Tsewang Jigme (Tibetan), Standing member of CAPDTC, deputy principal of High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China:"Exploration and Preservation of Resources of Tibetan Folkways and Customs"

Folkways is referred to as the general mood radiated from general public as a whole of a region or a ethnic group; while customs is referred to as the conventions of the general public of a region or a ethnic group passed down from generation to generation. The former has more to do with the disposition of people, while the latter is more linked to their activities in daily life. The author will get into details about the topic in the context of Tibet.

I. The Extensive Resources of Tibetan Traditional Folkways and Customs

From whatever points to classify them, the resources of Tibetan traditional folkways and customs of are rich and varied.

To classify them from the point of tangibleintangible category, the tangible customs include the landscapes, architectures, costumes, foods, transportation, production and so on; while the intangible ones mainly encompass literatures, arts, religions, festivals, wedding, funeral, language taboos and so on.

To classify them from the point of humane category, the humane folkways relate to dressing aspect, such as cloths, shoes and caps, attires, decorates and etc.; to drinking and eating aspect, such as tsampa (roasted highland barley flour) try meat, dry cubic cheese, pastries, milk tea, butter tea, highland barley wine, and etc; to festival aspect, such as The Tibetan New Year, Shoton Festival, Bathing Festival, Wangkor (Bumper Harvest) Festival, and etc., and to literature and arts aspect, such as the Legend of King Gesar, Stories about Ngagu Tunba, Tibetan opera, songs and etc. Here below, the author will give a brief account about Tibetan festivals and taboos.

The festivals in Tibet are diverse. There are religious ones, agricultural ones, husbandry ones, and seasonal ones, etc. some cover the whole region, while some only a part of it; some are of religion, while some are of laity; and some are in connection with agriculture and husbandry activates, while some with entertainment and contest. Their social functions and cultural value can never be overestimated. Whether today or in ancient time, at home or abroad, one function and value is always the same. That is regulating people’s life at intervals of time. However the functions and values of Tibetan festivals are far more than this.

Tibetan festivals are basically joyful meetings of general public. People take these opportunities to relax and entertain themselves with continuous dancing and singing. The colorful entrainment activities during festivals bring people much more excitement than that during the daily life time. Tibetan plateau features in vast land and small population; especially in agricultural or pastoral areas, where residences of people are scarcely distributed and communication is difficult, resulting in little contact between each other. Therefore, on the occasions of festivals, people can share information, strengthen friendship and exchange commodities. Especially today, in the context of economic globalization, the ways of cultural exchange are more and more diversified and so are the entertainment activities, leaving less and less space for existence of the oral intangible cultural heritages. Therefore the Tibetan folk festivals undoubtedly have served as a preservation warehouse and conveying belt. Because today the folk songs and dances, contests and games have narrower and narrower performing stage, and have even been on the weak side. In some places, these intangible cultures can be only seen during festivals. As a form of intangible culture, the festivals can provide space for inheriting and preserving many other forms of intangible cultures.

Taboos are norms to confine words and deeds of people and regulate the social relations. In agricultural and pastoral areas of Tibet, the general public still lack legal sense and knowledge. Therefore the traditional taboos still play important role in regulating people's behavior. Based on the concept of everything has a soul, the Tibetan ancestors developed the worship to the nature and veneration to the holy mountains and lakes. They prohibited felling trees extravagantly in summer, cutting old trees, damaging vegetation on holy mountains, polluting water sources, killing pregnant animals wild or domestic (as double crimes), and etc., just to name the few. All these wide spread traditional taboos were built on the nature worship and reflect people's veneration. Therefore these taboos have been covered by a layer of mysterious cloud. However, if we probe into the cloud, we can identify its rational elements. It is these taboos that guide people to love the land which nurture them, love every single piece of earth and grass and live with the nature in a harmonious way. It is these taboos that regard sabotaging the nature such as mountains and lakes as an unforgivable crime. It is these taboos that have effectively protected the surroundings which people rely on to exist and protected the eco-environment of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Some taboos have played role in regulating correlations between people and society and helped to maintain the public order; and some in regulating correlations among people to reach quality, unity, fraternity and mutual benefit. In the past, people, whether between old and young, parents and children, or among brothers, friends, or neighbors, observed certain moral codes. These traditional ethnic virtues with no material gain but beautiful mind of mankind, can certainly help to resist such bad social phenomena, as money worship, corruption, moral degeneration, extreme selfishness and so on, caused by negative aspect of market economy.

