On May 26, 2003, the State Council issued a document. This made several families in the border of Tibet ecstatic, rushing to tell each other, and the wish that lasted for a hundred years was finally fulfilled.
The document reads: "With the approval of the State Council, The Daman people have officially become Chinese nationals. That is to say, after more than 200 years of wandering, the once-helpless race finally has the reliable identity of Chinese. Who the hell are they? Why are they so eager to join China? Let's take a look at the past and present lives of the Damans.
Who are they
In 2004, 175 Dammam people moved into the new village of Dammam in Jilong County, Tibet, China. Seeing the neat and clean house, the bright room, many people were left in tears. After all, after 200 years, their race finally owned their own property for the first time!
The Daman people, "Da" means "horse" in Tibetan, while Mann is a soldier, an army. When the two words are put together, the meaning of the word Dammam becomes cavalry, so this nation is actually the descendants of a cavalry in ancient times.
They originally lived in Jilonggou on Mount Everest, and lived with the local Tibetans, so they were very similar to the Tibetans in terms of clothing and language.
But compared to the Tibetans, they have one of the most remarkable characteristics: their physical characteristics are different.
They usually have a pair of deep blue eyes, coupled with a straight nose bridge, and look very much like Caucasian, so they are easy to distinguish.
So are they like the Tibetans, who have lived here for generations?
In fact, their history goes back to a war a long time ago.
Legend has it that at the end of the 18th century, the Daman people migrated from Nepal to the area of Geelong. They live here with the locals and have passed more than 200 years of wandering like a fluttering girl.
Why did they migrate from Nepal? Why do you have to live here for generations and not return to your hometown of Nepal?
In fact, this is a more tortuous and ancient story that needs to be traced back to the predecessor of the Daman people: the Gurkha people.
Past lives and present lives
According to The Legend of the Damans, in 1791, when China was still in the Qing Dynasty, the Damans, also known as the Gurkhas, were originally a large tribe living in India.
The Gurkha people have a special respect for cattle, so they feel that they are the protectors of cattle, which gives rise to the name "Gurkha".
They have a spirit of loyalty and courage, are very advocating force, are known for their fierceness, and believe in Hinduism like many Indians. This ethnic group was supposed to live in India, but the tide suddenly changed, and fierce conflict broke out because they refused to embrace islam, the state religion of the local sultanate.
After all, in a state where the church and state are religious, the original religious beliefs are difficult to shake, and it is not surprising that the Gurkhas have reacted so violently.
So in the 14th century, the entire Kurkha ethnic group was forced to relocate to Nepal. Therefore, if the Daman people go back, it can be said that they originated from India.
After coming to Nepal, the Gurkhas conquered the Then Mara Dynasty by force and established the Shah Dynasty, which was named Gurkha.
But an ethnic group traveled thousands of miles to remote Nepal, which is so different from its original home country that adapting to the local environment is a big problem. Nepal's climate is extreme, it is cold all year round, the terrain is steep, and there is very little land that can be reclaimed, so people live by grazing cattle, and the residents are very poor.
How could such a poor and narrow country satisfy the ambitions of the Gurkhas? So they began to conquer the surrounding areas and expand their territory. It didn't take long for them to look at Tibet, China, across the mountain.
Legend has it that at the other end of the Himalayas there is a land of beautiful mountains and rivers, warm all year round, horses galloping through the meadows, and cattle and sheep scattered like pearls in the forest. In addition, there are countless golden temples here, hiding countless riches and beautiful girls. And each of these can make the tortured Gurkha people crazy, and Tibet has become the paradise of their dreams!
At the end of the 18th century, the Gurkhas led an army to attack Tibet, and with a sense of ingenuity, they actually occupied parts of Tibet. After they came to Tibet, they were envious of the red eyes, and they did not want to leave when they died, and they burned and looted in the local area.
At that time, the Qing Dynasty on the mainland was during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, and he ordered the general Fukang'an to lead the expedition to prepare to annihilate this group of foreign jackals in one fell swoop.
Although the Gurkhas had a reputation for bravery and good fighting in the local area, they were completely scattered in front of the well-trained and well-equipped Qing army.
After several rounds of fighting, the Gurkhas fled in a hurry. And Fukang An took advantage of the victory to pursue, six battles and six victories, beat this group of invaders to the ground, not only recovered the lost land, but also continued to fight south in their country, directly pointing their swords at their cities.
Faced with the crisis of subjugation, the king of the Gurkha state at that time condescended and came to ask for peace. Since then, the kurka state has become our vassal state, and China and Nepal have been at peace with each other, maintaining peace for more than 200 years.
It is lamentable that today's Damans are the descendants of a group of cavalrymen who were scattered in the war by the Gurkhas.
Under the overwhelming offensive of the Qing army, this group of people hurriedly fled to the territory of today's Jilonggou. Since then, their homeland cannot go back, and they dare not trespass on the territory of the Qing Dynasty, so they wandered on the border line between the two countries and mixed with the local Tibetans to live.
As can be seen here, in fact, their identity situation is very embarrassing. Who wouldn't want to go back home? But once you return to your hometown, looking at the Qing army under the city from afar, who dares to come forward? If you want to deal with it according to military law, I am afraid that I will not be able to save my own life.
So what if you surrender to the Qing army and become a Chinese national? However, at that time, the war between the two countries had not ended for long, and after the two countries became vassal states and suzerains, they only maintained a superficial peace, and if they really naturalized to the Qing, their status would certainly be very low, and their descendants and grandchildren could only become slaves to the people of the Qing Dynasty.
So after weighing, this group of people finally chose to thrive in the dilemma, survive in the cracks, and the entire race became a real black household.
