The Moinba ethnic group livesw in a compact community on the southern slope of the middle section of the Himalayas, and is traditonally referred to as Moinyu. The Moinba people within China inhabit Legpo Gully in Tsona County, Pelung Township in Nyingchi County, and Medog County. These places have a low altitude, especially Medog County, which has rare tropical scenery in contrast to the landscape elsewhere in Tibet.
Moinba people are predominantly farmers, producing mainly a native variety of millet with ears resembling chicken’s claws, corn an qingke barely. Their handicraft industry is famous for wooden bowls and bamboo woven products. Tourists may want to try a kind of buckwheat pancake made by the Moinba people. Without using a pot or fire, Moinbas spread buckwheat meal on a thin stone slab and leave it to bake in the sun until it is ready to be eaten.
Moinba people have a spoken language, but not a written script of their own, so they use the Tibetan script. They have a rich oral history tradition. There are innumerable and widely circulated folk songs, myths, legends and proverbs. Most Moinbas drop a few of these gems into everyday conversations. Like Lhobas, they do not have a strong religious belief, but worship nature and supernatural spirits, and have many taboos. Their forms of burial include water burial, sky burial, ground burial, and cliff burial.
Tips: Medog County has the biggest Moinba community and is the best showcase of the Moinba ethnic customs and tradtions. Other places of interest are the Pelung Township of the Moinba ethnic group in Nyingchi County by the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, and the Lad Township of Tsona County in Shannan. The former is also the starting point of one of the routes for exploring the Great Canyon of the Yarlung Zangbo.