The Gyalrong () people, also called ''rgyal rong, jiarong'' ( zh, s=嘉绒人), or Gyelrongwas, live in parts of the

Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, also known as Aba (; Qiang language, Qiang: ; zh, s=阿坝藏族羌族自治州, t=阿壩藏族羌族自治州), is an autonomous prefecture of northwestern Sichuan, bordering Gansu to the north and ...

and

Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, often shortened to Ganzi Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture in the western arm of Sichuan province, China bordering Yunnan to the south, the Tibet Autonomous Region to the west, and Gansu to the north ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

, China. The word Gyalrong is an exo-ethnonym and

loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

from the Tibetan word ''rGyal-mo tsha-wa rong''.Prins, Marielle. 2011. A web of relations: A grammar of rGyalrong Ji omùzú, p. 18. The Gyalrong refer to themselves as Keru. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Gyalrong were ruled by local chieftains (''

Tusi ''Tusi'', often translated as "headmen" or "chieftains", were hereditary tribal leaders recognized as imperial officials by the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties of China, and the Later Lê and Nguyễn dynasties of Vietnam. They ruled certain ...

''). In 1746, Slob Dpon, the chieftain of Greater Jinchuan, was trying to unite tribes in Sichuan, forcing the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

to launch campaigns to suppress them. The

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

subsequently lumped them together with

Tibetans 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 t ...

. Due to the intermixing of ethnicities, it is difficult to accurately count the Gyalrong people, but they probably number in the hundreds of thousands. The dominant religion of Gyalrong was once

Bon Bon or Bön (), also known as Yungdrung Bon (, ), is the indigenous Tibetan religion which shares many similarities and influences with Tibetan Buddhism.Samuel 2012, pp. 220–221. It initially developed in the tenth and eleventh centuries but ...

, but in the early 15th century the region received missionaries from central Tibet teaching the doctrine of the

Gelug file:DalaiLama0054 tiny.jpg, 240px, 14th Dalai Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya, Bodhgaya (India) The Gelug (, also Geluk; 'virtuous' ...

order of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...

. Despite strenuous opposition from Bon priests, the Gelugpa succeeded in building many large monasteries in Gyalrong such as the Dhe-Tsang Monastery.

Etymology

The name Gyalmo Rong (''rgyal mo rong'') can be translated as "valley of the queen", which hints at the region having been ruled by women.

Language

Gyalrongwas speak a range of different languages, including the Qiangic Gyalrong language,

Khams Tibetan Khams Tibetan () is the Tibetic languages, Tibetic language used by the majority of the people in Kham. Khams is one of the three branches of the traditional classification of Tibetic languages (the other two being Amdo Tibetan and Ü-Tsang). In ...

Amdo Tibetan Amdo Tibetan (; also called ''Am kä'') is the Tibetic language spoken in Amdo (now mostly in Qinghai, some in Ngawa and Gannan). It has two varieties, the farmer dialects and the nomad dialects. Amdo is one of the three branches of tradition ...

, and Sichuan Chinese.

Gyalrong region

The wider Gyalrong region encompasses neighboring places inhabited by

Amdo Amdo ( �am˥˥.to˥˥ zh , c = 安多 , p = Ānduō ), also known as Domey (), is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions. It encompasses a large area from the Machu (Yellow River) to the Drichu (Yangtze). Amdo is mostly coterminous wi ...

and

Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibet, Tibetan regions, the others being Domey also known as Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The official name of this Tibetan region/province is Dotoe (). The original residents of ...

Tibetans,

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

, and the

Qiang people The Qiang people (Qiangic languages, Qiangic: ''Rrmea''; ) are an List of ethnic groups in China, ethnic group in China. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognised by the People's Republic of China, with a population of approx ...

. It contains a 120-mile long river basin at its core as well as steep, forested mountains and river valleys. Mount Murdo (''dmu rdo'') (4820 m) is a prominent destination for Bön and Buddhist pilgrims. Small and large rivers flow through the region from north to south and are known by many names. Historical Gyalrong kingdoms and current administrative divisions overlap with parts of Kham and Amdo. The 18 Gyalrong kingdoms/chiefdoms (嘉绒十八土司) in this area were: *

Kingdom of Chakla Kingdom of Chakla (; ) or Chala was a kingdom in the Tibetan region of Kham. Chakla along with Bathang, Lithang, and Derge were called the "Four Great Native Chiefdoms in Kham" (康區四大土司). During the Qing dynasty it was a Tusi under ...

