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INTRODUCTION.
Where are You Going? --- Tibetan Culture From a comparison of three branches.Author: Wen Jie
Tu Jia Minority. | Po Shui Jie.
As an area full of mystery, Tibet, located on the highest mountain area in the world, attracts people with different experience to discover and explore her culture, religion, art, customs and construction. This special group is well known for their effort, bravery, kindness, determination, courage and strategy, which result from their belief in Buddhism. Generally, peoples first reaction about Tibetan Buddhism is the country, TIBET. However, another place in China truly keeps the original Tibetan culture Andowa Tibetan in Qinghai and Gansu provinces.
Tibetans initially built their country in western Qinghai- Tibet Plateau. The 33rd empire, Emperor Shongzanganbu, made Tibet the most prosperous in it's history and named it Tubo country. Around the year 928, two princes, Eden and Yesong, started a war between them after their father, the 42nd Emperor, Lamderma died. The war finished in respond of Yesong's moving. He immigrated to the east, which is called Qing hai and Gan su province in China today, and founded his own country Andowa. At the same time, Eden stayed in the western area and renamed his country Boba, now called Tibet. The two countries considered Qilian Mountain as their border. Later, some Boba Tibetans and their offspring moved down to Sichuan and finally settled there as another Tibetan group Kangba Tibetan. Consequently, Boba Tibetan, Andowa Tibetan, and Kangba Tibetan formed the three main Tibetan branches in China.
Language Comparison
As time passed, the Tibetan language has been expanded between Boba Tibetan and Andowa Tibetan. Boba's pronunciation is fast and soft with no stress compare to Andowa, which is slower in speed but louder, with a clearer voice and more stress.
The Tibetan language is composed of 30 letters which include 4 vowels. 10 letters from the 30 are used as suffixes but 5 of them could also be used as prefixes in pronouncing words. The 5 letters for prefixes are very important in pronunciation.
Andowa Tibetan and Kangba Tibetan still use the prefix pronunciation rule while Boba Tibetan have already omitted the prefix usage. This difference increased the block between Boba Tibetan and Andowa Tibetan in communications. But if Kangba Tibetan would slow down their speaking speed, Andowa Tibetan would have no problem understanding them.
Dress Difference
As for mens dress, the difference is quite small. Tibetan men normally wear short Tibetan shirts covered with a coat. Some coats are decorated with animal fur on the collars, sleeves and other opening areas. The coat is made from sheep or goat skins and is very effective for staying warm. Tibetan men often use a slim cloth to wrap around their waist over the coat and leave the sleeves hanging.
When the weather is cold, they could simply stick their arms through the sleeves and pull the coat on their body. However, Boba Tibetan men normally leave the left sleeves down while Aodowa and KangbaTibetan leave the right one down, sometimes leaving both sleeves down. During festivals, Boba Tibetan men wear hats, which are made from silk and animal fur. Andowa and Kangba Tibetan men have no regulation on wearing hats which are made from fox fur.
Tibetan women, on the countrary, have quite a different look in dress. According to the slim clothing wrapped on the waist, Andowa and Kangba women use red or pink clothing; however, Boba women's waist clothing is combined with their dress and has the same color as the dress. Furthermore, women from Tibet wear short Tibetan shirts and a long Tibetan dresses with no sleeves while Andowa and Kangba.
Dress Style.
Tibetan women wear long Tibetan dresses with sleeves. In Tibet, except Llasha, married women must have a piece of medium sized clothing with colorful lines (bangken) down from their waist in order to distinguish them from unmarried women; however, Andowa Tibetan women do not have this sign and Kangba Tibetan women wear this middle sized cloth with nothing relating to marriage. Boba and Andowa women normally use coral as jewelry but Knagba women choose elephant tusk in their hair.
Marriage
Tibetans have very strict regulations about marriage. They can only marry to Tibetan natives in terms of keeping their pure Tibetan blood. However, with the different nationalities and Han people increasing their movement, this custom has been changed. Tibetans in Sichuan and Tibet can marry to Han people or other minorities, which means the couples have to change in order to deal with their different cultures. So far, Andowa Tibetans in Qinghai and Gansu provinces still keep their original culture.
Other Customs
The three branches all keep horse racing and wrestle as their activities. But only Andowa and Boba Tibetans still have arrow shooting, which has already been lost by the Kangba Tibetan group. As for bull fight, only Andowa Tibetan in Qinghai and Ganshu keep this custom alive.
People often misunderstand that Tibetans are great alcohol drinkers but Andowa Tibetans are told to keep their distance from alcohol and cigarettes. Women are considered bad people if they touch either of these two things.
Culture Disappearance.
From the three Tibetan branches, it is clear that Tibet culture, especially in Lasha, has been influenced and even assimilated. The reasons could go back to the event when the Chinese government sent large numbers of Han people to Tibet after 1951 in order to provide Tibet with a different world. In the past 50 years, the Chinese government has offered RMB 30,000,000,000 to Tibet for improving its economics.
Tibetans are encouraged to learn Chinese Mandarin and carry out new social systems. which definitely strengthen and reinforce their connection to the Chinese government.
Within 10 years, Tibet has made a great change. Most city people are enjoying their convenient and comfortable lives, even including the use of the Internet.
However, the culture, at the same time, has been lost even Tibet still remains her heritage.
Similar to Tibet, Kangba Tibet has also been influenced by living in an area of many Chinese Han and other minorities. Kangba Tibetans often have to contact or communicate with other people because of their close proximity. Tibetans even have the options to choose schools which are run by Tibetans or Han people. This shows the close interaction between Tibetans and Non-Tibetan natives.
Chinese policy.
Furthermore, the Chinese policy system might be another factor affecting the culture in Boba Tibetan and Kangba Tibetan areas. In those areas, the first administrative leaders are normally Han people, who are assigned by the Chinese government. The Tibetan natives normally take the second highest administrative positions. They cooperate with each other and make rapid progress but the different cultural thinking truly influences Tibetan culture.
CHINA BIRDS.
