The term Qiang (pronounced chee-ahng) represents a nomadic group from northwest China first recognized more than 3000 years ago according to Chinese history. Many of Sichuan and Yunnan's minority cultures are believed to be descended from the early Qiang peoples. However, the distinction between the term Qiang as an ancestral people and the modern Qiang people which remain is rather vague. Much of Qiang culture was absorbed and/or assimilated by Tibetan and Han groups over the centuries. However, Qiang peoples who managed to remain isolated from these influences inhabit the autonomous Aba Tibetan Qiang region of northern Sichuan today. Believers in animism, the Qiang relied largely upon pre-industrialized agriculture until modern advances introduced by the PRC in 1950.

See the Wikipedia entry on Qiang people