There are more than ten ethnic groups in Tibet, including Tibetan, Mongolian, Nu, Drung, Moinba, Lhoba, Hui, Naxi, Deng and Sherpa. Among them, Tibetans are the dominant inhabitants of Tibet, accounting for d92.2 percent of the local population.

The Tibetan ethnic group of China is noted for its diligence, bravery and long history. Tibetans live mainly in Tibet and also in some areas of Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces. They have their own language and written script. Most

Tibetan people are Buddhist. Their staple food is barley flour, and they like to drink butter tea, milk tea, barley wine, and eat beef and mutton. They do not eat odd-toed mammals. In ancient times Tibetan people buried their dead. Now they perform cremation, exposure burial and water burial.

The Moinba is an ancient ethnic group on the Tibet Plateau. Most Moinbas live in Moinyu in south Tibet, and he rest are scattered through Medog, Conag, Nyingchi and other counties. Moinbas have their own language but no written script, and the

Tibetan language and script are widely used among them. Moinbas live on agriculture, but are also involved in animal husbandry, forestry, hunting and handicrafts. Their staple foods are rice, corn and buckwheat. Most Moinbas believe in Tibetan Buddhism. Primitive sorcery is also worshipped in some areas. Water burial is popular among Moinbas, ground burial, exposure burial and cremation are also conducted.

Most Lhoba people live in Lhoyu in southeastern Tibet, and a small number live in Mainling, Medog, Zayu and Lhunze. The Lhobas have their own language but no written script, although a small number know the Tibetan language and script. Lhobas live on agriculture. Their staple foods are corn, millet, rice and buckwheat.

The Hui people in Tibet are concentrated in Lhasa Xigaze and Qamdo. Most of them are engaged in trade, handicrafts and butchery. They use both Tibetan and Han characters in everyday life, and Urdu and Arabic for their religious rituals. Hui people are Islamic and have built mosques in Lhasa and other places.

The Deng people reside in Zayu County in Nyingchi Prefecture. They have their own language but no written script. The Dengs live on agriculture. Before liberation, the Dengs stills used the primitive slash-and-burn method. After liberation, with the help of the government most of them have moved out of forests and settled on the river valley.

The Sherpa people are concentrated in Lixin Township, Dinggye and Zhentang. They have their own language and use Tibetan script.

The emigration of Han people to Tibet can be date back to the Qing Dynasty. These days Han residents in Tibet are mostly technicians, workers, teachers, medical professionals and officials from other provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of China.

- Population& Peoples
Population and Population Density The Tibet Autonomous Region is the least populous and the most sparsely populated province in China. The Fourth National Population Census in 1990 reported a population of 2.196 million in Tibet, a net increase of I .196 million over 1950, but still less than 2 people per square kilometre.

By the end of 1994 population totalled 2.32 million, 2.236 million Tibetans (96.4 percent), 66,000 Han (2. 8 percent) and the remaining 18,000 (0.8 percent) of other ethnic groups. Population Growth Since 1970 the birth rate and natural growth rate in Tibet have both exceeded the national average.

Between 1982 and 1990, there was an increase of 309,800 in the ethnic Tibetan population, a 17.34 per thousand natural growth rate, 2.64 per thousand above the nation's average over the same period. For the last ten years the Tibetan population has increased by 38,000 per year on average.

Tibetans' health has also greatly improved Average life-expectancy has increased from 36 before the peaceful liberation to 65 today. Beginning in the 1970s, China has widely implemented a family planning and population control policy, advocating one child for one couple However, in Tibet the autonomous region's government has adopted special policies corresponding to local realities.

The one child policy has been applied only to ethnic Han cadres and workers working in Tibet, not to the ethnic Tibet and themselves. In 1984 the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region began to advocate family planning among the ethnic Tibetan cadres and workers and urban residents, encouraging couples wanting a second child to delay doing so. Currently, 12 percent of the total population is following family planning. Family planning work proceeds from the free will principle Forced abortion in any form is opposed and prohibited Peasants and herdsmen, whose families constitute 88 percent of the population, are not subject to family planning policies.

However, they do receive education on scientific contraception methods, rational arrangements for birth, sound child rearing, protecting the mother and infant's health and raising the overall quality of the population. Government health departments supply safe, reliable health service to peasants and herdsmen who voluntarily request assistance in birth control. At present, the annual birth rate of Tibet exceeds 23 per thousand and the natural growth rate 15 per thousand.