Tough years
How did this cavalry survive in such harsh conditions for more than 200 years?
At that time, due to their embarrassing identity, this group of "Dammam people" had no nationality, let alone belonging and dependence. What is even more embarrassing is that the descendants of these war refugees not only cannot integrate into the local Tibetan life, but also have no way to get corresponding education.
They could not study or become officials, so they could not own houses, land, land, and so on, and could only survive by cutting firewood for the locals, doing handymanship, and other manual work. As long as they can change their mouths and eat, they are willing to do any dirty work and tired work, and life is very difficult.
For such a long time, the Daman people who struggled to survive in the cracks also inherited a special craft, that is, blacksmithing.
In the local area, because it is very difficult to mine wasteland, the demand for production tools such as sickles and shovels is very large.
The Damans, on the other hand, have no education, so they can only do this kind of dirty, tiring, and manual work that the locals do not want to do, in order to make a living. Over time, the Dammam people's reputation for being good at iron and skill spread.
So the whole family's craftsmanship was passed on, and every family was in the blacksmith business, which was also considered to be able to get a bite to eat.
The 73-year-old Jiang Que is an authentic Daman who started playing iron on his own when he was 25 years old, when he had no wages at all, and could only rely on his own iron to exchange with the local Tibetans for some grain such as barley and rice sticks. And every day is so hard, Ginger mistakenly earns not much, only two meals a day can eat, life is not good.
In this way, the Daman people have been living in limbo for more than 200 years, with no country, no home, no land and no house, and they are struggling to survive in the cracks, and it is also appropriate to be called the "Gypsies of the East".
A turning point in history
So how did the Dammam people transform into Chinese citizens? After becoming Chinese citizens, how has their lives changed?
It turned out that in 2001, when an official from the Shigatse region visited the people, he suddenly stumbled into the home of a Daman family. The officials were very surprised by the Daman people, who were surrounded by disciples, and originally thought that they were a race of local Tibetans, but when they asked carefully, they learned that their race of more than 200 people was actually an international black household!
Not only do the houses here not belong to them, they don't even have decent furniture and land, and they don't even have nationality or household registration! Since then, the Daman ethnic group has begun to enter the vision of the Tibet People's Autonomous Region Government.
In the past two years, through continuous consultations and investigations and visits by the government and higher authorities, as well as the continuous efforts of the mainland government. In 2003, with the approval of the State Council, Dammam people officially became Chinese nationals, which is the scene mentioned above.
On May 26, 2003, the Daman became Chinese citizens, a branch of the Tibetan ethnic group, and the local government and the common people began to affectionately call them "Daman" and "Damang". To date, there are 51 Families of Dammam people, for a total of 175 people living in the Dammam Natural Area.
They ended their bitter and unsettled wandering life, obtained rice and flour grain and oil sent by the local government and party committee, and finally lived a new life.
In 2004, Geelong County invested funds in the construction of Damanxin Village, building three buildings totaling 49 houses for them. A year later, the Dammam people moved into the new house, and after more than 200 years, their people finally had a house of their own.
Not only that, but each of their families was given land and cattle, and the government wanted to encourage them to achieve self-sufficiency through production. Since then, the life of the Daman people has been greatly improved, and the standard of living has risen sharply.
Considering their difficult life without access to water and electricity, the local government has invested hundreds of thousands of yuan to purchase daily necessities for each of their families, and has also invested a lot of money to install running water for them. Even the television sets at home were carefully selected and distributed for them by the staff of the Central Propaganda Department and the Central Civilization Office.
In addition to this, the State provides equal subsidies to Dammam and other ethnic minorities every year. In this way, an adult dammam man can receive a subsidy ranging from several thousand yuan a year.
Finally, there is the issue of education for the Damans, whose entire people have been in a state of language and no writing for more than 200 years, and more than 90 per cent of the population is illiterate.
Today, all of Dammam's school-age teenagers are sent to free schools by the state, giving them various subsidies every semester, allowing them to start school life to learn knowledge and change the future of this race.
In addition to education, social security is also accompanied by social security. In 2014, the wife of Jiang Que, a villager in Daman Village, was doing farm work and had dislocated shoulders, and her condition worsened because she did not seek medical treatment in time, and it cost nearly 20,000 yuan to be hospitalized in Shigatse.
Due to the government's health insurance and related assistance policies for Dammam people, their medical expenses were eventually reimbursed, and his wife also picked up a healthy arm.
The government has been so kind to them, and the Dammanians are grateful and often grateful. If you come to Damanxin Village now, you can see that every household has a bright five-star red flag hanging at the door, which is their identification with their identity and expresses their incomparable gratitude to the party and the country.
In addition, historically, the Daman people also thought about returning to Nepal, but they ruthlessly refused. In a desperate situation and the days are getting more and more difficult, we have tolerated them. Some young people here will also offer to join the army and serve the country, and Basang is one of them.
In 2015, he joined a border defense unit of the Tibet Military Region of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. During his service, relying on his excellent field knowledge and life experience, he predicted landslides and heavy rains many times during his patrols, effectively avoiding huge losses.
Bassan reacted quickly, meticulously, combined with the local terrain, and made very valuable suggestions to the company commander, directly or indirectly avoiding many accidents, he said in an interview:
"The state has been very good to us, not only to build us a house, to let us study, but also to give us money every year. In return, enlistment in the army became my dream, and I was very eager to make a contribution to the country. ”
Although The Daman people are often mistaken for foreigners because of their huge differences in appearance. But at this time, the Tall-nosed, Blue-Eyed Dammanians would always seriously say to these people, "We are Chinese, and we are Tibetans in China!" ”