Gyalrong people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 120,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Sichuan, China | |
| Languages | |
| Gyalrongic (traditional), Amdo Tibetan, Khams Tibetan, Sichuanese (lingua franca) | |
| Religion | |
| Tibetan Buddhism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Tibetan, Qiang, Tangut |
Gyalrong (Chinese: 嘉绒; Tibetan: རྒྱལ་རོང) people, also called rGyalrong, Jiarong, or Gyarong, are ethnically native to parts of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture and the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan, China. They speak a variety of languages. Gyalrong is an exo-ethnonym and loanword from Tibetan, namely rGyal-mo tsha-wa rong. Gyalrongs refer to themselves as Keru.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Gyalrong were ruled by local chieftains (Tusi). In 1746, Slob Dpon, the chieftain of Greater Jinchuan, was trying to unite tribes in Sichuan, forcing the Qing dynasty to launch campaigns to suppress them. The People's Republic of China subsequently lumped them together with Tibetans. Due to the intermixing of ethnicities, it is difficult to accurately count the Gyalrong people, but they probably number in the hundreds of thousands.
The dominant religion of Gyalrong was once Bon, but in the early 15th century the region received missionaries from central Tibet teaching the doctrine of the Gelug order of Tibetan Buddhism. Despite strenuous opposition from Bon priests, the Gelugpa succeeded in building many large monasteries in Gyalrong such as the Dhe-Tsang Monastery.