Tibet's Lhoba ethnic culture inherited

　　Photo shows Lhoba women performing their traditional ethnic dance. (Photo source: Tibet Business)

　　"We used to dance to celebrate harvests or festivities. That was a kind of self-entertainment. Unexpectedly, our dancing will promote the local tourism, thus to help carry forward the traditional ethnic culture," said Wanggyai of the Lhoba ethnic group living in southeastern Tibet Autonomous Region.

　　This 29-year-old handsome man is a member of the Lhoba Folk Dancing Team in Mailing County, Nyingchi Prefecture. Along with other 15 Lhoba girls and boys, Wanggyai has been preparing for one month for the local tourist season.

　　"Our dance is so popular among visitors that I feel very happy everyday," he added.

　　"I love dancing and I hope more people could learn about our traditional culture via our performance," said Dekyi Lhamo, who has just finished performing raw-type Lhoba dance in Nanyi Township, the largest inhabitation for the Lhoba ethnic group.

　　Photo shows Lhoba girl Yari dressed in traditional ethnic costume in front of her own new house. (Photo source: chinatibetnews.com)

　　"We have prepared 13 programs, including sword dance, a unique dance in Lhoba ethnic group performed in celebration of the harvest of hunting or swearing brothers. Besides local performance, the team also tours in various cultural festivals in other places," said Lin Yong, a leading official of the township.

　　Lhoba, China's smallest ethnic group, has a population of only 2,985 now. Before the Democratic Reform initiated in 1959, the Lhobas were considered as barbarians practicing slash-and-burn cultivation in frontier forests.

　　In 1985, China established the Nanyi Lhoba Ethnic Township after the whole village was moved from the depth of Mt. Himalayan to the foot of the mountains.

　　Kelzang, director of the County Publicity Department, is the first postgraduate in this ethnic group. He said that today the town has geared to the outside world. With the optimization of its industrial structure in recent years, specialty industries are thriving, such as chicken-raising, green house vegetable growing, cattle breeding and orchard sightseeing.

　　Photo shows artists of the Nanyi Lhoba Folk Custom Team performing the traditional Lhoba ethnic dance on the third Cultural Tourism Festival of Traditional Tibetan Medicine held in Mailing County, southeastern Tibet's Nyingchi Prefecture. (Source: Tibet Daily)

　　In July 2008, Nanyigou opened to the public as a scenic spot. Since then, the Lhoba villagers have been engaged in eco-tourism industry.

　　Meanwhile, the continuous expansion of the tourist economy and frequent interaction with the outside has aroused Lhoba's awareness to pass on its ethnic culture and to have folk tradition protected.

　　In 2008, the Mailing Lhoba ethnic costume was listed in the second group of intangible national culture relics and the Mailing Lhoba weaving technique was designated as the Tibet Autonomous Regional intangible heritage as well. Moreover, local authorities have protected as intangible heritages other Lhoba ethnic customs like the Lhoba language, toast songs, liquor-brewing technique, wedding and funeral conventions and totem culture.