What are the differences between Tibetan and Tibetan languages?
According to the 2000 census, the Tibetan population ranked ninth in the ranking of ethnic minorities, with a population of about 5,416,021, mainly distributed in Xizang Self-smelting District and neighboring provinces and cities in Sichuan, Yunnan, Qinghai, Gansu, etc. Mainly engaged in animal husbandry and concurrently engaged in agriculture. "Tibetan" is a Chinese title, and the ethnic group calls itself "Fan" (Tibetan pronunciation is "Bo Ba"). There are different titles for people living in different regions in Tibetan. People living in Xizang Ali area are called "Duba", and people in later Tibetan areas are called "Tibetan Ba". People living in the former Tibetan region are called "Weiba", and people living in the eastern border of Xizang and western Sichuan are called "Kangba". People living in the northern part of Xizang and the northwest of Sichuan, Gannan and Qinghai are called "Anduowa" "ba" and "wah", which means "person" in Chinese.
Tibetan language
As the sons and daughters of the Brahmaputra, the Tibetan people have the aura of Brahmaputra and have their own language and writing. The Tibetans founded the Tibetan language, which belongs to the Tibetan branch of the Tibetan-Burmese language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It can be roughly divided into three dialects: Weizang, Amdo, and Khamba. Tumi Sanboza created Tibetan in the first half of the 7th century with reference to Sanskrit. Tibetan is a pinyin script, composed of thirty letters representing consonants and four symbols representing vowels. Written language is different from modern Chinese, and is written horizontally from left to right.
Classification of Tibetans
According to the classification of Tibetan language, the corresponding Tibetans can also be divided into three main branches: the Uizang Tibetan Kangba Tibetan, the Amdo Tibetan, and several special branches in addition to these three regions, namely Jiarong Tibetan, Gongbu Tibetan, Huarui Tibetan, and Baima Tibetan. Uizang Tibetan "Uizang" refers to the area around Lhasa and Shigatse, that is, the collective name of front and rear Tibet in the traditional area. This area also includes Ali, Yonan and parts of Nyingchi and Nagqu areas. The Tibetans in this area are relatively consistent in dialects, and they are relatively unified in history and culture. It is the core area of the traditional Xizang area. The Tibetans living in this area are collectively referred to as the political, economic, and military headquarters of the Uizang Tibetans.
First, the Khamba Tibetans
The Kangba Tibetan people refer to the Tibetan people in Kang District. Kang District originally refers to the vast area east of Wei-Tibet, and later this area is divided into two parts: "Kang" and "Amdo". Kang District refers to the Hengduan Mountain District in the southeast of Xizang Plateau, formerly known as the "Duosigan" area. It is customary to connect the area of Xizang Danda Mountain to Xichang, Sichuan Province, and Ya'an District to Abei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The area connected to Yushu and Guoluo Prefecture in Qinghai Province in the north is called Kang District. Specifically, it includes: Xizang Changdu Region, Diqing Prefecture, Yunnan Province, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, Wushu Prefecture, Qinghai, and the southeast line of Naqu.
The Khamba area is located in the transition zone between Han and Tibet in history, and has obvious urban characteristics in terms of administration, religion, economy and culture. The Khamba people are best known for their straightforward personality, religious aspects are particularly pious, there is a tradition of doing business and traveling, and their physique is relatively strong. The most obvious in the attire is that the Khamba men wear "hero knots" to show bravery. This tradition has been maintained to this day and can be seen everywhere on the streets of Lhasa.
II. Amdo Tibetans
The traditional area of the Amdo Tibetans refers to the vast area northwest of the Animaqing Mountains and west of the Xiaojishi Mountains in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu. The center of the Amdo Tibetans is from the Animaqing Mountains to Qinghai Lake. The clothes of the Amdo Tibetans are particularly gorgeous, and the fabrics of Tibetan robes used in winter are mainly silk, unlike the relatively plain fabrics such as Wei Zang. Hats are also decorated with fur, and the fabrics of clothes and hats are mostly decorated with patterns in green, gold, yellow, and red. Since the Amdo area is more influenced by the Mongolian and Han ethnic groups, it has more characteristics in terms of customs and appearance.
