In the classic book "Notre Dame de Paris" by the French writer Victor Hugo, the story of a gypsy girl is described in the eyes of foreign cultures, and gypsies refer to people who have no fixed residence and live a wandering life.
These people have no state to rely on, no legal status, and are alone from birth to death, so they often have no place to live and sleep in the wind.
In the southern foothills of the Mainland Himalayas there is a "Daman" whose fate is very similar to that of the Gypsies, who live in The Girongou at an altitude of 5,500 meters above sea level, with only thirty-four households and a population of less than 200 people.
They are good at mountaineering, have typical exotic characteristics, and their living habits are very similar to those of the Tibetans in the vicinity, they also wear Tibetan robes, eat rice sticks, and like to eat dairy products.
Although they live in China, before 2003, the Damans were not legal citizens with Chinese nationality, but only refugees stranded on the Tibetan border.
At that time, the greatest wish of the Daman people was to become a Chinese national and become an upright Chinese.
So, where did the Damans come from, and were they not descendants of Chinese in terms of blood? Why did they wait for more than 200 years before they got Chinese citizenship? After becoming Chinese nationals, what about their lives?
The origin of the Daman people
There is a word of mouth about the Damans, who are said to have waged a second invasion of the border areas of Giron and Nelam in July 1791 by the Gurkha dynasty in Nepal.
At that time, the mainland was still under the rule of the Qing government, and in order to resist foreign enemies, Qianlong sent General Fukang'an to fight on the border, and the Qing government at that time was in the peak of its military strength.
General Fukang'an led the Shubian soldiers to victory and quickly drove the Nepalese back, but this Shubian army had many Manchu, Han, and even Mongol soldiers.
They came from different regions, some of them trekked to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for the first time, so many soldiers were lost in the jungle for various reasons on the way to the expedition.
According to records, the shubian troops led by Fu Kang'an, in addition to the case of attrition due to casualties, hundreds of soldiers were missing because they were not familiar with the terrain, many of whom were heavy cavalry.
Therefore, the title of the Daman people is also related to the original occupation of cavalry, "Da" means "horse" in Tibetan, and "Man" means "soldier", "soldier", "army".
So the Damans are also called "descendants of cavalry", but this is just a legend passed down by the Daman population. So, what about the real situation?
According to historical records, the Damans have lived in the Tibetan region of the mainland for more than two hundred years, and the available information indicates that they are most likely descendants of the Gurkha cavalry that was scattered by General Fukang'an at that time.
Due to the conditions at that time, it was difficult for these scattered Gurkha cavalry to return to their homeland, so they stayed in China, married wives and children, and lived with local Tibetans for a long time.
There is also a theory that the Damans originated from a small tribe in the southern foothills of the Himalayas, where the ice was frozen all year round and the weather was cold, and the ancestors of the tribe led the Damans to the warm Andrung Gougou.
These claims have some truth, but they cannot be used as direct evidence, because although the Daman people have their own language and ethnic habits, they do not have their own script.
Therefore, the question of the origin of the Daman people is missing the most important historical reference. The Dammanians, on the other hand, have heard some stories about their origins from their ancestors.
But these are just a few words, the Daman people pass on from generation to generation, can not rule out the occurrence of misremembered events, so these oral origin stories can not be used as strong evidence to explore the origin of Daman.
Therefore, the origin of the Daman people can only be explored by historians.
But although the origin of the Daman people is still not fully determined, the Daman people have classified themselves as Chinese in terms of identity.
Like Tibetans, they drink milk, like to eat dairy products, speak Tibetan and wear Tibetan clothes, and even local young people and Tibetans live traditional Tibetan festivals.
The only difference is their appearance, which is clearly different from the Tibetans, their eyes are blue, large and deep, and their skin is whiter than that of the Tibetans.
But this difference has weakened over the centuries, and a new generation of Damians, influenced by plateaus and with dark brown skin, many of them no longer speak their own language.
Even the traditional Festivals of the Dammam people are getting fewer and fewer, and only the older generation of Dammam people still insist on speaking the obscure Dammam language.
Because of the purchase of nationality, Dammam people do not enjoy the treatment that citizens should have in any country. Before 2003, their life model was very primitive, and they still retained the ancient production method of slash-and-burn farming.
So, what has life been like for the People of Dammam for more than two hundred years? Why did it take them two hundred years to get Chinese citizenship?
The Daman people's difficult naturalization road
Because the Daman people are still in the era of cut-and-burn cultivation, they have almost lived a life of eating and sleeping in the wind for more than two hundred years.
Later, in order to support their families, the Daman people began to actively integrate into the lives of local Tibetans, and the stronger men among them generally worked as blacksmiths, masons, porters, and so on.
Women, on the other hand, worked as weavers and helpers, and the local Tibetans were very friendly to them, and when they saw the homeless Damans, they would often provide them with free shelter or give them some food.
The Daman people also cherish this friendship and often help local Tibetans to do some work within their capabilities. On May 24, 1951, Tibet was peacefully liberated.
With the help of the Chinese government, local Tibetans have built bungalows one after another, and their lives have been greatly improved, while the Daman people have no nationality, and it is difficult to enjoy this unique treatment of citizens.
When the local Tibetans had adopted new houses and had their own pastures, the Houses inhabited by the Damans were old-fashioned houses made of rudimentary stones and covered with thatch and planks.
Although the local government wanted to help them, but for a while did not know how to start, although the Daman people lived with the Tibetans for more than two hundred years, but their houses were obviously different from the local Tibetans because of the limitations of feudal bad habits.
Local Tibetans once said: "The best way to distinguish The Daman house is the color and smell of the building." ”
Because Dammam people do not like to clean houses, their houses from the day they are built, almost always black and gray, whether it is a festival or a happy event, they will never take the initiative to clean their houses.
