Origin of Sino-Tibetan people

Introduction

This article is largely based on the linguist George van Driem's theory that combines archaeological sites and linguistics to determine when and where the various Sino-Tibetan people split. This is the most comprehensive research so far to explain the origin and connection between the different Sino-Tibetan tribes.

However, Van Driem's model is modified to incorporate recent research for more accuracy.

The traditional name 'Sino-Tibetan' is now being challenged because it is found in recent research that the two earliest branches which split are not Sinitic and Tibetan. Therefore some linguists renamed them as Trans-Himalayan language family. However, we will stick with the most traditional name in this article to avoid confusion.

There were four main migration paths which resulted in several main branches. Due to the extensiveness of all the languages which is imperfectly explored, not all of the languages have been correctly classified into its sub-branches.

Homeland of proto-Sino-Tibetan

George van Driem stated that the homeland of proto-Sino-Tibetan is in Sichuan province in China which is geographically very close to James Matisoff's more accurate theory that the homeland is in eastern Qinghai on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau where all the major river sources (Yellow River, Yangtze, Mekong) flow from.

Main branches of Sino-Tibetan family

The proto-Sino-Tibetan tribes migrated out of Qinghai-Tibetan plateau mainly due to the need for warmer weather and more food as the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau gets higher by one centimeter every year due to pressure from the impinging plates of Indian subcontinent on the Himalayas which means the weather will only get colder and colder and climate harder for crops to grow.

Central Sino-Tibetan

The Mesolithic and Neolithic site began around 11,500 BC and is situated in eastern Qinghai close to Sichuan's border.

It is proposed that the descendants of the Sino-Tibetan people who live in the original homeland of the proto-Sino-Tibetan people be called the central branch (instead of South-Eastern branch as in Van Driem's model). Their languages preserve many complex ancient Sino-Tibetan linguistic features.

Central Sino-Tibetan

The Central Sino-Tibetan includes:

• Qiangic (Qiang, Muya, Pumi, Tangut) in western Sichuan.
• Jiarongic (Jiarong, Lavrong, Horpa) in western Sichuan.
• Ersuic (Ersu, Lizu, Tosu) in western Sichuan
• Naic (Nashi, Mosuo) in western Sichuan and Yunnan.

South-western Sino-Tibetan

The first group to split from the homeland was the south-western branch who introduced neolithic technologies to the lower Brahmaputra plains of northeast India which was called Indian Eastern Neolithic site (7000-2000 BC). The descendants of this branch live mainly along the Brahmaputra Basin in India. Some linguists call this Sino-Tibetan branch the Brahmaputran branch.

Migration path of South-western Sino-Tibetan

The South-western Sino-Tibetan includes the following groups

• Bodo-Garo people (Bodo, Garo, Koch, Tripuri, Dimasa) in Northeast India
• North Naga (Konyak, Chang, Khiamniungan) in Northeast India

The Chinese didn't record these Sino-Tibetan tribes because Brahmaputra Basin was outside the boundaries of Chinese interaction in ancient times. 

North Sino-Tibetan

The second group to split from the homeland was the northern branch which moved north into the source of Yellow River and later split into two subgroups forming the Dadiwan (6500-5200 BC) and Peiligang-Cishan (6500-5600 BC) Neolithic regions.

North-western Sino-Tibetan

Migration path of North-western Sino-Tibetan

Dadiwan later became Majiayao Neolithic (3900 BC-1800 BC) in Gansu province which gave rise to the ancestors of the proto-Bodic-Himalayish people.

The North-western Sino-Tibetan includes

• Bodic people (Tibetan, Ngalop, Tamang, Gurung) in Tibet and Bhutan 
• Western Himalayish aka Shang-Shung people in western Tibet.
• Maha-Kirat people (Limbu, Rai, Lepcha) in Nepal and Sikkim
• Newar-Tharu people in Nepal

During Shang dynasty, the ancestors of Han Chinese recorded these Sino-Tibetan tribes living to the west of Yellow River as the ancient Qiang (羌) people. During the Eastern Zhou dynasty (771-476 BC), another related Sino-Tibetan tribe i.e. Di (氐) was recorded to live in Gansu province.

North-eastern Sino-Tibetan

Peiligang-Cishan later became Yangshao Neolithic (5500 BC-2700 BC) in Shaanxi and Henan provinces which gave rise to the proto-Sinitic people who are the ancestors of the Han Chinese in China.

