Tibetans () are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 7.7 million. In addition to the majority living in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans live in the Chinese provinces of Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan, as well as in India, Nepal and Bhutan.
The Tibetic languages belong to the Tibeto-Burman language group. The traditional or mythological explanation of the Tibetan people's origin is that they are the descendants of the human Pha Trelgen Changchup Sempa and rock Ma Drag Sinmo. It is thought that most of the Tibeto-Burman speakers in southwest China, including Tibetans, are direct descendants from the ancient Qiang people.[ Origins and Migrations in the Extended Eastern Himalayas. BRILL, 2012, page 309.]
Most Tibetans practice Tibetan Buddhism, although a significant minority observe the Indigenous Bon religion. There are also smaller communities of Tibetan Muslims and Christians. Tibetan Buddhism influences Tibetan art, drama and architecture, while the harsh geography of Tibet has produced an adaptive culture of Tibetan medicine and Tibetan cuisine.
Demographics
As of the 2014 census, there are about 6 million Tibetans living in the Tibet Autonomous Region and the 10 Tibetan autonomous prefectures in the provinces of
Gansu,
Qinghai,
Sichuan, and
Yunnan.
The
Ethnologue in 2009 documents an additional 189,000 Tibetic speakers living in
India, 5,280 in
Nepal and 4,800 in
Bhutan.
[Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version on ethnologue.com ] The Central Tibetan Administration's (CTA) Green Book (of the Tibetan Government in Exile) counts 145,150 Tibetans outside Tibet: a little over 100,000 in India; over 16,000 in Nepal; over 1,800 in Bhutan, and over 25,000 in other parts of the world. There are Tibetan communities in the
United States,
[" US senators approve 5,000 visas for Tibet refugees ". The Straits Times. 21 May 2013.] Australia,
Brazil,
Canada,
Costa Rica,
France,
Mexico,
Norway,
Mongolia,
Germany,
Switzerland and the
United Kingdom. In the
Baltistan region of Northern Pakistan, the
Balti people are a Muslim ethnicity of Tibetan descent numbering around 300,000.
There is some dispute over the current and historical number of Tibetans. The Central Tibetan Administration claims that the 5.4 million number is a decrease from 6.3 million in 1959[Fischer, Andrew M. (2008). "Has there been a decrease in the number of Tibetans since the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951?" In: Authenticating Tibet: Answers to China's 100 Questions, pp. 134, 136. Edited: Anne-Marie Blondeau and Katia Buffetrille. University of California Press. (cloth); 978-0-520-24928-8 (pbk).]
In China
According to the Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (2010), there are 6,282,187 Tibetans nationwide:
There are 2,716,388 people in the Tibet Autonomous Region, 1,496,524 people in Sichuan Province, 1,375,059 people in Qinghai Province, 488,359 people in Gansu Province (mostly in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Bairi Tibetan Autonomous County) and 142,257 people in Yunnan Province (mostly in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture). Tibetans account for 0.47% of the total population of the country. Tibetans account for 90.48% of the total population in Tibet Region, 24.44% of the total population of Qinghai and 1.86% of the total population in Sichuan. Of all Tibetans in China, 315,622 people live in cities, 923,177 in towns, and 5,043,388 people (80.3%) live in rural areas.
According to the Seventh Census of 2020, there are 7,060,700 Tibetans living within China. Of the resident population of the Tibet Autonomous Region, 3,204,700 were Tibetans and other ethnic minorities, of whom 3,137,900 were Tibetans, an increase of 421,500, or 15.52%, over 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 1.45%; 66,800 were other ethnic minorities, an increase of 26,300, or 64.95%, over 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 5.13%; and 6,680 were other ethnic minorities, an increase of 26,300, or 64.95%, over 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 5.13%. The average annual growth rate was 5.13%.
There are one region, ten prefectures, and two counties officially established by the government: the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), Qinghai Province (Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and Haiximenggu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture), Sichuan Province (Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Ganz Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and Muji Tibetan Autonomous County), Gansu Province (Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture), and Yunnan Province (Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture).
In India
There are also nearly 100,000 Tibetans
Tibetan diaspora in India since 1959,
the majority of them living in Tibetan enclaves such as
Dharamshala and
Bylakuppe.
In 2011, the Indian government reported 150,000 Tibetan diaspora residing in India. In 2019, the number of Tibetan diaspora in India declined to 85,000.
