Qiang people

The Qiang people (Chinese: 羌族; pinyin: qiāng zú) are an ethnic group in China. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by China, with a population of approximately 200,000 in 1990. They live mainly in mountainous region in the northwestern part of Sichuan on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau.

History

A group called "Qiang" were mentioned in ancient Chinese texts as well as in inscriptions on oracle bones 3000 years ago. However, this was applied to a variety of groups; they are not the same as the modern Qiang. Nonetheless, it is possible that the modern Qiang might be descended from one of the groups referred to as Qiang in ancient times.

Many of the peoples formerly designated "Qiang" were gradually removed from this category in Chinese texts as they become sinicized or reclassified, and by the Ming and Qing dynasties, the term "Qiang" denoted only non-Han people living in the upper Min River Valley and Beichuan area, the area now occupied by the modern Qiang.

Qiang (historical people)

The Qiang (Chinese: 羌; pinyin: Qiāng; Wade–Giles: Ch'iang) was a name given to various groups of people at different periods in ancient China. The Qiang people are generally thought to have been of Tibetan-Burmese origin, though there are other theories.

The Tangut people of Tang, Sung and Yuan dynasties may be of Qiang descent.

History

The term "Qiang" appears in the Classic of Poetry in reference to Tang of Shang (trad. 1675–1646 BC). They seem to have lived in a diagonal band from northern Shaanxi to northern Henan, somewhat to the south of the later Beidi. They were enemy of the Shang dynasty, who mounted expeditions against them, capturing slaves and victims for human sacrifice. The Qiang prisoners were skilled in making oracle bones.

It is generally held that this ancient tribe is the progenitor of both the Qiang and Tibetan peoples. There are still many ethnological and linguistic links between the Qiang and the Tibetans. The Qiang tribe expanded eastward and joined the Han people in the course of historical development, while the other branch that traveled southwards, crosses over the Hengduan Mountains, and entered the Yungui Plateau; some went even farther, to Burma, forming series of ethnic groups of the Tibetan-Burmese language family. Even today, from linguistic similarities, their relative relationship can be seen. They formed the Tibetan ethnicity after the unification of the Tubo kingdom. The historical origins of the Qiang and Tibetan races is perhaps as Professor Fei Xiaotong has said: "Even if the Qiang people might not be regarded as the main source of the Tibetan people, it is undoubtedly that the Qiang people played a certain role in the formation of Tibetan race" (Fei Xiaotong: The Pluralistic and Unified Structure of Chinese Ethnic Groups, P28, The Central Ethnic University Publishing, 1999).