Jiarong Tibetans
The full Tibetan name of Jiarong area is "Jiarmu Zha Wa Rong", which is a name that combines mountain names, water names and natural environments. Between Xiaojin and Danba, there is a Muerduo Divine Mountain with all the names of the division, and "Jiarmu" is the mountain god of this mountain; "Zha Wa" is the person who lives in the Zha Qu River Basin; "Rong" is the agricultural valley area. Jiarong is the Tibetan name for the large and small Jinchuan and Heishui Tibetan areas in Sichuan. The area includes the large and small Jinchuan areas in the middle and upper reaches of the Minjiang River and the upper reaches of the Dadu River in today's Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Ganzi Prefecture. In the Tang Dynasty, Tubo advanced eastward and stationed troops in the Dadu River and the Minjiang River, guarding against danger. The army fused with the local Jialiang, Dongnu, and affiliated countries and other indigenous tribes, forming today's unique Jiarong Tibetans. In history, Jiarong was located in a multi-ethnic blend area such as Tibet, Qiang, and Han. In addition, the distribution and integration of early ethnic groups in this area were more complex, so Jiarong Tibetans had more mixed characteristics. Jiarong dialect and Tibetan belong to the Tibetan-Burman language family, and Tibetan is spoken.
IV. Gongbu Tibetans
In the Nyingchi-belt, which joins Wei-Tibet in Kang District, there are Loba and Menba people living. This area was formerly known as the Gongbu area, and the Tibetans in this area are customarily called the Gongbu Tibetans. In addition, the Tibetans in the Muya area of Kang District (between the Jido Mountain in Ganzi Prefecture and the Yapan River) are also called "Muya Tibetans" because of their unique language and customs. The Tibetans in northern Abar also have branches such as the "Baima Tibetan". The Kham area has a lot of terrain running through the river valley from north to south, and has been an ethnic corridor for a long time. The Tibetans in this area are mostly formed by the integration of various ethnic groups in history, and the academic community mostly calls this the "Tibetan-Qiang Passage" and "Tibetan-Yi Passage". Extending to the south, it can reach the area of Myanmar. In terms of language origin, it belongs to the Tibetan-Burmese language family, so there are many branches, but there is no clear definition of ethnic groups, all of which are collectively referred to as the Khamba Tibetans.
V. Sinovel Tibetans
"Huarui", which means the region or tribe of heroes, is the hometown of white oyster cattle. In history, Huarui refers to the north of Huangshui and the east of the two rivers, including the Ledu Beishan, Huzhu, Menyuan, the east of Datong, Gansu, Tianzhu, Sunan Imperial City and other Tibetan areas. Among them, Tianzhu is the main inhabited area of Huarui Tibetans, with a population of about 80,000. The main body of the formation of Huarui Tibetans is the Tubo people, that is, after an army of Tubo settled in the Tubo Dynasty, it gradually formed the main body of the machine race in the region. The Huarui dialect still belongs to the Amdo dialect area, but the Huarui dialect has preserved a large number of ancient Tibetan vocabulary, and the pronunciation of some words is also different from the pronunciation of Amdo in other regions.
Huarui calls itself "Bo" or "Huarui Waterfall" in Tibetan, and the men mostly wear white fellows, reflecting the special respect for white among Huarui Tibetans and the deep ethnic concept that they share the same origin as Tibetans in other regions.
VI. White Horse Tibetans
The Baima Tibetans mainly live in the Baima River Basin, Tielou Township, Wenxian County, Longnan City, Gansu Province, and in the area of Pingwu County and Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan Province. They have a population of about 14,000 people. Their customs, culture, and religious beliefs are different from those of Tibetans in other regions. The Baima Tibetans speak Tibetan, but do not know Tibetan. They generally use Chinese. In addition to Bon Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism, the Baima Tibetans also believe in natural gods such as the sun god, the mountain god, the fire god, and the five grain gods, but they generally do not repair temples and only worship the tablets of their ancestors at home. Therefore, many ethnologists and historians believe that the Baima Tibetans are descendants of ancient clans. The Tubo Crusade in the Tang Dynasty occupied the entire Di area, and a large number of Tubo troops came with the army to live with the Di people, which made some of the Di people gradually lose their inherent cultural characteristics and formed the Tibetanized Di Ba, which is the ancestor of today's Baima Tibetan people. The culture of the Baima Tibetan people has the characteristics of duality and diversity. There are Tibetan cognates and Qiang vocabulary in language.
