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The majority
of Tibet's population of 1,890,000 are Tibetans. Tibet is so
thinly populated that it averages out 1.6 8 persons per square
kilometers. About 90% of the people live on farming and
husbandry. Farmers live in the valleys of Tsangpo River (Brahmaputra)
and its major tributaries Kyichu and Nuuang-chu. this area
produces barely, wheat, peas and rape-seed, the great northern
grassland which occupies a good half of Tibet is the home of
nomads, yaks and sheep. Nomads have no fixed abodes, and keep
roaming along fine pasture together with all their
belongings-tents and Livestock. The remaining population,
approximately 10%, live in towns earning their living mainly On
business and handicraft, and many are factory workers and
government officials.
Ideology of people in this land differs greatly from any other
nationality both at home in china and in the world. Religion
seems almost everything. Many live for the next life, rather
than for the present. They accumulate deeds of virtue and pray
for the final liberation-enlightenment. Lips and hands of the
elders are never at still, either busied in murmuring of the six
syllable mantric prayer OM Ma Ni Pad Me Hum (Hail the Jewel in
the Lotus) or in rotation of hand prayer wheels, or counting of
the prayer beads. Pious pilgrims from every corner of Tibet day
to day gather at jokhang Temple and bharkor Street offering
donations and praying heart and soul for their own Selves, for
their friends, and for their friends' friends.
Frequent visitors to Tibet can make out folks from different
regions judging by costumes and dalects. Floks from agricultural
regions dress in woolen home-woven gowns, and those from the
grassland clad in sheepskin. men folk from chamdo wear huge
tassels of black or red silk which were used in old days for
protection in fight, while the Lhasa residents are more stylish
and modrn. Dialects in tibetan are in variety, but mainly can be
categorized into four: Lhasa., Tsang (Shigatse and Gyantse),
Chamdo and Amdo.
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