Monba

族About this people

The Monba — also romanised as Memba or Monpa — live in the deep river gorge country of southern Tibet, primarily in Mêdog County (the last county in China without a road link until 2013) and Cuona County on the Bhutanese border. Their language belongs to the Bodish sub-group of Tibeto-Burman and is closely related to Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan. The Monba have historically had close ties with Bhutanese and Tibetan communities across the high mountain passes.

The Monba homeland is extraordinarily biodiverse: Mêdog County, situated where the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo) River cuts through the eastern Himalayas, has some of the richest subtropical and montane forest in Asia, transitioning from alpine zone to tropical gorge within a vertical drop of several thousand metres. This environment supports unusual agriculture: the Monba cultivate rice, maize, and millet at lower elevations alongside buckwheat and highland barley at higher altitudes.

Tibetan Buddhism in the Nyingma and Kagyu schools is the primary religious tradition, and the Monba have been influenced by the great Tibetan saint Pemalingpa as well as by Bhutanese religious traditions. Traditional crafts include bamboo weaving (baskets, fish traps, and containers of unusual fineness), woodwork, and hand papermaking from Edgeworthia bark — a tradition shared with some Tibetan and Himalayan communities. Wooden bowls and lacquered drinking vessels are locally made and used in daily life.