Guiqiong April 2

Location: A 1983 study listed 7,000 witnessed the fusion and assimilation of •Songpan Guiqiong people.1 They inhabit the numerous tribes. The area inhabited by the •Wenchuan • tablelands along both banks of the Dadu Guiqiong was formerly part of the province • •Ya’an River, north of in the Garze of . In the 1930s Xikang was a TIBET •Xiangcheng •Jiulong Tibetan in western lawless place that few outsiders dared to • Sichuan Province. There are also a few enter. “Aborigines [minorities] seize and kill YUNNAN Scale GUIZHOU Guiqiong located farther to the east in members of other nationalities.… In parts 0 KM 160 northwestern Tianquan County. The great of Xikang, abandoned hovels and wasteland Population in : Dadu River, which surges each summer as due to pillage are common sights. Violent 7,000 (1983) the ice fields in the mountains begin to attacks on communities by ‘aborigines’, as 9,760 (2000) well as government 12,020 (2010) Location: Sichuan punitive actions against Religion: Tibetan Buddhism them, cost many tens of Christians: None Known thousands of lives.”4

Overview of the Customs: One of the main reasons for the extreme Guiqiong violence throughout Xikang Countries: China in the 1930s and 1940s Pronunciation: “Gway-chee-ong” was the drug trade. Large Other Names: Guichong quantities of opium were Population Source: 7,000 (1983 Sun Hongkai); manufactured throughout Out of a total Tibetan population the region until the of 4,593,330 (1990 census) Communist takeover in the Location: W Sichuan: Garze early 1950s. The new Tibetan Prefecture: On both sides of the Dadu River north from government forced the Luding County; Some in Tianquan people of western Sichuan County to destroy their opium Status: crops. Today most Officially included under Tibetan Guiqiong grow maize and Language: Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Qiangic, barley, while those living Guiqiong near the river or some Dialects (4): Duampou other source of water grow

Religion: Paul Hattaway vegetables. Tibetan Buddhism, Shamanism thaw, is the source of life for the Guiqiong. Christians: None known The river cuts a path through the rocky Religion: The Guiqiong are nominally Scripture: None terrain of central Sichuan. As a result, Tibetan Buddhists, although they retain Jesus film: None plateaus have formed on both sides of the many aspects of animism and shamanism Gospel Recordings: None river. in their religious beliefs. Christian Broadcasting: None ROPAL code: GQI00 Identity: The Guiqiong have been included Christianity: The Guiqiong have no as part of the Tibetan nationality in China. understanding of the gospel or the name of Status of Evangelization As early as 1930, however, Chinese Jesus Christ. They have been cut off from 100% researchers stated, “The language and the message of eternal life for centuries. customs of the Guiqiong are distinct from James O. Fraser described the tenacity those of either the Chinese or Khampa needed to reach groups such as the Tibetans. The people here are actually a Guiqiong: “Evangelistic work on the mission unique ethnic group.”2 field is like a man going about in a dark, 0% 0% damp valley with a lighted match in his ABC Language: The Guiqiong language — which hand, seeking to ignite anything A = Have never heard the gospel has four tones and is part of the Qiangic ignitable… here a shrub, there a tree, here B = Were evangelized but did not branch of Tibeto-Burman — is under a few sticks, there a heap of leaves take become Christians C = Are adherents to any form of pressure from the Sichuan dialect of fire and give light and warmth, long after Christianity Chinese. In many locations the Guiqiong the kindling match and its bearer have live in mixed villages alongside much larger passed on. And this is what God wants to Han Chinese communities.3 see… little patches of fire burning all over the world.”5 History: The historical border region between the Chinese and Tibetans has

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