Glossary

All terms below are Tibetan unless otherwise noted.

Ache Lhamo ཨ་ལྕེ་ལྷ་མོ། • a form of Tibetan opera from Ü-Tsang, often featuring some satirical performance

“Alalamo” ཨ་ལ་ལ་མོ། • a song by the hip-hop artist Jason J

Amdo ཨ་མདོ། • an ethnolinguistic region

Amhkel ཨམ་སྐད། • the dialects of Tibetan spoken in Amdo

Arik Lenpa ཨ་རིག་གླེན་པ། • a popular buffoon from Amdo Tibetan oral traditions

Bod (T) བོད། / Zangzu (Ch.) 藏族 • the name Tibetans now use for the Tibetan ethnic group, pronounced wod or wol in Amdo

Bongdzi བོང་རྫི། • literally “donkey herder,” the internet handle of controversial public intellectual Lobsang Yongdan

chol kha sum ཆོལ་ཁ་གསུམ། • the Tibetan concept that divides the plateau into three major ethnolinguistic regions: Amdo (northeastern Tibet), Kham (eastern Tibet), and Ü-Tsang (Central Tibet)

Dekyi Tsering བདེ་སྐྱིད་ཚེ་རིང་། • a Tibetan rapper

Dohmad མདོ་སྨད། • the traditional name for Amdo

Dohtod མདོ་སྟོད། • the traditional name for Kham

dokwa བཏགས་པ། • extemporaneously composed poems people share back and forth in order to belittle each other’s appearance or behavior; written as btags pa, and also pronounced regionally as daksa, dakree, and dokra.

Dondrup Jya དོན་གྲུབ་རྒྱལ། • 1953–85, author and cofounder of modern Tibetan literature

dongchong xiacao (Ch.) 冬虫夏草 • see yartsa gunbu

dranyen སྒྲ་སྙན། • a Tibetan stringed instrument plucked like a lute

Drijya Yangkho འབྲི་བརྒྱ་གཡང་ཁོ། • a character in the “caterpillar fungus” comedic sketch

Drowa zangmo འགྲོ་བ་བཟང་མོ། • a classic Tibetan opera

Drukmo འབྲུག་མོ། • King Gesar’s wife in the Tibetan epic, often treated as the paragon of virtue and womanly beauty

Dubhe བདུད་བྷེ། • 1968–2016, a popular singer of Tibetan dunglen music

dunglen རྡུང་ལེན། • a style of music, particularly popular in Amdo, in which a single singer or group of singers plucks either a traditional dranyen or a mandolin while singing

fengci (Ch.) 讽刺 • satire

Gansu (Ch.) 甘肃 • a province in Northwest China

garchung (T) གར་ཆུང་། / xiaopin (Ch.) 小品 • literally “small plays,” one of the terms most frequently used for Tibetan sketch comedies in the twenty-first century

Gesar གེ་སར། • the hero of the Tibetan national epic

géwa དགེ་བ། • the Tibetan term for the Buddhist concept of “virtue” or good action

Golok (T) མགོ་ལོག / Guoluo (Ch.) 果洛 • a Tibetan autonomous prefecture in the southern part of Tsongon (Qinghai)

Gomang (T) མགོ་མང་། / Guomaying (Ch.) 过马营 • a town in Mangra County, in Amdo

Goméla (T) སྒོ་མེ་ལ། / Laji Shan (Ch.) 垃圾山 • a mountain pass west of Ziling

Gonpo Dorje jamchod མགོན་པོ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཇ་མཆོད། • “Gonpo Dorje’s Tea Prayer,” an early script sometimes argued as the first Tibetan khashag

gormo སྒོར་མོ། • the Amdo Tibetan word for money

Guide (Ch.) 贵德 • see Trika

Guinan (Ch.) 贵南 • see Mangra

Gungthang Tenpa Dronme གུང་ཐང་བསྟན་པའི་སྒྲོན་མེ། • 1762–1823, the author of “Gonpo Dorje’s Tea Prayer,” sometimes called the first Tibetan comedic dialogue

Guoluo (Ch.) 果洛 • see Golok

Guomaying (Ch.) 过马营 • see Gomang

gushi (Ch.) 故事 • stories

Hainan (Ch.) 海南 • see Tsolho

Han (Ch.) 汉 • the majority ethnic group in China

He Chi (Ch.) 何迟 • 1922–92, a Manchu performer of xiangsheng who was criticized for the performance “Buying Monkeys”

