Xiangtang in China

The Xiangtang have only been reported in China
Population
Main Language
Largest Religion
Christian
Evangelical
Progress
Progress Gauge

Introduction / History

The Chinese authorities have placed the Xiangtang under the official Yi nationality. Many Xiangtang in Simao have been thoroughly assimilated to Han Chinese culture and language. Only pockets of Xiangtang people living in more remote locations still retain their traditional way of life.

The Xiangtang are one of the southernmost Yi groups in China; this suggests that they may have been one of the earliest groups to migrate from the Yi homeland in today's Guizhou Province.


What Are Their Lives Like?

Since many Xiangtang have been gradually assimilated during the course of the twentieth century, most of their original customs have been lost. In the past, Xiangtang men had to pay a bride-price of five taels of silver to procure a wife. Alternatively, they could agree to work three years for the bride's family. In a Xiangtang home, guests of high status are seated behind the hearth, the host is seated on the right, and lower status people sit nearest the door. The main diet of the Xiangtang is maize, buckwheat, bean curd, pancakes, and sour and dried vegetables.


What Are Their Beliefs?

The Xiangtang believe in ancestor worship, mixed with animism. This remains the dominant religion among the Xiangtang, although many who live in urban areas have forsaken all religious practices. The Xiangtang living in Honghe are the only speakers of a Western Yi language in that prefecture. "While their language is widely different from the Yuanyang Nisu they live beside, the Xiangtang of Luchun County have been influenced by the Nisu culturally. Both groups worship and revere the dragon, but the Xiangtang also have reverence for the 'spirit of the ravine' whom they call to their aid every eighth day of the second lunar month."

The Xiangtang are one of many people groups in Yunnan Province with few or no known believers or Christian churches. It is possible that there are a few assimilated Xiangtang individuals attending Han Chinese churches. There are several thousand believers in the Jinghong and Mengla areas of Xishuangbanna Prefecture, but they are not known to be specifically focusing on unreached people groups for evangelism. The Xiangtang have been without a resident missionary or church-planting effort throughout their entire history.


What Are Their Needs?

The Xiangtang people need to put their trust and identity in the hands of the loving God of Creation who sent his son to make it possible for them to enter the Kingdom of God.


Prayer Points

Pray for the spiritual blindness and bondage to the evil one to be removed so they can understand and respond to Christ.

Pray for the Lord to provide for their physical and spiritual needs as a testimony of his power and love.

Pray the Xiangtang people will have a spiritual hunger that will open their hearts to the King of kings.

Pray for an unstoppable movement to Christ among them.


Scripture Prayers for the Xiangtang in China.


References

Operation China, Asia Harvest, Copyrighted © Used with permission


Profile Source:   Joshua Project  

People Name General Xiangtang
People Name in Country Xiangtang
Pronunciation Shee-ung-tahn
Alternate Names Hsiangtan; Siang-Tan He-lou-jen; Xiangtan; Xiangtangpo
Population this Country 108,000
Population all Countries 108,000
Total Countries 1
Indigenous Yes
Progress Scale 1
Unreached Yes
Frontier People Group No
GSEC 1  (per PeopleGroups.org)
Pioneer Workers Needed 2
PeopleID3 18745
ROP3 Code 114381
Country China
Region Asia, Northeast
Continent Asia
10/40 Window Yes
National Bible Society Website
Persecution Rank 19  (Open Doors top 50 rank, 1 = highest persecution ranking)
Location in Country Approximately 80,000 Xiangtang people live in nine widely scattered counties in southwestern Yunnan Province. About 1,400 Xiangtang also live in the farwestern part of Luchun County in Honghe Prefecture. Missionary John Kuhn documented the existence of the Xiangtang in 1945. He called them Hsiangtan, which is the old way of spelling Xiangtang. Kuhn described them as living in "Mengka and Malipa." The first Western reference to the Xiangtang was by French ethnographer L. Gaide in 1903. Gaide called them the Siang-Tan He-lou-jen.   Source:  Operation China, 2000
Country China
Region Asia, Northeast
Continent Asia
10/40 Window Yes
National Bible Society Website
Persecution Rank 19  (Open Doors top 50 rank, 1 = highest persecution ranking)
Location in Country Approximately 80,000 Xiangtang people live in nine widely scattered counties in southwestern Yunnan Province. About 1,400 Xiangtang also live in the farwestern part of Luchun County in Honghe Prefecture. Missionary John Kuhn documented the existence of the Xiangtang in 1945. He called them Hsiangtan, which is the old way of spelling Xiangtang. Kuhn described them as living in "Mengka and Malipa." The first Western reference to the Xiangtang was by French ethnographer L. Gaide in 1903. Gaide called them the Siang-Tan He-lou-jen..   Source:  Operation China, 2000
Primary Religion: Ethnic Religions
Major Religion Percent
Buddhism
0.00 %
Christianity  (Evangelical 0.12 %)
0.12 %
Ethnic Religions
94.88 %
Hinduism
0.00 %
Islam
0.00 %
Non-Religious
5.00 %
Other / Small
0.00 %
Unknown
0.00 %
Primary Language Lalo, Dongshanba (108,000 speakers)
Language Code yik   Ethnologue Listing
Language Written Unknown
Total Languages 1
Primary Language Lalo, Dongshanba (108,000 speakers)
Language Code yik   Ethnologue Listing
Total Languages 1
People Groups Speaking Lalo, Dongshanba

Primary Language:  Lalo, Dongshanba

Bible Translation Status:  Unspecified

Resource Type Resource Name Source
None reported  
Photo Source Copyrighted © 2024  Operation China, Asia Harvest  All rights reserved.  Used with permission
Map Source Joshua Project / Global Mapping International  
Profile Source Joshua Project 
Data Sources Data is compiled from various sources. Learn more.


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