Xibe people 锡伯族
Xibe people 锡伯族, numbered about 200,000, is one of the officially recognized ethnic group in China. The Xibes are Tungusic people originally lived in NE China but many of them were ordered to migrate to Inner Mongolia and NE Xinjiang by Qing Emperors for military maneuvers. Today Xibe have strong foothold in Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County 察布查尔锡伯自治县, the only Xibe autonomous county in China, within Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. The Xibe are the decedents of Xianbei people 鲜卑, a nomadic Mongolic tribe, who the Chinese labeled as Donghu 东胡 in ancient times.
Xibes are traditional Buddists and Shamanist. The Xibe in NE China speak Chinese as the first language while the Xibe in Xinjiang, descendants of the Qing dynasty military garrison, speak the Xibe language - a Tungusic language that underwent morphophonological changes and the adoption of loanwords from Xinjiang languages including Chinese, Russian, Uyghur, and Kazakh.
Official portrait of a Xibe family
Xibe distribution in Xinjiang. Please be noted there are more Xibe living in NE China, however, they are dispersed into the mainstream societies
Xibe used Manchurian alphabets and just like the Manchus they're completely adopted the Chinese scripts today
An old Xibe book
Xibe calligraphy
Xibe musical instrument
An old picture of a Xibe old couple
!931 photo of Xibe children