Henan (Ch.) 河南 • see Malho

Hou Baolin (Ch.) 侯宝林 • 1917–93, a renowned performer of Chinese xiangsheng

Hu Yaobang (Ch.) 胡耀邦 • 1915–89, the former general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party from 1982 to 1987

Hui (Ch.) 回 • the largest Muslim minority group in China

Jamyang Lodree འཇམ་དབྱངས་བློ་གྲོས། • 1974–2019, a popular comedian from Golok in Amdo

Jigme Rigpai Lodro འཇིགས་མེད་རིག་པའི་བློ་གྲོས། • 1910–85, the sixth incarnation of Tsetan Shabdrung

jyala རྒྱ་ལྭ། • modern clothing like jeans and T-shirts, literally “Han clothing”

Jyanang རྒྱ་ནང་། • “Inner China,” referring primarily to the developed coastal regions

Jyoktrin (T) མགྱོགས་འཕྲིན། / Kuaishou (Ch.) 快手 • a social media application for sharing videos and streaming popular with Tibetans

jyutselpa སྒྱུ་རྩལ་པ། • an artist

katsom ཀ་རྩོམ། • a thirty-line Tibetan poem in which the first syllable of the first line is the first letter of the Tibetan syllabary, and each successive line starts with the ensuing letters

khabde ཁ་བདེ། • wit or eloquence, literally “good mouth”

Kham ཁམས། • one of the three ethnolinguistic regions of Tibet recognized in the chol kha sum, comprising Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai, most of Ganze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the northwesternmost part of Yunnan, and the eastern portions of the Tibet Autonomous Region

khamtshar ཁ་མཚར། • witticisms and speech practices marked by an emphasis on quick-witted banter, literally “amazing mouth” (in some locations, it can also be used interchangeably with kure to say “I’m just kidding”)

khashag ཁ་ཤགས། • staged and scripted comedic dialogues

khatak ཁ་བཏགས། • silk scarves that Tibetans frequently offer to guests, newlyweds, and important people

khel ཁེད། • a traditional genre of riddle lore in which speakers indirectly and metaphorically describe an object or concept for others to guess

Khenpo Tsultrim Lodree མཁན་པོ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་བློ་གྲོས། • b. 1962, the abbot of Serta Larung Gar monastic college

Kuaishou (Ch.) 快手 • see Jyoktrin

Kumbum སྐུ་འབུམ། • a monastery in Amdo near Ziling City

kure ཀུ་རེ། • joke; often takes the verb tsé (to play)

labjyagpa ལབ་རྒྱག་པ། • “boasting” or “bullshitting,” a form of Tibetan speech in which speakers make outlandish statements, sometimes competing to be more ridiculous than what came before

Labrang བླ་བྲང་། • a monastery in Gansu

Laji Shan (Ch.) 垃圾山 • see Goméla

lama བླ་མ། • a holy man or guru. In Amdo, lamas mediate disputes, perform religious services for the community, and are traditionally afforded unquestioning respect.

Langdarma གླང་དར་མ། • r. 841–42, the common name for the last king of the Tsanpo dynasty in Tibet

larjya ལ་རྒྱ། • a Tibetan concept meaning “pride,” “dignity,” or “honor” that became especially important to Amdo Tibetan intellectual conversations and cultural production in the early years of the post-Mao period

laye ལ་ཡེ། • a traditional love-song genre popular in Amdo

Lhalung Hualdor ལྷ་ལུང་དཔལ་རྡོར། • the commonly used name for the monk who assassinated King Landarma in 842, often said to have spent the remainder of his life in Amdo

Lobzang Dorje བློ་བཟང་རྡོ་རྗེ། • the former director and performer in the Eastern Lhasa Propaganda Team, popularly called “King Zangmo”

lomtun བློ་མཐུན། • comrade

Losar Gongtsog ལོ་སར་དགོང་ཚོགས། • a major television program that airs annually on the eve of the Tibetan New Year

lu ཀླུ། • autochthonous numina in the Tibetan lakes and waterways that are sometimes thought to control wealth and cause human illness

Ludrub Jyamtso ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་རྒྱ་མཚོ། • a rapper who performs under the name “Uncle Buddhist”

