In a time, incomparably long ago during an era as old as the stars and as long as the rivers, there was a king named A thos, who was renowned for his kindness and courage. The land he ruled was prosperous and peaceful. However, one year a disastrous drought struck and t...

In recent years, the study of China's minorities has become something of an ethnographic subgenre. Given the political sensitivities involved, however, it is unsurprising that relatively little of this fieldwork has been conducted among populations the Chinese state def...

A ritual performed in 1999 in Dge rtse (Genzhi 更知) Township, Brag 'go (Luhuo 炉霍) County, Dkar mdzes (Ganzi 甘孜) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan (四川) Province is described. The ritual involved a man, his son, and his nephew taking a wolf skin, visiting nine village...

Identity and legitimation are arguably the two most significant analytical tools required to understand religion in contemporary China. Particularly in Southwest China, the uncertainty and ambiguity in the ongoing processes of legitimizing and making ethnic identities a...

Snying dkar skyid writes: I recorded this story from Khro mo rgyal (b. 1927) in Stag rig Village (Khrang dmar Township, Khri ka County, Mtsho Iho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province). She is one of the best storytellers in the village. Most village children ...

Two Pumi funeral speech rituals of the Wenquan Pumi area in northwestern Yunnan Province illustrate the traditional genre of speeches through their use of metaphor and parallellism. The speeches express the central concept of giving and repaying that plays an important ...

My family had three horses in 2016, but when I was about five years old (2006) we had seven horses. Over time, we sold four horses to people living in other communities. We do not want to sell horses to Chinese and Muslim businessmen because Father says, "They take the ...

Lavrung is a little studied Qiangic language spoken by a small group of Tibetans in Rangtang County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. This work provides the first monographic introduction to Lavrung Tibetans and their language and cu...

heard many Uncle Ston pa stories from my neighbor's uncle, Lhun 'grub, my father's second sister's father-in-law. He was well-known for his eloquence and settled many conflicts between villagers. My parents drove our livestock to distant pastures and lived in a tent for...

In summer of 2007, I was a student in Rwa rgya at Snowland Sherig Norbling School. The students in Rwa rgya, and in most other places in Mgo log Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, had a break for almost one month to collect caterpillar fungus and thus be able to better meet...