Tibetan Custom

Tibetan custom is one of historical and cultural traditions which was formed and inherited in long history. It is the reflection of Tibetan social history, politics, economy, psychological quality and culture life. Tibetan custom is various in content and forms; and it differs in different districts.

Tibetan Custom – Clothes

Tibetan clothes are colorful and different in each area. Tibetan robe, which with long sleeves and broad collar, is the most popular dress in Tibet. In agriculture area, the robe commonly made up from Tibet wool, worsted, silk fabric and cotton fabric; in pasturing area, people often dress fur lined robe. Tibetan robe often purfled with colorful Tibet wool, silk fabric and otter on the collar side, cuff and hem. Women in agriculture area dress robe which without sleeves, in summer. Tibetan robe is very long, needs a string to shelf it on the waist. When the temperature is high, or on working, they can expose the right arm, or left arm; base on need, they can dress on. When they sleep in the night, they will release the sash, and unfix the sleeves; half as mat, half as quilt. About the shirt inside the robe, man's are in white, yellow and other color; women's are colorful, and with "bangdian" (apron) before the waist. There are many kinds of Tibetan hats. In general, man and woman will dress tweed hat, or buntal fibre hat. Tibetans are get used to dress boots which is with cowhide as the sole and various designs on the boots. The ornaments of Tibetans are golden or silver wares, amber, agate, emerald, pearl, ivory and other precious jewelry. The headwear style of women is different; the famous are "bazhu","baguo"; the braids are decorated with gold and silver wares. In every festival, women will dress colorful clothes, and with ornament; men will with sword, dress ear rings and bracelets.

Tibetan Custom – Food

Tibetan food is an important part of Chinese diet culture. Tibetans are good at cooking yak meat, mutton, dairy products, highland barley and tomatoes. The main ways to cook are stew, steam, cuisine, fry, bake and so on. Customarily, Tibetans use silverware and high class porcelain as top degree table ware. Commonly use wooden table ware. Tibetan foods are in various forms. The most representative food is tsamba which is made from highland barley. The drinks in Tibet not only include barley wine, buttered tea, tea with milk, fresh yak milk and sour milk, but also the Lhasa beer, as well as natural mineral water.

Tibetan Custom – Residence

Tibetan traditional dwelling can be divided into tent, castle-like house, ganlan-style. Tent is traditional Tibetan dwelling which can be divided into several kinds based on its character, usage, shape and standard. The most commonly see is cow hair tent which is split joined by yak hair fabric; it can resist wind and rain. With the development, the wood and soil construction buildings in the pasturing area increased. In Lhasa old town, ancient folk dwelling is castle-like houses. The place where moist and rainy, like Tuomo, Bomi and Milin, the buildings in these areas are in ganlan-style, the floor is above the ground over 1 meter. The structure of these buildings is square shape, with the door toward east and window toward west, a balcony outside the door. In recent years, the buildings in pasturing area increased, and most of the buildings are in this type. As differ from areas, the scale of buildings is different. With the development of living standard, the isolated compound and new style vernacular dwellings with plants around the house became popular in Lhasa, the towns in east and south of Tibet and rural suburbs. The houses in Tibet include bungalow and building, they are in beautiful style and bright color, and they are large and comfortable. They are in traditional features, but also with creation. So it is widely used and constantly increasing.

Tibetan Custom – Transportation

As Tibetan living in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau where temperature is low, mountains are high and valleys are deep, there are many difficulties in transportation. Commonly, people go out by riding mule and horse, or yak. Goods are transported by yak. Yak with goods can climb up high mountains just like walk on flat ground, so it gets the reputation of "Boat in Plateau". In agricultural area, transportation is depends on mule group or dork group. When they across the river, they will depend on bridges or bullboat. The bridges include steel cable bridge, cantilever bridge, rattan hoop bridge and overhead cable.