The government of the autonomous region has targeted a natural growth rate of 16 per thousand to limit population growth.

Ethnic Makeup Not surprisingly, the Tibet Autonomous Region, with 45 percent of the country's total ethnic Tibetan population, has the greatest concentration of ethnic Tibetans nationally In addition to the Tibetans, other ethnic groups, including the Lhoba, Moinha, Han and Hui, and Deng and Xiaerha peoples are found there Tibetans are the principal inhabitants of Tibet Their language belongs to the Tibetan sub-group of the Tibeto-Burmese group of the Sinn-Tibetan language family.

There are three main dialects: U-Tsang, Kham and Amdo. Most Tibetans work in agriculture and animal husbandry. Urban residents for the most pan work in handicrafts, industry and commerce. Ethnic Tibetans follow Tibetan Buddhism. They are enthusiastic and open-minded and good at singing and dancing The Tibetan songs are pleasant to the ears and are often accompanied by dance Tibetans traditionally wear long sleeved silk or cloth jackets which men top with robes and women with long sleeveless gowns which are tied at the waist with a sash Married women frequently wear an apron with a multicolour design.

Both women and men braid their hair and love wearing ornaments Different areas have different clothing The staple food is zanba (roasted qingke barley flour or pea meal); tea with butter or milk is the favourite of all Tibetans. They have a liking for qingke beer, beef and mutton, hut do not eat perissodactyls such as horses.

In ancient times Tibetans buried their dead in the ground but in modern times Tibetans practise sky burial (in which the corpse is chopped to bits and exposed on a mountain face to be eaten by vultures and other birds of prey), cremation and water burial. The Moinba have lived on the Tibet Plateau since ancient times.

For the most part they are distributed in Moinyu region in the south, With some scattered in Medog, Nyingchi and Cona counties. Linguistically, the Moinba belong to the Moinba sub-group of the Tibeto-Burmese group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. In terms of dialects, the language is complex While there is no written language, most Moinha people can speak and write Tibetan Their livelihood is based on agriculture, supplemented by animal, forestry, hunting and handicrafts.

Both women and men dress in robes made of pulu (a woolen fabric). On their heads they wear a small brown-crowned, orange rimmed hat gapped in the front or a black felt cap The women wear bracelets and earrings and other ornaments and men have a chopper hanging at their waists. Men and women alike enjoy drinking wine and dipping snuff The Moinba diet is based on rice, corn, buckwheat and jizhaogu (glutinous highland millet) Most Moinha people adhere to Tibetan Buddhism; however, in some regions some people practise traditional shamanism.

The dead are generally given water burial, but earth burial, sky burial and cremation are also practised The Lhoba people are mainly found in the Lhoyu region of southeastern Tibet, with some scattered in Mainling, Medog, Zayu, Lhunze and Nang counties Their language is also included in the Tibeto-Burmese group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Having no written language of their own, they normally use Tibetan for written communications.

The Lhoba are an essentially agricultural people. They value the goods they weave from bamboo Men favour a wool woven sleeveless jacket that extends to the waist and round, helmet- like hat trimmed with bear fur or rattan. Women wear a short,round-collared, narrow- sleeved jacket and a tight tubular skirt that extends a little below the knee.

From knee to ankle, the leg is wrapped d in cloth puttee. Corn and jizhaogu, supplemented by rice and buckwheat, are staple foods Most of the Hui people living in Tibet today are descendants of the Hui who moved from Gansu, Shaanzi, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces during the Qing Dynasty: a minority came from Central Asia Most live in cities and towns, notably Lhasa, Xigaze and Qamdo The majority work in commerce, handicrafts or as butchers They use Tibetan or Chinese in written communications and Urdu and Arabic in religious practice.

They follow Islam and mosques are to be found in Lhasa and elsewhere The Deng people for the most part live in Zayu County, Nyingchi Prefecture Linguistically, they also belong to the Tibeto-Burmese group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. They have no written language, but keep records by notching wood, tying knots or arranging sticks or branches.

Deng people believe in ghosts They build two-story structures, themselves living above and housing cattle and poultry below.

