Idu - Definition

With a population of just 2,300, the Lhoba (珞巴) are one of the smallest officially recognized ethnic groups in China. They are divided between the Boga'er and Idu and they are classified as one of the three tribes of the Mishmi.

They live in southeastern Tibet, mainly in Mainling, Medog, Lhunze and Nangxian counties in southeastern Tibet. Additionally, a small number live in Luoyu, southern Tibet. Many more live in south of the Tibetan border in Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh, where they engage in traditional agriculture and hunting. Until the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Lhoba had no written language. Even though a romanized alphabet was developed for them, there are many elderly Lhoba who can neither 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.

Many customs, habits and dress of different clan members may vary. The Lhoba men in Luoyu wear knee-length black jackets without sleeves and buttons made out of sheep's wool. They wear helmet-like hats either made from bearskin or woven from bamboo stripes or rattan laced with bearskin. They also wear ornaments that include earrings and necklaces and carry bows and arrows or wear swords at their side. The Lhoba women wear narrow-sleeved blouses and skirts of sheep's wool. The weight of the ornaments the womenfolk wear is a symbol of their wealth, which includes shells, silver coins, iron chains bells, silver and brass earrings. Both sexes usually go barefooted. Their dress are quite similar to the Tibetan costume.

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, frequently mixing with their indigenious Animist beliefs. Others remain Animistic, more commonly among those in Arunachal Pradesh, and their pilgrim centre of the community lies at Atho-Popu in Dibang valley. The stories about immigration mentioned is along the banks of twelve rivers in Dibang Valley, the clustered area known as Cheithu-Huluni.

Festivals such as Reh are celebrated to control the peace and prosperity of the people. This is meant to appease the deities, who were traditionally believed to control the peace and prosperity of the people, which is the thought behind the celebration of the Reh festival. The celebration with great fan-fare and the performance of priest dance marks the ending of the festival.

The young 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. The Lhoba also enjoy a subtropical/warm temperate climate.

Their cuisine vary in different regions. Staple foods are dumplings made of maize or millet flour, rice or buckwheat. In places near Tibetan communities people have tsampa, potatoes, buttered tea and spicy food. Being heavy drinkers and smokers, at celebrations the Lhobas enjoy wine and singing to observe good harvests and good luck. The buttered tea is their favourite drink. However, due to the lack of salt, they had suffered an endemic disease called goiter, caused by poor living conditions. Many were either born deaf or mute. Their population went down in decline until recent years due to this disease. Due to their low population, many of them either intermarried with the Tibetans or with the tribal groups of Arunachal Pradesh, notably the Monpa.

Since liberation and after the Tibetan rebellion in 1959, the Chinese government have significantly improved their living condition. Since then, they were treated as equals by society. Now they are well represented in government at regional, county, district and township levels. Production was boosted and people's living standards and general health improved with loans and relief extended by the government. The Lhobas, who previously were serfs, got land, farm implements and draught animals.

References

• The Lhopas (http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Minorities/min-Lhoba.html)
• The Lhoba minorty group (http://nths.newtrier.k12.il.us/academics/faculty/kessel/ethnicgroups_3-4/sonny/lhoba_minority_group.htm)
• Lhoba ethnic minorty (http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/ljzg/3584/t17897.htm)
• Ethnic Groups-Lhobas (http://www.china.org.cn/e-groups/shaoshu/shao-2-lhoba.htm)
• PROPEL (http://www.proel.org/mundo/idu.htm)