Semi-tropical scenes unfurled before us as we drove past the chains of mountains in Zayu Township, in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Nyingchi Prefecture.

Banana trees and flourishing bamboo forests surrounded golden fields of rape. In the distance, huge fragrant camphor trees soared into the sky.

We were told we had arrived in Lower Zayu Town, where most of the Dengba people live.

The Dengbas, with a population of 1,450, have their own spoken language, which belongs to the Myanmar-Tibetan language system.

There are two distinct dialects. Dengba people who speak the Darang dialect call themselves "Darang," while others speak the Geman dialect and call themselves "Geman." "Darang" is the language commonly spoken in most areas of Zayu.

The main street of Lower Zayu Town, about 600 meters long, slopes downward. Small stores, restaurants, hair-dressers, auto-repair shops and hostels line both sides of the street.

Walking along the street, we occasionally met elderly women dressed in Dengba costume, carrying bamboo baskets on their backs and smoking pipes as they went about their shopping.

The bamboo baskets contained things like rubber overshoes, salt and other commodities, as well as their favorite cigarettes.

Lower Zayu Township lies in an area where tropical and semi-tropical climates meet.

A variety of semi-tropical plants and many tropical plants grow there, such as longan, cacti, loquat, apricots, persimmon, Chinese chestnuts, grapes, oranges, Sichuan pepper, kiwi fruit, flax, cotton, sugarcane, ginger, peanuts, taro, sweet potatoes, sesame, rape and corn, all contributing richly to the area's ecology and economy.

The various tropical and semitropical flowers and trees enjoy a growing season of more than 300 days a year. Almost all kinds of vegetables grow there, and sweet potatoes and peanuts have particularly high yields. Owing to the pleasant climate and the abundant food, the pigs are extraordinarily fat and strong.

As a result, Lower Zayu Town is a major local production and supply base for fruits and vegetables. Retailers from all over the county flock to the township to buy.

Multi-lingual Dengba

The next day, we drove out of the town, following the road to the village of Shaqun.

At the village entrance, we were greeted by a man in his 50s, dressed in a suit.

"Are you Dengba?" we asked.

"Don't I look like it?" he answered, in fluent putonghua, or standard Chinese.

He was Ngalosum, the village committee chairman. Also fluent in Tibetan and Lhoba languages, Ngalosum is a member of the Tibet Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and often attends meetings in various regions.

He told us that he had been to many big cities, such as Beijing. With Ngalosum serving as our guide, we entered the village and were immediately drawn to the uniquely styled Dengba houses, with their roofs in the shape of an inverted "V," made of wooden planks or thatch.

The houses are built on a north-south axis and all have two stories. People live upstairs, while the livestock are fed and housed downstairs. The upper floor is divided into several rooms.

The houses have at least two rooms on the upper floor, one serving as a guest room and the other as the family room. In the middle of the upper floor, there is a cooking range.

The rooms in larger homes are several square meters in size and have wooden walls separating them and locks on the doors. In the rooms, a bamboo mat on the right serves as a bed and the shelves on the left are for clothing and blankets.

There are no windows, but there are opening shutters on the northern wall. As there are gaps between the boards, the sun provides light and the air circulates freely.

The downstairs floor is no more than 1 meter in height and serves as the place to feed chicken, pigs and other domestic animals.

In the front and back yards are banana trees, Sichuan pepper trees, bamboos and a variety of plants, all contained within a stone wall taller than an average person.

Dengba people have separate wooden storehouses, which are over 10 meters from their residences so as to prevent fires, should there be any, from spreading from building to building.

As we checked out their homes, we suddenly realized we had seen very few villagers.

Ngalosum explained that most of the villagers had gone into the mountains to plant trees, and only the elderly and children remained.

Beside a wooden house in the village, we saw an old Dengba woman sitting on her doorstep. She was dressed in traditional costume, with a silver headpiece and two huge silver earrings. She had a long tobacco pipe and was having a leisurely smoke.

Ngalosum said both men and women of Dengba people like smoking. Men like to smoke commercial cigarettes while women prefer the tobacco they plant themselves. Usually, women have a special pocket for carrying their pipe, tobacco, matches and other items.

This custom still exists among the elderly Dengba people, but younger people no longer follow the tradition.

Ngalosum's family is one of the richest in the village and in addition to the main building, has a separate kitchen and granary. The roof is made of sheet metal. The skulls of bulls hanging on the walls of his house are an indication of his wealth.

In the yard some cacti and peach trees are planted. Grape vines, recently planted, were budding.

Entering the wooden building, we saw a portrait of the late Chairman Mao Zedong hanging on the main wall of the living room, flanked with portraits of three generations of central governmental leaders.

Around the portraits were various certificates of merit and plaques, which had been presented to Ngalosum over the years for his work as a grassroots village head.

Like other ethnic groups in Tibet, Dengba people like drinking. They drink wine as if it were tea.

Ngalosum's wife held a bottle of sweet and sour wine brewed from rape and "chicken-claw" grain. She asked each of us to drink three cups in a row, saying that this is a rule the Dengba people have set for their guests.

Just as his wife was making a toast, Ngalosum re-entered the sitting room, now dressed in the traditional costume of Dengba men.

"This is the real Ngalosum," he said.

Dengba people's traditional clothing has many unique features. In the 1950s, Dengba men always wore black or white handkerchiefs around their heads, silver earrings, short shirts mainly in black or white without sleeves or collar, a knife on their right side and a tobacco pipe and bow and arrow on the left.

Women always wore huge silver earrings, silver bracelets and finger rings. They wore a sleeveless blouse exposing the waist and skirts reaching to their feet, or a short one when they were kneeling in the fields. Today in the Dengba village, the elderly Dengbas still wear traditional ethnic costume, but the younger people only dress up in their costumes for festivals and other ceremonies.

According to Ngalosum, adopting modern dress is only one of the changes among the young Dengba in the last half century.

"Before, we Dengba people lived in forests for generations like wild men," Ngalosum said.

They lived on wild fruit and uncultivated grain, and by hunting. After the peaceful liberation of Tibet, the Dengbas moved from the forests into open lands, built houses and began farming, all with the help of the local government and their Tibetan brethren, he said.

Men are in charge of felling trees, opening up previously uncultivated land, and ploughing. Women are in charge of seeding, field management and harvesting. So, Dengba people always say that men are the masters of the forest and women masters of the farm.

Ngalosum's wife cooked a hearty lunch for us with rice they had harvested from their own fields and meats and various condiments.

When we talked about the hospitality and cooking skills of Ngalosum's wife, Ngalosum told us the traditional marriage customs of the Dengbas.

"If you were to send me 10 head of cattle as a gift, I would promise to find a virtuous wife for you," he said.

Originally, Dengba men would ask for the hand of their chosen bride by sending some cattle, pigs or other property through matchmakers.

The social status of women would decide how many head of cattle should be sent -- from one to scores.

Historically, the marriage system of the Dengba people was based on polygamy and patriarchy. Sons in wealthy families could buy three or more wives, and when a male passed away, his wife would be inherited by one of his brothers or other young men of the same family name, that is, "transferred wives."

Husbands had the right to give away or sell their wives but wives have no right to leave their husbands.

But Ngalosum also pointed out that "now most Dengba families have only one husband and one wife."

The life of the Dengbas has changed a great deal in the past five decades, as Ngalosum made abundantly clear, but obviously more changes will be wrought in the lives of the Dengba people in the years to come.

(China Daily April 20, 2004)