II. Some Changes of Traditional Tibetan Folkways and Customs at Present Time

Due to the long lasting influence of Buddhism, most of Tibetan customs are surrounded with religious atmosphere. Moreover, due to its special geographical and natural environment as well as historic and cultural background, some customs are of strong superstition, which are quite out of date to modern civilization today. For example, in U-Tsang area, some people regard blacksmith, butcher, hunter and etc., as dirty persons with lower class; and do not allow their family member to marry them, do not share dishes and cloths with them, and even do not let these lower class persons to enter into their houses. This kind of concept started in Tubo period, and is still rooted in the mind of some people as of today. The concept faded out during the period between the 1960s and 70s, when in some areas, parents allowed their children to marry the lower class people and share cloths and dishes with them. However, the concept has revived since the 1980s.

The contemporary Tibetan people can perceive more and more clearly the changes in folkways and customs.  Take the daily utensils as an example, the ceramic wine jar is replaced by plastic or glass one, the ceramic teapot is replaced by thermos bottle, the wooden butter churner is replaced by electric mixer, the wooden wine pot was replaced by plastic or metal one, and the butter lamp is replaced by electric lamp, emergent lamp or candle. Furthermore, while still keeping the traditional ethnic dress as the main, Tibetan people are more and more inclined to casual wear, suit, cowboy wear, skirt and etc., especially the one with famous brands. The patterns and colors of the ethnic dress have been also renovated and improved. For example, the women's traditional dress full of adornments has become simplified and its design more fitted to exhibit the beautiful curve of the figure. With regard to fabrics, while still using the pulu (a kind of local hand woven woolen fabric) as the main, many other fabrics, such as brocade, silk and so on made in China or abroad. Another change is reflected in a wedding ceremony. While still keeping the elements of traditional customs, such as offering Khada (the ceremonial scarf), wearing Tibetan dress, sing toasting song, dancing Gorchom (a kind of folk circle dance performed when the bride's kinsfolk escorting the bride to the groom's home) and so on; the contemplating elements such as wearing European styled wedding dress, drinking bear, sing popular songs and so on have been incorporated into wedding ceremonies. In addition, some out-of-date concepts, produced in history and no more suited to the times of large-scaled production and market economy, have changed more or less, but still rooted in mind of some people. For example, some herders, having greatly influenced by Buddhism, do not care much about the slaughtered rate of their livestock. Sometimes they prefer keeping their livestock till death out of age to selling or slaughtering them. Some farmers or herders have accumulated money by saving food and cloths for years only for donating to monasteries instead of expanding their production.

Encouragingly, with the deepening of reform and expanding of the opening up, some negative aspects in Tibetan folkways and customs have changed much in comparing with those of before; especially after the beginning of the 21St century, with dynamic advancing in modernization and IT industry, the behavior of people in daily, life have been closely connected with the pace of social development. Corresponding to this tangible change, the intangible change, i.e., the concepts and ways of thinking have also changed remarkably. Since the 1950s, a kind of Tibetan spirit featuring hard working and fighting, and being tolerable, coherent and devoted. Today it is renewed by Spirit of Qinghai-Tibet Railway Builders featuring challenging to the extreme conditions and building the top-quality. These spirits is integrating to the life and work of people and becoming the mainstream guiding the changes of Tibetan folkways and customs.

As a phenomenon of evolution in traditional cultures, the above-mentioned changes in folkways and customs represents kind of social advance and indicates the development of social production force and improvement of people's living quality.

III. Protection of Tibetan Folkways and Customs

The protection of Tibetan folkways and customs in cultural context is closely connected to China's social and cultural policies and development of production force based on the system of regional autonomy for ethnic minorities

Since its founding, the central government of the People's Republic of China has attached great importance on the protection and development of cultures and ethnic minorities and applied it, as important content of the polices on ethnic minorities, to the practices of equality, solidarity, regional autonomy and mutual prosperity of all ethnic groups. Hence Tibetan cultures, including folkways and customs, have obtained effective protection and unprecedented flourishing and development.

It is worthwhile for us to study and address some subjects concerning the cultural protection and inheriting. Tibetan people in U-Tsang area are very polite to each other as well as the people and are used to use honorifics. There is a whole set of honorifics, or honorific system, in Tibetan language. For example, there are two sets of denomination for the parts of human body from head to toes, one is honorific and another is non-honorific. This also applies to all things and objects concerning human beings. In the 1990s, The Nationalities Publishing House (Beijing) published the Tibetan Honorific Dictionary, which has 390 pages and 200,000 characters or several thousand honorific phrases. However, today there are few young people in U-Tsang area who can proficiently use the honorifics. Less and less people use the honorifics in their daily life. Honorifics account for quite a large proportion in that of Tibetan text book for primary schools, but find little usage in practice. The unique culture passed down from our ancestors is fading away.

