Tibetan People (Photo by Chen Haiwen)
With a population of more than 5 million, Tibetan nationality mainly
live in Tibet Autonomous Region in southeast China, and neighboring
provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan. Tibetan people have
their own spoken and written language. Tibetan language belongs to
Cambodian branch, Sino-Tibetan language system.
Tibetan areas are
rich in natural resources, and Tibetan people mainly live on farming
and stock raising. Most Tibetans are devout Buddhists, and observe
Tibetan Buddhism. Lamaseries spread all over Tibetan areas, and exhibit
the rich culture and superb construction skill of Tibetans. The Potala
Palace on Mt. Hongshan (Marpo Ri) in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet,
is the palace complex with the highest altitude in the world. It is well
known for construction style, religion, frescos, sculpture art, and
precious cultural relics.
According to myth, the Tibetan people
attribute their existence to the union of an ogress and a monkey. One
day a monkey came into a cave in Yarlung River valley and began to
cultivate himself to attain immortality. Later, an ogress came to him
and tried to tempt him with tricks. She said to the monkey: “Will you
marry me?” “No, I am a disciple of Mother Buddha. I am instructed to
come here to cultivate myself. If I marry with you, it will violate the
religious discipline,” replied the monkey. The ogress proceeded: “If you
don’t marry me, I will have to commit suicide because I am destined in
my previous incarnation to be degraded into a devil. Then you and I
cannot become affectionate couple. Days later, I will become the wife of
a devil and give birth to countless sons and grandsons. At that time,
the plateau will be plunged into a world filled with devils and
thousands of people will be killed. So please do as I told you.” Stuck
in the dilemma and puzzled, the monkey had to return to Putuo Hill to
seek instruction from Mother Buddha. She said: “This is destiny and this
is an auspicious sign. It is a deed of great kindness to marry her and
reproduce offspring for the plateau. As a Buddha, you should not
hesitate to conduct kind deeds. Hurry back to marry the ogress.
They
got married and brought six baby monkeys into the world. They had
different hobbies and different dispositions. They looked for food in
the forest by themselves. Three years later, their father went to the
forest and found out that the number of monkey had expanded to 500 by
the way of reproduction. And they had eaten up the fruits in the forest
and suffered from food shortage. Again the old monkey went to Mother
Buddha for help. Mother Buddha took the seeds of five types of grains
from Xumi Mountain and distributed them across the land. Crops sprung up
in the vast land without being cultivated. Hence monkeys got sufficient
food. After some time, their tails became shortened and they could
speak language. Gradually they became humans, the ancestors of the
Tibetan people.
The story that monkey became human was popular
with the Tibetan people and was recorded in the ancient scriptures. You
can also find the clues of the story in many wall paintings. Tsetang
Town in Tibet was named after the story (Tsetang means in Tibetan
language the play place for monkeys). The people in Tsetang will tell
you that the cave where the monkey lived is still in the nearby Mt
Gangpo Ri. The legendary first piece of farming land planting highland
barley is in Sala Village, three kilometers away from the town. Up to
today, every year when the sowing season comes, it is customary for
people to take some “sacred soil” from the first farming field to pray
for harvest and blessings from the ancestors.
In 1949, People’s
Republic of China was founded. The government stuck to the policy of
peaceful liberation of Tibet. As a result, Tibet was liberated
peacefully in 1951. The policy of regional national autonomy was
exercised in Tibet. The democratic reform wad carried out and the feudal
serfdom was abolished. In September 1965, Tibet Autonomous Region was
established.
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