Mysterious Bone Ties in Changtang Tribes

In Changtang Prairie， the nomadic natures of wild， unruly and doughty are always in people’s blood vessels. However， with the intrusion of modern civilization， the wildness and unruliness mostly stay in elder people’s memories. Every single wrinkle on the forehead of a weather-beaten old man is a record of an unforgettable history. Every old man would speak proudly to his offspring about the tribe he belongs， the history of its “bone family” and great achievements of his tribe leaders. The elders still take delight in talking about the legends of their bone family ancestors.

Prairie Tribes

Before Tsochen County was approved to be established in 1970， there were 18 small tribes cohabited there which can be further categorized into three large tribes， namely Qiaojiu， Bengba and Nagtsang Awu. Among these tribes， Qiaojiu Tribe is the largest， Bengba has a longer history， and Nagtsang Awu Tribe is the smallest， which is located in Nyixung Village， Chulo Town， Tsochen County. Every tribe’s members are relatively stable. In most cases， people only exchange their tribes because of marriages. For example， if a man from Qiaojiu Tribe marries into a girl from Nagtsang Tribe， and lives with his bride’s tribe， he becomes a member of Nagtsang Tribe. If a wanderer asks to join a certain tribe， he has to go through a one-year probation period. In order to join the tribe， he has to have good moral qualities and behave well during the probation and get an approval from the tribe leader before offi cially become a tribe member. The newcomer can herd in a specifi c area and enjoys the same rights as other members. Besides， he has to undertake membership obligations， for example， paying taxes.

Bengba Tribe， formed gradually by local aborigines， can be dated back to the ancient Zhang-zhung Kingdom in 1500. It has a vast territory， which covers Tsochen County’s Gyangrang Town， Daxung County’s Xardong Village and Tsertra Village， Qulho County’s Drima Village， Xongma Village， and Qulho Village， Gertse County’s Yongmucuo Village and Luobo Village， and Zhongba County’s Bobdoi Town， Kemar Town， Pajiang Town， and Lungkar Town， etc. It has a relatively integrated tribal organization. Bengba Tribe becomes a little fragmented because of present administrative division. Among the leaders of Bengba Tribe in history， Adong Tengye， who brought Buddhism into Tsochen in the 19th century， is an immortal legendary fi gure. His story is as legendary as Buddha Sakyamuni. He has been an intelligent， diligent， and eloquent man since childhood.

When Adong Tengye grew up， he married a beautiful girl named Aga. Because he was very competent， he was elected as the leader of Bengba Tribe at the age of twenty-fi ve. When he was thirty， he had a lawsuit over stolen horses with horse thieves in Lhasa. The judge took side with the defendant after taking bribes from the horse thieves. As a result， Adong Tengye lost a lawsuit with irrefutable evidences. Baffl ed by this incident， he became disillusioned with the mortal world. He gave up everything and chose to be a monk in the Tsurpu Monastery in Lhasa. At fi rst， he apprenticed to the 14th living Buddha named Karmapa Techu Dorje. After Adong Tengye’s master passed away， he apprenticed to the 15th Karmapa Khacha Dorje. Then， he went back to Tsochen County and founded a tent-like temple in Mentong， where he publicized Buddhism. It is said that Adong Tengye held strictly to the sacred rules of Buddhism. At his old age， he had serious arthritis and the lower part of his body overgrew with worms. However， Adong Tengye sacrifi ced his body to worms until he passed away， just like the Buddha himself， who feed the tiger with his own fl esh. Today’s Mentong Monastery， which is located in the western part of Tsochen County， was build on the remains of that tent-like temple.

Qiaojiu Tribe， which is gradually formed by refugees from all around， is another major tribe （we can know the meaning of this tribe by its name because Qiaojiu means “a tribe gathered by people from ten directions” in Tibetan language）. Over one thousand years ago， Tsochen County， which was a vast territory with sparse population， was the only passageway which connected the central of Ngari and the area of Northern Tibet and Southern Qinghai Province. As time passed， shepherds who were unable to continue pilgrimage， refugees who broke political and religious principles and a number of bandits living in limbo continuously fl ocked and gathered together. These people， who usually grazed for a living but occasionally looted， gradually formed into several small tribes. These small tribes then came together as Qiaojiu Tribe step by step. The members of Qiaojiu Tribe believed in the villain of Buddhism. Over one hundred years ago， there was a tribe leader， who was called Sonam Norbu originally， was nicknamed“Jiae”. He believed in Buddhism and hired skilled craftsman far away from the Tsurpu Monastery in Lhasa to build Penpa Lhakang in Tsochen County. However， this snobby and hot-tempered leader looked upon human life as if they were grass， corrupted through misuse of law and committed all manner of crimes. Therefore， “the tribe members united and killed him before elected a new leader” （quoted from seventy-two years old Alun in Tsochen County）. It is evident that nomads are unruly and doughty.