Furthermore, the Tibetan people highly regard relations between neighbors and are always ready to help each other and treat each other harmoniously. If one household suffers disaster or accident, its neighbors will give hands and money for it to overcome the difficulties. Though these customs stemmed from the old time when people's living was very poor, it is worthwhile for us to inherit and advocate, because it has played special social and ethic functions in the social life in agricultural and pastoral areas. However, these customs are also fading away. In conclusion, there are many positive elements in Tibetan customs that need us to protect and inherit.

Today wherever you go in Tibet, you can see the traditional Tibetan dresses, foods and houses and enjoy exciting performance in great number of festivals. Optimistic and uninhibited Tibetan people enjoy their life to their heart's content during the colorful traditional and contemporary festivals. Tibet, a vigorous place, is shining in even brighter way.

IV Making Use of Tibetan Folkways and Customs

Well protection of good folkways and customs can not only lay a good foundation for making use of it, but also pave a way for its own sustainable development. We have done a lot in the respect and obtained remarkable achievement. Sealing them up for safekeeping is not a reasonable way. To have real sense protection and inheriting, we must make use of them.

There are two ways to make use of Tibetan folkways and customs. One is, during the shaping of material civilization, to let them produce remarkable economic and social efficiencies through realistic economic development strategy, such as development of tourism-related industry, so as to promote people's recognition and awareness of importance of folkways and customs in this region. While another is to foster the positive behavior habit among the general public through encouraging social, professional, family ethics as well as civilization convention, so as to form good social mood conducive to the social development.

On July 1, 2006, the entire Qinghai - Tibet railway was put into operation. More and more people enter Tibet conveniently along this happy heavenly road. Through this railway located in the highest areas, Tibet will open up wider. The mysterious natural landscape and humane landscape are attracting countless people to explore its internal secret... While the folkways and customs with heavy humane inclusion are extraordinarily attractive. Within the strategic framework of tourist economy, it have called much attention from people of all walks of life and been applied into practice. The development and production of a large number of tourist commodities with local features, production of film or TV programs and publishing of the literatures are also example of real using of Tibetan folkways and customs.

Relatively speaking, the activity of making use of folkways and customs receives less attention in the time of encouraging the cultivation of the cultural civilization. To carry on and put into place the concept of scientific development and build a harmonious socialist society is the overall objective of China's social development at present; and the strategic guidelines of building the socialism with Chinese characters. Rediscover and develop outstanding cultural heritages of all ethnic groups and form a cultural ecologic system are of vital importance to the realization of the strategic objective. The cultures in a harmonious society are mainly ecologic culture, social culture and inter-persons culture. Therefore, we should establish three kinds of harmonious relations, i.e., those between people and nature, people and society and people to people. The significance of the traditional Tibetan cultures to the shaping of a harmonious society is reflected in both spiritual level and in promoting the normalization of the social structure. As living in a region with relatively weak ecologic environment, the Tibetan people have developed a set of development patterns for harmonious and mutual development between people and the nature. However, these patterns were established under such circumstances where there is almost no social and economic development. Given the context of today, we should find a way to maintain the situation of harmonious development between people and the nature, while keeping the economic growth. The traditional cultures encompass many rational elements, which are worthwhile for us to rediscover and promote healthy interaction under the new conditions.

By rational utilization of folkways and customs in a region or an ethnic group and guiding them to the direction of healthy development, the economic development of the region or ethnic group can be boosted greatly. Especially when a healthy mood is formed in an entire society, it will be very conducive to the local social and economic development. If people in a region are pure, integrity, honest and hospitable, the region will be very attractive for investors and talents. Furthermore, if people love to learn study, contribute and innovate, this region will be hopefully developed in a long-lasting and sustainable way. Utilizing the resources is for better protect them, while protection can be only meaningful when it is in the interest of people's living practice. There is a dialectical relation between the two. Therefore, on the one hand, we oppose the traditional concept of respecting righteous deeds but despising material trade; on the other hand, punish heavily those lawless persons intending on nothing but profit With regard to the specific habits of people in daily life, given not controversy to relevant laws and policies, we should respect, instead of stop, the own choice of people to continue or discontinue such habits. With regard to the outstanding folk arts and literatures, given conducive to the development of advanced socialist production force and in the interest of the general public, we should spare no effort to inherit and develop them.

The utmost purpose of protection of Tibetan folkways and customs is to make use of them in the practice of the general public. Effective use of them is the only way to well protect them. Enclosing or showing indifference on them is sabotaging the ethnic cultural resources, instead of protecting the outstanding folkways and customs in real sense. As of today, when the world is increasingly opening up and dynamically developing, the purpose of protection and making use of Tibetan folkways and customs is to inherit and disseminate their essence to contribute to the civilization process of the mankind.

Tsewang Jigme (Tibetan), Standing member of CAPDTC, deputy principal of High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China

Oct.10,2006