(ལྕགས་ལ། Wylie: lcags la; Chinese: 明正土司) *Chiefdom of Rapten/ Chuchen (ཆུ་ཆེན། Wylie: chu chen, Chinese: 祈浸土司) aka Greater Jinchuan *Chiefdom of Tsanlha (བཙན་ལྷ། Wylie: btsan lha, Chinese: 赞拉土司) aka Lesser Jinchuan *Chiefdom of

Trokyap Trokyap (, ) or Chuosi was a Gyalrong Tibetan kingdom located in today's southern Zamthang County and north of Jinchuan County of Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan Province of China. It was one of the 18 Gyalrong ...

(ཁྲོ་སྐྱབས་། Wylie: khro skyabs, Chinese: 绰斯甲土司) *Chiefdom of Guthang (འགུ་ཐང་། Wylie: vgu thang, Chinese: 鱼通土司) *Chiefdom of Gomai Damkala (མགོ་སྨད་དམ་ཀ་ལ། Wylie: mgo smad dam ka la, Chinese: 天全六番土司) *Chiefdom of Gotod (མགོ་སྟོད། Wylie: mgo stod; Chinese: 冷边土司) *Chiefdom of Trateng (བྲག་སྟེང་། Wylie: brag steng, Chinese: 巴底土司) *Chiefdom of Bawam (པ་ཝམ། Wylie: pa wam, Chinese: 巴旺土司) *Chiefdom of Geshitsa (དགེ་ཤིས་ཙ། Wylie: dge shis tsa, Chinese: 革什咱土司) *Chiefdom of Gyalkha (རྒྱལ་ཁ། : Wylie: rgyal kha, Chinese: 杂谷脑土司) *Chiefdom of Ogshi (འོག་གཞི། Wylie: vog gzhi, Chinese: 沃日土司) *Chiefdom of Lunggu (Wylie: lung dgu) in what is today

Wenchuan County Wenchuan County is a County (People's Republic of China), county in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China. The county has an area of , and a population of 100,771 as of 2010. Wolong National Nature Reserve is a protected ...

*Chiefdom of Muchi (མུ་ཕྱི།Wylie: mu phyi, Chinese: 穆坪土司) *Chiefdom of Somang (སོ་མང་། Wylie: so mang, Chinese: 梭磨土司) *Chiefdom of Jotse (ཅོག་ཙེ། Wylie: cog tse, Chinese: 卓克基土司) *Chiefdom of Dzonggag (རྫོང་འགག Wylie: rdzong vgag, Chinese: 松岗土司) *Chiefdom of Tsenpa (བསྟན་པ། Wylie: bstan pa, Chinese: 党坝土司) Current administrative divisions that fall within eastern and southeastern parts of

Ganzi Prefecture Ganzi may refer to: *Ganzi, Gabon, town in Gabon *Ganzi, South Sudan, village/town in South Sudan *Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, prefecture in Sichuan, China *Ganzi County, county in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture *Garzê Town, a town ...

include Dartsendo, Tau, Nyakchukha, and Rongdrak, Chakzam (''lcag zam'', Luding) and Gyezur counties. Places in southern and eastern parts of Ngawa Prefecture include Rapten/Chuchen, Tsenlha, and Barkham counties, as well as parts of Lunggu/Tritsang, Trashiling (''bkra shis gling'', Li), and Trochu (''khro chu'', Heishui) counties. Chakzam has become heavily sinified, and Gyezur is now viewed more as a part of Kham.

Notable Gyalrongwas

* Alan Dawa Dolma (born 1987), singer *

Sanggyai Yexe Sanggyai Yexe (; ) or Tian Bao (; 9 February 1917 – 21 February 2008) was a Chinese government official of Gyalrong descent. Tian was one of the first ethnic Tibetans to embrace communism and join Mao Zedong's army. Mao's army, and the Peopl ...

(1917–2008), communist official *

Sonom Sonom (died June 13–14, 1776) was a chieftain of the rGyalrong people in China. He was the lord-lama of Greater Jinchuan.Theobald, Ulrich. ''War Finance and Logistics in Late Imperial China: A Study of the Second Jinchuan Campaign (1771–17 ...

(died 1776), chieftain of the Gyalrong

References

{{Ethnic groups in China Ethnic groups in Sichuan Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture Tibetan people

Etymology

Language

Gyalrong region

Notable Gyalrongwas

See also

References