In India, non-Tibetan Tibetic people are found in the regions of Ladakh (Ladakhi and Balti people), Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh, Spiti valley, Uttarakhand (Bhotiya), Sikkim (Bhutia), and Arunachal Pradesh (Khamba people, Lhoba and Monpa people).
In Nepal
Tibetans are known as
in Nepal, where they are majority in the valleys of the Himalaya such as
Upper Mustang,
Dolpo,
Walung people,
Limi and
Muchu valleys. Nepal is also home to other Tibetic people such as the
Sherpa people,
Jirel people and
Hyolmo people .There are also more than 10,000 Tibetan refugees in Nepal.
[Edward J. Mills et al., Prevalence of mental disorders and torture among Tibetan refugees: A systematic review, BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2005; 5: 7. "It is estimated that more than 150,000 Tibetan refugees reside in the neighboring countries of Bhutan, Nepal, and India"][ The Journey of Tibetan Refugees: A Struggle for Freedom Across the Himalayas, "]
Language
The Tibetic languages () are a cluster of mutually unintelligible Sino-Tibetan languages spoken by approximately 8 million people, primarily Tibetan, living across a wide area of
East Asia and
South Asia, including the
Tibetan Plateau and
Baltistan,
Ladakh, Nepal,
Sikkim, and Bhutan. Classical Tibetan is a major regional literary language, particularly for its use in
Buddhism literature.
The Central Tibetan language (the dialects of Ü-Tsang, including
Lhasa),
Khams Tibetan, and
Amdo Tibetan are generally considered to be dialects of a single language, especially since they all share the same literary language, while
Dzongkha, Sikkimese,
Sherpa language,
Jirel language, and
Ladakhi language are generally considered to be separate languages.
Ethnic origins
The ethnic roots of Tibetans can be traced back to a deep Eastern Asian lineage representing the indigenous population of the Tibetan plateau since c. 40,000 to 30,000 years ago, and arriving Neolithic farmers from the
Yellow River within the last 10,000 years, and which can be associated with having introduced the Sino-Tibetan languages.
Genetics
Modern Tibetan populations are genetically most similar to other
East Asian populations, Bhutanese, as well as other Sino-Tibetan-speaking populations.
They show relatively more genetic affinity for modern
Central Asian than modern Siberian populations.
[ They also share some genetic affinity for South Asian groups.][
]
Genetic studies shows that many of the Sherpa people have allele frequencies which are often found in other Tibeto-Burman regions, the strongest affinity was for Tibetan population sample studies done in the Tibet Autonomous Region.[ This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the license.] Additionally, the Sherpa and Tibetans had exhibited affinity for several Nepalese populations, with the strongest for the Rai people, followed by the Magars and the Tamang people.[
]
Haplogroups
males predominantly belong to the paternal lineage D-M174 followed by lower amounts of O-M175.[ "Comparing Sherpas, Tibetans, and Han Chinese showed that the D-M174 is the predominant haplogroup in Sherpas (43.38%) and prevalent in Tibetans (52.84%)5, but rare among both Han Chinese (1.4–6.51%)6,7 and other Asian populations (0.02–0.07%)8, aside from Japanese (34.7%) who possesses a distinct D-M174 lineage highly diverged from those in Tibetans and other Asian populations9,10."] Tibetan females belong mainly to the Northeast Asian maternal haplogroups M9a1a, M9a1b, D4g2, D4i and G2ac, showing continuity with ancient middle and upper Yellow River populations.
Although "East Asian Highlanders" (associated with haplogroup D1) are closely related to East Asian lowland farmers (associated with haplogroup O), they form a divergent sister branch to them.