The women commonly wear long, drum-like silver earrings, a headdress covering the forehead, and around the neck a string of beads or silver jewelry. They wear silk skirts and go barefooted. Men wear a black cloth wound about their heads and silver earrings. Up until the 1950s, the Deng people mostly lived deep in the mountain forests, surviving on slash-and-burn agriculture and hunting and gathering.

More recently they have moved into terraced river valleys with the assistance of the government. The Xiaerba people are concentrated in the area defined by Lixin in the Zhamu entry/exit port area and Chentang in Dinggye County They are divided into four surnames and marriage within the same surname is taboo. They are Buddhists. Their homes are two story wooden

structures Both men and women wear white woolen short-sleeved coats edged in black. Their melodious songs and elegant, restrained dancing are reminiscent of some folk dances of Nepal and Pakistan. Beginning in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), many Han people have moved to Tibet.

A portion have been assimilated into the Tibetan ethnicity. Today, most Han people living in Tibet are technicians, labourers, teachers, health workers and cadres from other provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

- Tibetan Woman
. Tibetan Career Women
Police£ 
Cizhen, a point constable in Lhasa, directs the traffic in the capital city of Tibet Autonomous Region May 15, 2001. Founded in 1999, the points woman team of Lhasa is comprised of 10 women with the duty to direct traffic and patrol. The Tibetan women were regarded as "tools capable of speaking" before the democratic reform in 1951, however, things have been changed a lot since then. They not only enjoy equal rights as men, but also obtain great achievements for the prosperity and development of Tibet. Many women distinguish themselves with talent and speciality as judges, lawyers, experts and businesswomen.

Tibetan Air Hostesses£ 
Zhoga,24,is among the first batch of air hostesses ever to come from the Tibetan Autonomous Region, according to today's China Daily.

Zhoga works for China Southwest Airlines, the only airline that flies between Beijing and Lhasa.

The Tibetan air hostesses are proving popular with air travellers, who often ask Zhoga and her fellow fliers questions in Tibetan.

"I can speak in Tibetan, Chinese and English," said Zhoga. "Languages are fundamental for an air hostess shuttling between Beijing and Lhasa."

Partly in response to increasing demands for fast and convenient transport by richer Tibetan people, China's civil aviation authorities told China Southwest Airlines to set up air routes to Lhasa in December 1998, according to Zeng Jin, of Southwest Airlines.

Like many of her friends in Tibet, Zhoga said she had set her heart on living beyond the Tibetan Plateau since childhood.

Many young Tibetan women now have more say in deciding their careers, whereas in the past they were mostly confined to the kitchen and pasture.

China Southwest Airlines started recruiting stewardesses from Tibet in June 2000. Zhoga, who was then a well-paid hospital worker in Lhasa, competed with more than 300 other women to become an air hostess. Only 5 per cent made it through.
Recalling the selection process, Zeng said supervisors were impressed by the educational achievements and attitudes shown by the Tibetan women.

When the 15 lucky women, aged between 18 and 24, were announced on August 15, the young women made headlines across Tibet. Proud parents and relatives sang and danced all day, Zhoga said.

The women had to undergo a series of difficult training sessions before they could fly.

For Zhoga, English was one of the biggest hurdles during the three months of intensive training in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province. "Becoming a stewardess was my dream, " said Zhoga. "I just couldn't allow anything to stop me achieving my goal."

Zhoga finally succeeded. Her standard English pronunciation and happy personality now help travellers relax on the more than five-hour flight from Beijing to Lhasa.
"For me, to be a stewardess means a lot, " said Zhoga. "Many people throughout the world will see me before they see Tibetans in Tibet. I'll show them what a Tibetan woman really looks like."

Women Driver£ 
Xie Ga cleans her truck before class at the Driving Training School of Amdo County, Nagqu area of north Tibet Autonomous Region, November 13, 2001. After 3 months of training by local government, Xie Ga and her classmates are ready to work as drivers. They are among the first women drivers in Tibet.

Woman College Students£ 
Students take notes at the auditorium of Tibet University in the capital city of Tibetan Autonomous Region May 15, 2001. The proportion of female Tibetan students in this university in 2001 has reached 42%. The Tibetan women were regarded as "tools capable of speaking" before the democratic reform in 1951, however, things have been changed a lot since then. They not only enjoy equal rights as men, but also obtain great achievements for the prosperity and development of Tibet. Many women distinguish themselves with talent and speciality as judges, lawyers, experts and businesswomen.