Jiarong Tibetan People & House

Jiarong Tibetans are one of the ethnic branches of Tibetan tribes, a large number of whom now live in the area around Danba, in Sichuan Province.

Jiarong Tibetans

The origins of the word “Jiarong”, come from two distinct meanings. One refers to the old administrative region in the area around the Moerduo Sacred Mountain, the holy mountain of Bonism. The other meaning is roughly translated as “Queen of the Valley”, and refers to the lost Danba Eastern Kingdom of Women that existed long ago in the Danba region. The legendary 18 kingdoms of the Jiarong were originally much larger than the area where Jiarong live today, and where the dialect is spoken.

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What is the Jiarong Tibetan?

The Jiarong people tend to be valley people, farming land on terraced plots on mountainsides. A few have taken to living the plateau life, as nomadic herders, though it is a small part of the Jiarong people. The culture is one of impressive stone houses decked with prayer flags, ancient stone watchtowers, and women clad in colorful, hand-woven belts and clothes.

Women clad in colorful, hand-woven belts and clothes.

Jiarong people are traditional, and live in the same way as their ancestors from thousands of years ago, with their own unique language. Situ, the most widely spoken form of Jiarong has two dialects, and is often the only language spoken by older members of the Jiarong people. The Sichuan dialect of Chinese is becoming more widely spoken by young and middle-aged people, and the influence of Han society in Wenchuan County is causing a drop in the use of the Jiarong dialects. Jiarong dialects also differ in pronunciation and vocabulary, which can cause some difficulty in cross-communication.

Jiarong people are traditional.

During the seventh and eighth centuries, Tibetan people settled in the area of northwest Sichuan, and the eventual disintegration of the Tibetan Empire left the 18 chiefs of the Jiarong people in the area, giving rise to the ancient “18 Kingdoms”. The Jiarong Tibetans were first localized by the Sichuan natives, and then left to become farmers over the many centuries of Chinese re-colonization of Sichuan Province. And despite the order of the Qing Emperor to “instruct and assimilate barbarians”, the Jiarong people left in Sichuan managed to retain both their language and cultural identities, until recently when Chinese has become more popular among the younger generations.

The name Jiarong refers originally to the language.

The origins of the name, “Jiarong”, have come under debate, and there are two ideas on its meaning. One says that the name came from an abbreviation of the Tibetan “rgyal mo tcha ba rong”, while another idea has it as an abbreviation of the Tibetan place name, Jiamu chawarong, meaning “the agricultural area under the mountains of local gods”. However, both agree that the name Jiarong refers originally to the language, not the ethnic group, and that the name has only been adopted as the ethnic group designation since the counter-colonization of Sichuan.

The areas of Jiarong population have Buddhist monasteries.

The Jiarong Tibetans number only around 175,000 and can also be found in the counties of Ma’erkang, Jinchuan, Wenchuan, Heshui, and Xiaojin. Around 90 percent of Jiarong Tibetans are Buddhist, while the remainder follows the ancient Bon religion, and the areas of Jiarong population have both Buddhist monasteries and Bon Temples. The people are mainly farmers, and work the fertile valleys in the lower areas, which have a much more temperate climate than the nearby regions of Amdo and Kham.

The culture of the Jiarong people is very akin to Tibetans elsewhere.

Danba is the cultural heart of the Jiarong people and there are many Jiarong villages surrounding the town which can be easily reached by modern roads. The Jiarong are a friendly people, and are welcoming to visitors. The culture of the Jiarong people is very akin to Tibetans elsewhere, although the clothing and architecture is very different. Many of the customs are the same as in other places in Tibet, and they also celebrate the same festivals, as well as a few of their own.

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Jiarong Tibetan Clothes and Adornments

Traditionally, the Jiarong Tibetan people had a very varied style of clothing, which became more unified over time. Modern-day Jiarong people also wear clothes that are heavily influenced by the Han culture, and more Jiarong are adopting Han-style clothing. However, in the villages of the Mount Siguniang area, their unique, traditional clothing is still worn, especially at the many festivals throughout the year.

Unique and Traditional Clothing

For men, traditional clothing includes long, colorful gowns, white and green pants or trousers, and straw sandals, made from hand-weaved hemp. The hair on men is traditionally long, and kept in a braid down the back, in the Manchurian style, with a green cloth to encase the head. At less formal times, the men will wear colorful, long-sleeved shirts, wool hats and fur boots or shoes.