Autosomal DNA
Full genome studies revealed that Tibetans and other high-alltitude East Asians formed from two divergent Ancient East Eurasian lineages in Eastern Asia, specifically a lineage representing the Paleolithic population of the Tibetan Plateau, and a lineage associated with Ancient Northern East Asians. The Paleolithic Tibetan lineage was found to be distinct from other deep lineages such as Ust'-Ishim, Hoabinhian/Onge or Tianyuan man, but forming a clade with them to the exclusion of other Eurasians. The Northern East Asian lineage can be represented by Neolithic Yellow River farmers, which are associated with the spread of Sino-Tibetan languages. Modern Tibetans derive up to 20% from Paleolithic Tibetans, with the remaining 80% being primarily derived from Yellow River farmers.[ Wang et al. 2025 analyzed the remains of a c. 9,000 year old specimen from Central Yunnan (Xingyi_EN) and found it to possess a newly identified Basal Asian lineage, which fits best as the source for the Tibetan Ghost. This Basal Asian Xingyi lineage is equally diverged from other Basal Asian lineages, specifically the Hoabinhian and Tianyuan lineages, but slightly closer to ancient and present-day East Asians.][ (PCA) on chronological, geographic distribution and genetic data of ancient individuals of the Tibetan Plateau]]
Northeastern Tibetans display additional geneflow from a Yellow River farmers-like population c. 4,700 years ago, resulting in the formation of a "Tibetan cline".][
Modern Tibetans display genetic continuity to ancient samples from Nepal, with their genetic diversity having been reduced compared to 'Early Ancient Tibetans' suggesting low to none geneflow from outside groups since c. 3,500 years ago.][ Subsequent internal geneflow resulted in "a northeastern plateau ancestry associated with the northeast cluster, a southern plateau ancestry associated with the south-southwest cluster, and a southeastern plateau ancestry associated with the southeast-central cluster".][
]
There was limited contact with populations, inline with historical events, evident in mutual geneflow. The expansion of the Tibetan Empire may have left genetic traces in surrounding populations.[
]
Adaption to high-altitude environments
Genetic studies identified more than 30 genetic factors that make Tibetans' bodies well-suited for high-altitudes, including the EPAS1 gene, also referred to as the "super-athlete gene", which regulates the body's production of hemoglobin,[ The widespread presence of this gene may represent one of "the fastest genetic change ever observed in humans".]
Recent research into the ability of Tibetans' metabolism to function normally in the oxygen-deficient atmosphere above ["Special Blood allows Tibetans to live the high life." New Scientist. 3 November 2007, p. 19.]
Mythological origins
According to Tibetan mythology, the origins of Tibetans are said to be rooted in the marriage of the monkey Pha Trelgen Changchup Sempa and rock Ma Drag Sinmo.
Religion
Most Tibetans generally observe Tibetan Buddhism or a collection of native traditions known as Bön (also absorbed into mainstream Tibetan Buddhism). There is a minority Tibetan Muslims population.
According to legend, the 28th king of Tibet, Thothori Nyantsen, dreamed of a sacred treasure falling from heaven, which contained a Buddhist sutra, , and religious objects. However, because the Tibetan script had not been invented, the text could not be translated in writing and no one initially knew what was written in it. Buddhism did not take root in Tibet until the reign of Songtsen Gampo, who married two Buddhist princesses, Bhrikuti of Nepal and Wencheng of China. It then gained popularity when Padmasambhava visited Tibet at the invitation of the 38th Tibetan king, Trisong Deutson.
Today, one can see Tibetans placing prominently in public places. Tibetan , both Buddhist and Bön, play a major role in the lives of Tibetans, conducting religious ceremonies and taking care of the monasteries. Pilgrims plant over sacred grounds as a symbol of good luck.
The prayer wheel is a means of simulating the chant of a mantra by physically revolving the object several times in a clockwise direction. It is widely seen among Tibetans. In order not to desecrate religious artifacts such as , mani stones, and , Tibetan Buddhists walk around them in a clockwise direction, although the reverse direction is true for Bön. Tibetan Buddhists chant the prayer "Om mani padme hum", while the practitioners of Bön chant "Om matri muye sale du".
Culture
Tibet is rich in culture. Tibetan festivals such as Losar, Shoton, Linka, and the Bathing Festival are deeply rooted in indigenous religion and also contain foreign influences. Each person takes part in the Bathing Festival three times: at birth, at marriage, and at death.
Art
Tibetan art is deeply religious in nature, from the exquisitely detailed statues found in to wooden carvings and the intricate designs of the Thangka paintings. Tibetan art can be found in almost every object and every aspect of daily life.
Thangka paintings, a syncretism of Indian scroll-painting with Nepalese and Kashmiri painting, appeared in Tibet around the 8th century. Rectangular and painted on cotton or linen, they usually depict traditional motifs including religious, astrological, and theological subjects, and sometimes a mandala. To ensure that the image will not fade, organic and mineral pigments are added, and the painting is framed in colorful silk brocades.