Migration path of North-eastern Sino-Tibetan

This was succeeded by the Longshan Neolithic culture (2600 BC-1900 BC). More details can be found in the documentary below.

Yangshao and Longshan Neolithic documentary

The North-eastern Sino-Tibetan includes

• Han Chinese distributed in whole of China
• Bai people lives in south-western China
• Ba people (Tujia) lives in south-western China

South-eastern Sino-Tibetan

The fourth group went down to Sichuan basin to form the south-eastern branch. The earliest archaeological site found was Baodun (寶墩) site which existed around 2500-1750 BC in Chengdu city in Sichuan province.

This was followed by the related Sanxingdui 三星堆 (aka Three Stars Mound) site in Guanghan (廣漢) near Chengdu which existed around 1700-1200 BC. Followed by related Jinsha site in Chengdu which existed around 1200-500 BC.

Migration path of South-eastern Sino-Tibetan

The documentary below states that this archaeological site is the capital of the ancient Shu (蜀) kingdom. 

Sanxingdui documentary

The south-eastern Sino-Tibetan includes

• Lolo-Yi people (Yi, Hani, Akha, Lahu) in Myanmar and Yunnan.
• Burmic people (Bamar, Zaiwa) in Myanmar.

George van Driem put this branch under 'Deep Southern'.

Unclassified tribes

George van Driem mentioned that Karen tribe probably migrated into Myanmar and introduced the Bronze Age technology to mainland Southeast Asia around 2000-1000 BC but there's no ancient archaeological site that could confirm this connection to the Karen tribe.

In light of the Jingpho's recent origin discovery, they might actually belong to the northern branch instead of the southern branch.

Non-sinitic Sino-Tibetan tribes

The classification of many other Sino-Tibetan tribes such as Chin-Kuki, Karen, South Naga, Nungish group (Rawang, Derung aka Trung), Luish/Asakian, Tani group, Digaro group are uncertain or controversial.

Future research into their linguistic relationships, legends and migration history will shed more light on a more accurate classification.

Video on Sino-Tibetan tribes

This is an introductory video on the various Sino-Tibetan tribes. However, ignore the first minute which stated that there are only two main branches which is due to insufficient research in the past.

Conclusion

The ancestors of Sino-Tibetans migrated from eastern Qinghai province into different regions and formed the many Sino-Tibetan tribes today. They spread across the main rivers of Yellow River, Yangtze River, Salween River, Irrawaddy River, Chindwin River, Yarlung River and Brahmaputra River. Refer to map below.

Although the different tribes developed different cultures, the similar languages and genetics which are inherited from their ancestors link these tribes together. Tribes within the same Sino-Tibetan branch are more similar in terms of language and genes.

Spread of Sino-Tibetan tribes

Even though the other Sino-Tibetan tribes are related to the Han Chinese genetically and linguistically, the Sino-Tibetan tribes in North-East India, Myanmar and Tibetan Plateau don't use chopsticks or write in Chinese characters because they were separated before the Han Chinese culture developed along the Yellow River.

A more detailed origin of some of the tribes can be found in the 'Related links' section below.

Related links

Origin of Han Chinese

Origin of Tibetan

Origin of Nepalese & Sikkimese

Origin of Burmese (Bamar)

Origin of South Naga

Origin of Chin

Origin of North Naga

Origin of Karen

Origin of Jingpho

Origin of Tani

Sources

• The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics. Laurent Sagart, Roger Blench,Alicia Sanchez-Mazas.
• A new theory on the origin of Chinese. Author: George van Driem.
• Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Present State and Future Prospects, Annual Review of Anthropology, 20: 469–504. Matisoff, James A. (1991)
• The Himalayas: Two continents collide. https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/himalaya.html
• https://kknews.cc/zh-mo/culture/5eeypo6.html
• Ancient Central China: Centers and Peripheries Along the Yangtze River. New York: Cambridge University Press. Authors: Flad, Rowan; Chen, Pochan (2013). p. 89-90.
• Phylogenetic evidence for Sino-Tibetan origin in northern China in the Late Neolithic, Nature (2019). Menghan Zhang et al.
• Munda languages are father tongues. By George van Driem. Cambridge University Press 2020.

Last updated: 20 Aug 2021
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