Lhoba people 珞巴族
Lhoba people 珞巴族, numbered about 4,000, are an official recognized ethnic group of China and also smallest in terms of numbers. The Lhoba are a designation of groups of people living in and around "Pemako", including Mainling 米林县, Medog 墨脱县, Zayu county 察隅县 of Nyingchi 林芝 Prefecture and Lhunze County 隆子县 of Shannon 山南 Prefecture, by the Chinese government. They are mainly Yidu, Bo'gaer and the Na. The Lhoba are not a unified ethnic group and have many loose groups in Arunachal Pradesh, India can technically fit the descriptions.
The Lhoba from different areas speak different types of Tiberto-Burman languages that are mutually-unintelligible to each other. As a result of constant trading, they have been increasingly influenced by the Tibetans in their religion, live and dress styles. Many Lhobas have converted to Tibetan Buddhism in the recent years as they traded with the Buddhist monasteries, thus frequently mixing with their indigenous animist beliefs, which had traditionally deep roots in the tiger. Young Lhoba boys are trained to hunt at an early age. However, women had low status in society and had no inheritance rights from their husbands or fathers.
Official portrait of a Lhoba family
A typical Lhoba familt - a man with two wives
Distribution of Lhoba people in Xizang (Tibet)
A woman's decorative copper belt
A man's best friends in this part of the world
Some old photos of Lhoba people
Older children take care their younger siblings
The Lhoba are the smallest recognized ethnic group of China