The leader of Qiaojiu Tribe used to be appointed by the local government of Tibet. However， the appointed off icials knew little about Qiaojiu Tribe and could not administrate well； it took a long time for offi cials to assume offi ce since Qiaojiu Tribe is far away from Lhasa. Therefore， the residents reported to the local government of Tibet that “our people should be governed by ourselves”， which means its leader should be appointed by the tribe itself. The local government of Tibet agreed to their proposal that the leader of Qiaojiu should be elected within the tribe. Qualifi ed candidates for its leader should meet the following requirements. First， one is expected to have a good background. In the old society， people at the lowest level of social class， like blacksmith， butchers and beggars were obviously not qualifi ed. Second， a candidate should not be too wealthy since a rich man is too busy to serve the tribe. Third， one needs to be literate enough to write offi cial reports and read offi cial documents. Fourth， the most important qualifi cation is to be eloquent. Disputes on grassland are very common in the pasturing area. There is no absolute right or wrong. Therefore， having a silver tongue has practical signifi cance in wining a dispute over grassland.

As we said before， Adong Tengye， the leader of Bengba Tribe， became disillusioned with the mortal world just because he lost a lawsuit with irrefutable evidences. He gave up everything and chose to be monk. His story explains the importance of eloquence for a tribe leader.

Mysterious Bone Ties

The foundation of forming a tribe is the blood kinship of “bone ties”（bone ties is “rus-pa” in Tibetan and means “bone” and family name）. A major “bone tie”， which is consisted of dozens or hundreds of nomadic families， is a small tribe. A larger tribe is a community of several bone ties and a number of communities integrate into an area. In Tsochen County， Qiaojiu Tribe has dozens of bone ties， such as Benru， Caru， Dema， Ngalek， Caer， Linba， Wenru， Huairu， Gyaiwa， Pawa， Rawa， Qiru， Khampa， Tuicang， Khyungpo， Qiuku， Kyipa， Langsuo， Gompa， Zhaiba， Muca， Sagong， Tangru， Guiru， Niangbu， Qiucang， Kangsa， Dongba， Guona， Kyerpa， Tsangpa， Droyul， Pengsong， Rongba， Geqia， Kawa， Dawa， etc.

Bone ties， which are similar to family names for Han ethnic， can be further divided into paternal bone ties and maternal bone ties. Paternal bone ties run on unbrokenly while maternal bone ties get broken up after the seventh generation. People belonging to the same bone tie are prohibited from getting married or having sex. If they do， they will be sentenced into the capital punishment of burning alive. Therefore， before people get married， the most breathtaking moment is authenticating the bone ties of both parties. Elder members of both a girl’s and a boy’s family gather together to list out both parties’paternal and maternal bone ties one by one and examine elaborately to avoid couples with the same bone tie. Nowadays， the elders are questionable about National Marriage Law， which allows marriages beyond the third generation of lineal and collateral relatives by blood since bone ties should not be mixed up. In daily life， people with the same bone tie， no matter rich or poor， are considered relatives. They help each other during diffi cult times. Tsochen County， with a vast territory and a sparse population， has complicated bone ties. It is quite often for someone to fake their own bone ties in order to seek refuge with infl uential offi cials. Some scholars believe that bones ties do not necessarily represent blood kinship and some bone ties only represent origin instead of blood relationship. For example， Qiaojiu Tribe’s “Khampa” bone tie merely indicates that they all come from today’s Khampa area. Another example is the Khyungpo bone tie with its members all come from what we call Tengchen County today. These two bone ties are formed by pilgrims heading for Gang Rinpoche or migrants looking for land of happiness.

Whatever the reason， tribes and bone ties jointly formed the unique， mysterious and complicated nomadic culture in Changtang Prairie. The thousand-year-old customs embody the rarely-known but constantlymigrating images of ancient herdsmen， who show the special charm of Changtang Prairie both in spirit and in reality.