Amdo, Hbrogpa January 10

History: Horrendous clashes with the Chinese have resulted • in massive loss of •Luqu life. The Dalai listed

Luhuo Songpan 49,049 deaths from battles • •Dawu within the Amdo regions before 1983, in addition to 121,982 Scale 7 0 KM 400 deaths from starvation.

Population in : 448,500 (1987) Customs: Most Amdo are 583,700 (2000) seminomadic herders of sheep, 719,200 (2010) , and goats. They move to Location: new pastures whenever their Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan Religion: animals have made good use of Christians: 100 the land.

Religion: Although the vast Overview of the majority of Amdo are Tibetan Hbrogpa Amdo Buddhists, in recent years there Countries: China has been a revival of interest in Pronunciation: the pre-Buddhist religion of “Druk-pah-Ahm-doe” 8 Other Names: Brogpa, Amde, . Anduo, Ngambo Population Source: Christianity: Several mission 538,500 (1987 LAC);1 agencies worked in the Amdo Out of a total Tibetan population of 4,593,330 (1990 census) area prior to 1949. At least five Paul Hattaway Location: E Qinghai; N Sichuan; small churches consisting of 9 SW Gansu2 Location: More than 550,000 speakers of Amdo Tibetans remain today. One report Status: the Hbrogpa Amdo language live in a vast, optimistically estimates as many as Officially included under Tibetan sparsely populated area. The majority are 10,000 Tibetan believers near Hezuo.10 Language: Sino-Tibetan, located in eastern Qinghai Province, as far Approximately 200 Tibetan believers attend Tibeto-Burman, Bodic, Bodish, Tibetan, Northern Tibetan north as the Qinghai-Gansu border. a church in Lintan County in southern Dialects: 15 Significant numbers also live in southwest Gansu, but they are Jone Tibetans, not 11 Religion: Tibetan Buddhism, Bon Gansu Province and in adjacent parts of Amdo. Cecil Pohill of the China Inland Christians: 100 northern Sichuan. The Hbrogpa region Mission started a mission station in Xining Scripture: Tibetan Bible 1948; ranges from in the north — in 1888. Later he “opened up Songpan as 12 New Testament 1885; Portions which at 4,000 square kilometers (1,560 a center for Tibetan work.” In 1922 it 1862 sq. mi.) is the largest lake in China — to was reported, “The confidence of the Jesus film: Available the town of Songpan in Sichuan in the people has to a great extent been Gospel Recordings: south. Songpan, encircled by a wall built in achieved, and not a few have an intelligent Amdo #00182 3 13 Zang, Anduo 1379, once housed 10,000 families. The knowledge of the way of salvation.” In Christian Broadcasting: None Amdo region was incorporated into the 1986, “A few Christian households in ROPAL code: ADX01 Chinese empire in the early 1700s. Gansu Province gathered to worship during a Chinese New Year’s celebration. Their Status of Evangelization Identity: Hbrogpa, which means “nomad” neighbors, seeking to wipe out Christianity, 93% or “herder” in Tibetan, is the largest of told them to disperse. The Christians were four main Amdo languages. These in turn unwilling to stop their meeting and were have been counted as part of the Tibetan severely beaten by the crowd. The next nationality in China. “Within these groups morning the persecutors found their sheep, are many subgroups, each speaking its cows and horses were dying. Their family 6% 1% own language and living in different members also began to die one by one. areas.”4 Realizing that the wrath of God had fallen A B C upon them, they pleaded with those who A = Have never heard the gospel Language: Amdo is very different from believed in Jesus to pray. The Lord heard B = Were evangelized but did not become Christians other varieties of Tibetan. Within Amdo the believers’ prayers, and the sick and C = Are adherents to any form of there are four mutually unintelligible dying were healed. As a result, over a Christianity languages, of which Hbrogpa is the hundred Amdo Tibetans turned to the largest.5 Various sources mention 15 Lord!”14 unnamed dialects within Hbrogpa.6

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