Rich Customs and Folkways

With a long standing and well-established, Tibetan culture is profound and extensive.

Five hundred years ago, the forefathers of Jiuzhaigou migrated to the present place from the the third pole of the world---Ngari of Tibet. Generations after generations, they have lived and multiplied on this land; they joined hands and worked together with the Qiangs, Huis and Hans, thus created Kangba Culture Characteristic of their own.

To this day the people of Jiuzhaigou still preserve their rich yet simple and primitive Tibetan tradition in every respect of life, including marriages, funeral arrangement and mode of production; their exquisite dress, quick and fierce waist knife, sweet and nice smelling highland barley wine, butter tea, pure white silk scarf, lively and rhythmic tap dance, firm and steady ploughing method by harnessing two yaks with a horizontal bar on their heads, all these show their ardent love of life. The maniheaps found everywhere, the towering Lamaist pagodas and the ever-rotating scripture wheel, are embodiment of their devotion to religion.

Nestling below the Magic Mirror Rock is Zaru Monastery. A Tibetan handed down Bongboist monastery, it was built towards the end of Ming Dynasty. Towers connected by golden suspended corridors and temple bells and vesper drums conjure up an air of solemnity and awe. Temple fairs are held every year, sacred and ceremonious.

However, the customs and folkways in Jiuzhaigou are not completely the same as those on Tibet. Being a transitional zone, from Tibetan area to that of Hans, from pastoral area to that of agriculture, it has a strong flavor of border culture. Around Jiuzhaigou, Tibetans, Qiangs, Huis, Hans live amiably; they help each other forward, enjoying common prosperity. You can see handsome young man on horseback in the grasslands, the Huis paying homage to Allah in mosques, the successors of the Great Yu along the Mingjiang River. You can also see folk people sucking wine with bamboo pipes from and around a container or Guozhuang folk dance as well as the Qiangs playing flute in a nicely carved building. Thus, they compose a melodious song of national harmony.