Zhaba December 28 of Sichuan. Extensive lexical and grammatical material has •Barkam •Wenchuan been collected on a dozen •Chengdu Litang • •Kangding SICHUAN languages of the Qiangic TIBET •Xiangcheng group. Besides Qiang, other •Jiulong •Xichang languages in the group include YUNNAN GUIZHOU Baima, Ergong, Ersu, Jiarong, Scale 0 KM 160 Guiqiong, Minyak, Namuyi, 3 Population in China: Pumi, Shixing, and Zhaba.” 15,000 (1983) 20,900 (2000) History: When Marco Polo 25,750 (2010) passed through rural Tibetan Location: Sichuan Religion: Tibetan Buddhism areas in the thirteenth century Christians: None Known he found unique local customs. Polo wrote, “No man Overview of the of that country would on any Zhaba consideration take to wife a girl who was a maid; for they Countries: China say a wife is worth nothing Pronunciation: “Zhar-ba” unless she has been used to Other Names: Zaba, Zhaboa, Buozi consort with men.… When Population Source: travelers come that way, the 15,000 (1983 Sun Hongkai); old women of the place get 7,700 (1991 EDCL); ready, and take their Out of a total Tibetan population of 4,593,330 (1990 census) Paul Hattaway unmarried daughters… to Location: W Sichuan: Zhamai Population: A 1983 source listed 15,000 whomsoever will accept them.… In this District of Yajiang County and people belonging to the Zhaba manner people traveling in that way… shall Zhaba District of Daofu County; ethnolinguistic group.1 They live in parts of Possibly also in Litang and find perhaps 20 or 30 girls at their 4 Xinlong counties Yajiang and Daofu counties within the disposal.” Status: massive Garze Tibetan Autonomous Officially included under Tibetan Prefecture in western Sichuan Province. The Customs: Promiscuity continues to be rife Language: Sino-Tibetan, area was originally part of Kham Province in among the Zhaba. A 1950s survey of the Tibeto-Burman, Qiangic, Zhaba Tibet until it was annexed by the Chinese in Garze area found the rate of venereal Dialects (2): Western Zhaba, Eastern Zhaba the 1950s. The Sichuan-Tibet highway, diseases was 40% among people in Religion: begun in 1950 and completed in 1954, “is peasant areas and 50.7% among people 5 Tibetan Buddhism, Shamanism one of the world’s highest, roughest, most living in the pasture areas. Christians: None known dangerous and most beautiful roads.… Scripture: None Towns experience cold temperatures, with Religion: The Zhaba worship a wide variety Jesus film: None up to 200 freezing days per year; summers of demons and ghosts. These influences Gospel Recordings: None are blistering by day and the high altitude date back to the pre-Buddhist Tibetan 2 Christian Broadcasting: None invites particularly bad sunburn.” religion of Bon. They believe large demons ROPAL code: ZHA00 live inside mountains, and so they offer Identity: The Zhaba are counted as part of frequent sacrifices to appease them. Status of Evangelization the Tibetan nationality, although they speak a Qiangic language. The Zhaba may call Christianity: There are no known Christians 98% themselves Buozi. Zhaba appears to be the among the Zhaba, although there are a few name used to describe them by their Tibetan Catholics farther west near Litang. Khampa Tibetan neighbors. The Zhaba lead hard lives. Workers seeking to reach them will need to help them Language: The Zhaba language belongs to physically and not just spiritually. Isobel 2% 0% a recently discovered branch of the Tibeto- Kuhn, a missionary to the Lisu, said, “I A B C Burman language family, which has amazed have been a missionary for 27 years, but A = Have never heard the gospel linguists and anthropologists. One scholar have never met a heathen tribesman who B = Were evangelized but did not explains, “The most exciting recent was looking for salvation.… They don’t become Christians development in Tibeto-Burman studies is know enough to reach out a hand for C = Are adherents to any form of Christianity the discovery of a new branch of the family, heavenly aid. Their eyes look not up but hitherto virtually unknown to Western down — down on the earth and upon their scholars. These are the Qiangic languages bodily appetites.”6 ZHABA 571.