Traditional Clothing of Men

Women have a several different styles and designs of clothing, and it is much more decorative, with many adornments. The hair is kept in braids, which are tipped with decorations, and is covered by the “fascinator”. This unique headdress covers the head from the back of the neck to the brow, and is decorated with coral beads, Yaqianzi, Huaerzi, Zhukouqin or Zhentong.

Traditional Clothing of Unmarried Girls

In unmarried girls, the fascinator is four-sided with many colorful lines. The short coat is made of Tibetan cloth known as Muzi, with colorful skirts below. The coat is normally of one color, often red, with delicately embroidered edging on the lapels, collar, and cuffs, and the skirts of older women are normally pleated. Belts are made from Muzi, and are around four centimeters wide, and colorful.

At the various festivals, the women’s clothing is richer, and the gown is made from first-rate cloth. Adornments are often valuable, such as pearl necklaces, Changmingsuo, gold or silver broaches, etc. Boots and shoes are also made of fur.

Jiarong Tibetan Folk House

In the places of residence of Jiarong Tibetan people, there are many traditional folk dwelling houses, which differ from one to another in style, structure and form.

Common House

In Siguniangshan Town, most of the houses are situated at the foot of mountains. The main materials of dwelling houses are stones and woods. The walls are piled up by stones, inserted by polished glutinous rice and slaked lime. The inner side of the walls is made of joint planks and column caps. The external walls are painted with white while the interior walls are Tibetan-style murals. The ridges are painted with red color. On the top, five colors prayer flags are dancing in the air.

Jiarong Tibetan Houses

The typical house has a square shape, narrower upper side and broader lower side. A house usually has three floors, the top floor is used for storing grain and clothes, the middle floor for people and the bottom floor for livestock. The roofs are used for hanging meat and storing grain, and wooden ladders run from level to level of each house, both inside and out.

Gudiaolou

There is another type of house knows as the tall stone watchtower that keep a lookout over local towns. It is named as Gudiaolou in Chinese and Gankhar in Tibetan. Most are quadrangle, but some hexagon and octagon.

Stone Watchtowers

Different gudiaolous have different function. In some gudiaolous, there are many narrow gaps through which the arrow were shooting in the war between different nationalities. Some gudiaolous are located at the mountaintop or the entrance of valley, they are the symbol of border or the transfer station of sign. Some are the status symbol of the Chieftain at the ancient time. Some are used as the post house of the South Silk Road for the merchants reserve silk, tea leaf, salt, leather, etc.

Where to Experience Jiarong Tibetan Culture around Mount Siguniang

Zhonglu Tibetan Village

One of the most popular places in Danba to see the Jiarong villages is at Zhonglu, on the left bank of the Xiaojin River. With more than 5,000 years of history, Zhonglu has ruins from the Neolithic era, and ancient sarcophagus graves from the Warring States period, which were discovered during an archaeological expedition to the region. Zhonglu Tibetan Village is set in a beautiful hillside landscape, with several watchtowers, Buddhist temples, and a small collection of Jiarong Tibetan villages.

Zhonglu Tibetan Village

It is said that the ancestor of the Zhonglu people went to god for direction when migrating from Tibet to look for new lands for his people. A holy Lama gave the man a sheep, and told him to let it wander, and where it died would be their new home. When the man arrived in what is now Zhonglu, the sheep died, and the man settled down there. The name Zhonglu is Tibetan for “a desirable place for human and gods”.

Jiaju Tibetan Village

Jiaju village is often known as the “fairytale village”, or “Tibetan Fairyland”, because of it being one of the most beautiful ancient villages in Sichuan. Consisting of around 140 stone houses, and numerous stone watchtowers, Jiaju village is a picture book image of the perfect village, with smoke curling gently into the sky from rooftop chimneys, terraced fields piled up neatly on the hillside, and all set against the backdrop of the snow-capped, white peaks.

Jiaju Tibetan Village

Kangding

While most of the Jiarong Tibetan villages are found in the Ngawa, Aba, and Qiang, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture has the most popular Jiarong Tibetan villages, as mentioned, as well as a small Jiarong community in Kangding, or Dartsedo as it is known in Tibetan.

Kangding