Lhoba
With a population of just 2,300, the Lhoba are one of the smallest officially recognized ethnic groups in China.
They live in southern Tibet, although a small group of them live in Arunachal Pradesh, where they engage in traditional agriculture and hunting. Until the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Lhoba had no written language. Although a romanized alphabet was developed for them, even today there are many elderly Lhoba who cannot read or even count. The occupation of Tibet also brought many changes to traditional Lhoba culture. Most significantly, it helped to integrate the Lhoba with the dominant Tibetan culture and began to put an end to the rigid class system, by which the Lhoba were divided into two distinct castes - aristocrat (maide) and peasant (nieba) - which were not allowed to intermix.
Few know the Tibetan language. In the past, when there was no writing, the Lhobas kept track of history through telling their descandants about their past. They engage in barter trade in the Tibetan, trading goods like animal hides, musk, bear paws, dye and captured game for farm tools, salt, wool, clothing, grain and tea from Tibetan traders. As a result of constant trading with the Tibetans, they have been increasingly influenced by the Tibetans in their dress. Many Lhobas have converted to Lamaism while going to monasteries to trade. The young boys are trained to hunt at an early age.
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