley as a staple; and trade, frequently mixed with pilgrimage, being important. Tibetans tend to be instantly recognizable, with a traditional coat, or chuba, for the men and an apron in three vertical sections of colorful horizontal stripes for the women.
The consciousness of the Tibetans as a single people is based on the unity of their civilization, linked inseparably to the Buddhist religion, which pervades every aspect of everyday life. Tibetan homes have a prayer room with a scroll painting of a guardian deity with which the family is linked and statues of Buddhist saints. Tibetans are great pilgrimage goers and constantly utter sacred formulas, such as om mani padme hum, an invocation of Tibet's protective Buddha, Chenrezi, at their daily tasks, as well as inscribing them on prayer flags, walls, or stones.
Since Tibet's incorporation into the People' Republic of China (1951), the status of Tibetans has become controversial. China claims that Tibet has been part of China since the thirteenth century. It has attempted to control Buddhism and has launched ideological campaigns against Tibetan claims of separate nationhood, insisting that Tibetans are one of fiftyfive minority nationalities in China. Tibetans in exile, led by the fourteenth Dalai Lama (b. 1935) from Dharamsala in India, affirm a distinct national identity based on separate history, ethnicity, and culture and claim that China has systematically abused the human rights of the Tibetans.
Further Reading
Bell, Charles. (1928) The People of Tibet. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Dalai Lama. (1988) My Land and My People. London: Times Warner International.
Norbu, T. J. (1987) Tibet Is My Country. London and Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Snellgrove, David, and Hugh Richardson. (1968) A Cultural History of Tibet. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson.
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