Drama
Tibetan folk opera, known as lhamo, is a combination of dances, chants and songs. The repertoire is drawn from Buddhist stories and Tibetan history.
Tibetan opera was founded in the fourteenth century by Thang Tong Gyalpo, a lama and a bridge-builder. Gyalpo and seven girls he recruited organized the first performance to raise funds for building bridges to facilitate transportation in Tibet. The tradition continued uninterrupted for nearly seven hundred years, and performances are held on various festive occasions such as the Lingka and Shoton festival. The performance is usually a drama, held on a barren stage that combines dances, chants, and songs. Colorful masks are sometimes worn to identify a character, with red symbolizing a king and yellow indicating deities and lamas. The performance starts with a stage purification and blessings. A narrator then sings a summary of the story, and the performance begins. Another ritual blessing is conducted at the end of the play. There are also many historical myths/epics written by high lamas about the reincarnation of a "chosen one" who will do great things.
Architecture
The most unusual feature of Tibetan architecture is that many of the houses and monasteries are built on elevated, sunny sites facing the south. They are commonly made of a mixture of rocks, wood, cement and earth. Little fuel is available for heating or lighting, so flat roofs are built to conserve heat, and multiple windows are constructed to let in sunlight. Walls are usually sloped inwards at 10 degrees as a precaution against frequent earthquakes in the mountainous area. Tibetan homes and buildings are white-washed on the outside, and beautifully decorated inside.
Standing at in height and in width, the Potala Palace is considered the most important example of Tibetan architecture.
Formerly the residence of the Dalai Lama, it contains over a thousand rooms within thirteen stories and houses portraits of the past Dalai Lamas and statues of the Buddha. It is divided between the outer White Palace, which serves as the administrative quarters, and the inner Red Quarters, which houses the assembly hall of the Lamas, chapels, 10,000 shrines, and a vast library of Buddhist scriptures.
Medicine
Traditional Tibetan medicine utilizes up to two thousand types of plants, forty animal species, and fifty minerals. One of the key figures in its development was the renowned 8th century physician Yuthog Yontan Gonpo, who produced the Four Medical Tantras integrating material from the medical traditions of Persia, India and China. The tantras contained a total of 156 chapters in the form of Thangkas, which tell about the archaic Tibetan medicine and the essences of medicines in other places.
Cuisine
The Cuisine of Tibet reflects the rich heritage of the country and people's adaptation to high altitude and religious culinary restrictions. The most important crop is barley. Dough made from barley flour, called tsampa, is the staple food of Tibet. This is either rolled into noodles or made into steamed dumplings called momo. Meat dishes are likely to be yak, goat or mutton, often dried or cooked into a spicy stew with . Mustard seed is cultivated in Tibet and therefore features heavily in its cuisine. Yak yogurt, butter and cheese are frequently eaten and well-prepared yogurt is considered something of a prestige item.
Clothing
Men and Women wear long thick dresses ( chuba) in more traditional and rural regions.
Literature
Tibet has national literature that has both religious, semi-spiritual and secular elements. While the religious texts are well-known, Tibet is also home to the semi-spiritual Gesar Epic, which is the longest epic in the world and is popular throughout Mongolia and Central Asia. There are secular texts such as The Dispute Between Tea and Chang (Tibetan beer) and Khache Phalu's Advice.
Marriage customs
Monogamy is common throughout Tibet. Marriages are sometimes arranged by the parents if the son or daughter has not picked their own partner by a certain age. However, polyandry is practiced in parts of Tibet. This is usually done to avoid division of property and provide financial security.[Stein (1978), pp. 97–98.]
List of Tibetan states
Kingdoms of Kham
-
Nyarong (?–1865)
-
Kingdom of Powo (?–1928)
-
Nangcheng Kingdom (?–1928)
-
Litang Kingdom (?–1950)
-
Kingdom of Lingtsang (12th century – 1950)
-
Kingdom of Derge (15th century – 1956)
-
Hor States (Horpa)
-
Chiefdom of Bathang
Gyalrong Kingdoms
-
Kingdom of Chakla (1407–1950)
-
Chiefdom of Chuchen
-
Chiefdom of Tsanlha
See also
Citations
Sources
External links