Even the domestic garbage generated indoors, the Dammam people will throw it around the outside of the house until the garbage decays and decomposes, and the Damman people rarely dispose of it.
Fellow Tibetans still remember the smell of Daman houses, which they say is a mixture of wine and meat and rotten garbage.
A few meters away, the smell that belongs to the Dammam people can be clearly captured. Local Tibetan cadres have also tried to communicate with the Damans, but to no avail.
Life in the Daman people was extremely difficult, and when they first arrived, they could only live in the cattle pen and sheep pen of the local Tibetans, and later as the time spent with the Tibetans increased, the local Tibetans would also build some stone houses for them.
The Daman people live in these stone houses, and they also have to go to the homes of local Tibetans to help and worry about their livelihood, so they can only live casually.
Watching their Tibetan compatriots live in new houses, use modern technology, and get better and better, the Damans also hope to be able to join the Chinese nationality and become a part of China, but this wish was not realized until 2003.
Although the Daman people, like the local Tibetans, believe in Buddhism, they are not so devout to Buddhism, and due to their habits, the Daman people pursue a free and free life.
They have a tradition of killing and sacrificing, often killing a live sheep and sacrificing the blood of the gods on the eighth day of August, but in tibetan Buddhism, killing will bring them bad karma, so local Tibetans are more taboo about killing.
According to Tibetan custom, those involved in killing are not allowed to worship the Buddha and Bodhisattva, so the Figure of Daman is rarely seen in the local temple.
But with the development of the times, a new generation of Damans followed the Tibetan people to believe in Tibetan Buddhism, and they have slowly abandoned the tradition of sacrificing "living beings" in the past.
They believe in monogamy and monogamy, are relatively free in thought, and have fewer age, ethical, and other restrictions, except that they cannot intermarry within three generations.
In Tibetan tradition, people in the profession of blacksmiths and craftsmen are more or less contaminated with something "unclean", so they rarely let their children intermarry with the Damans.
The craftsmanship of the Daman people is the exquisite blacksmithing technology, and the pots and pans used by the local Tibetans are all made by the Daman people.
Tibetans often approach local Damans to help out and pay them what they deserve.
Since the beginning of the last century, in order to aid Tibet's construction, the state has continuously transported a large number of talents from the interior to Tibet and helped local residents develop their economy.
These migrant Han compatriots sometimes choose to marry the local Daman people, who have always been a very inclusive ethnic group and are willing to accept The Damans.
In 2001, a Daman woman married a Han man from Hebei Province, and the Han man brought her back to the mainland to live, and the two also gave birth to two beautiful and lovely daughters.
But for Daman men, starting a family seems to be a difficult task, and it is difficult for them to find a suitable partner unless they leave their homeland.
In general, the Dammam people, because they have no nationality, have long lived in poverty until 26 May 2003, when this plight was officially declared.
From wandering around to living and working in peace
On May 26, 2003, the Chinese government gave The Daman people Chinese nationality, and the ethnicity on the ID card is Tibetan, so that the Daman people finally have the backing of the state.
Prior to this, the Daman people were neither Nepalese nor Chinese, but they psychologically considered themselves to be Chinese, and they were more mindful of others calling them "Damans" and preferred to be called Chinese.
Before becoming Chinese, the Damans, in addition to striking iron, mainly supported the family by working as porters for local Tibetan families and doing some hard work.
After becoming a Chinese citizen, the Government of Geelong has been working to improve the living conditions of the Dammam people, and since May 1, 2004, the government has launched a new housing project, helping the Daman people to build 49 buildings, which has greatly improved the living conditions of the Dammam people.
After that, in order to ensure the normal life of the Dammam people, the local government also found a construction team and spent 530,000 yuan to buy new furniture for the local Daman people, install modern facilities such as running water and electric lights.
The Daman people are also grateful for the help given by the government, and in the face of the reporter's interview, they will point to the new furniture and smile: "These and these are all given by the state, all are national construction." ”
Since 2007, in order to ensure the normal cultural life of residents, the state has decided to carry out the "TV into Ten Thousand Homes" project in Tibet, and the Daman settlement area is also within the scope of the state plan.
The cultural life of the Dammam people has also become colorful with the help of the state, and the Dammam people are industrious and simple, and they are often grateful for everything the state has given.
In 2011, there was a large geological disaster in the local area, and the houses of local residents were damaged to varying degrees, and the state decided to allocate 130,000 yuan to each household for the reconstruction of the houses for these victims.
In order to resettle these Dammamians, the government also issued temporary living tents to each household until the construction of the houses was completed. The Damans were reluctant to throw away the tents.
They said it was a tent given by the government, and they were grateful to the party and the state, so they couldn't throw it away.
The Daman people are industrious and simple, know how to be grateful to the country and the society, and their originally closed lives have become more and more colorful in the construction of daily exchanges.
In 2017, Dawa Dorji, a Dammam native, took the college entrance examination and successfully became the first college student in the new Dammam village.
On the day they received their acceptance letters, the People of Dammam arrived at Vadogji's house to rejoice, hoping that their children would be like Davadogji and become useful to society and the country.
In 2022, with the rapid development of modernization and urbanization, Dammam people have lived a full-time life to appreciate the colorfulness of China in the new era.
From living in a displaced place to living in a new and beautiful building and living a modern life, the People of Dammam are grateful for the contributions of the state and the government, and for this, they have installed a five-star red flag in their homes.
So that you can always feel the love of the country, and always be grateful for the contributions made by the country.
For a unified multi-ethnic country, what is most needed is for the people to always support the country and unite their compatriots with a grateful heart and a strong sense of national identity.
Only in this way can the country become stronger and stronger, and the people's lives become happier and happier.