Lujya Rati ཀླུ་རྒྱལ་རཱ་ཏི། • a filmmaker from Amdo and director of a feature-length film about Uncle Tonpa

lungta རླུང་རྟ། • small, square pieces of colorful paper with a prayer printed on them that may be thrown into the air (in Amdo, this word may also refer to a person’s luck)

lushag གླུ་ཤགས། • a genre of Tibetan antiphonal folksong

Ma Sanli (Ch.) 马三立 • 1914–2003, a Hui performer of xiangsheng who was criticized for the performance “Buying Monkeys”

Malho (T) རྨ་ལྷོ། / Henan (Ch.) 河南 • a Mongolian autonomous county where the Mongolian population speaks Amdo Tibetan

Mangra (T) མང་ར། / Guinan (Ch.) 贵南 • a county in Tsongon

Menla Jyab སྨན་བླ་སྐྱབས། • b. 1963, a famous comedian from Amdo

mirik gi larjya མི་རིགས་ཀྱི་ལ་རྒྱ། • “ethnic” or “national” pride; see larjya

minzu shibie (Ch.) 民族识别 • the nationwide project to identify the ethnic minority groups in the country

na མནའ། • “oaths”

nahtam གནའ་གཏམ། • “folktales” in Amdo, literally “old speech”

Namlha Bum གནམ་ལྷ་འབུམ། • a comedian from Amdo

ndroghkel འབྲོག་སྐད། • nomad dialects

ngen pa ངན་པ། • a bad person

Pema Tsetan པད་མ་ཚེ་བརྟན། • 1969–2023, a famed Tibetan author and filmmaker from Amdo

phalké ཕལ་སྐད། • a form of Tibetan writing using “vernacular” language

Phuntsog Tashi ཕུན་ཚོགས་བཀྲ་ཤིས། • a Tibetan comedian from Lhasa

Putonghua (Ch.) 普通话 • standard Chinese, the national language of the People’s Republic of China, literally “universal speech”

Qinghai (Ch.)青海 • see Tsongon

Rebgong རེབ་གོང་། • a county and region in Amdo roughly equivalent to Tongren County in Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

ronghkel རོང་སྐད། • a farming dialect

Ruyong Riglo རུ་ཡོང་རིག་ལོ། • a character in the “caterpillar fungus” comedic sketch

Samlo sarwa བསམ་བློ་གསར་པ། • New Thinkers

Secretary Wangchen དབང་ཆེན་ཧྲུའུ་ཅི། • a character in the “Studying Tibetan” comedic dialogue

Shar Kalden Jyamtso ཤར་སྐལ་ལྡན་རྒྱ་མཚོ། • 1607–77, a renowned monk and vernacular poet from Amdo

shengtai baohu (Ch.) 生态保护 • ecological conservation

Shidé Nyima ཞི་བདེ་ཉི་མ། • b. 1966, a popular comedian, poet, actor, and filmmaker

Shokdung ཞོགས་དུང་། • b. 1963, a prominent public intellectual from Amdo during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries

shtemdree རྟེན་འབྲེལ། • an omen, interdependence, material prosperity, or dependent origination

shuochang (Ch.) 说唱 • rap music, literally “speaking and singing”

Sichuan (Ch.) 四川 • a province in Southwestern China

Sokdzong སོག་རྫོང་། • a popular name for Malho County, literally “Mongolian County”

Soktruk Sherab སོག་ཕྲུག་ཤེས་རབ། • a popular actor and comedian from Amdo

sonam བསོད་ནམས། • merit

ta dadpa ཐ་དད་པ། • the category of transitive or agentive verbs verbs that take a subject marker

tamhwé གཏམ་དཔེ། • versified aphorisms and proverbs; used in Amdo

tamshel • གཏམ་བཤད། • a genre of versified Tibetan speeches

Tri Ralpachen ཁྲི་རལ་པ་ཅན། • c. 805–c. 838, one of the three dharma kings of Tibet

Trika (T) ཁྲི་ཀ། / Guide (Ch.) 贵德 • a county in Tsongon

tsampa རྩམ་པ། • both a flour made from roasted barley and the staple Tibetan meal made from mixing the barley flour with butter, water or tea, cheese, and sometimes other ingredients, like sugar; also the title of a song in chapter 5

Tsekhog (T) རྩེ་ཁོག / Zeku (Ch.) 泽库 • a county in Malho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai

Tsering Döndrup ཚེ་རིང་དོན་གྲུབ། • b. 1961, a Tibetan author from Amdo

tséwa རྩེད་བ། • literally “to play”

Tsolho (T) མཚོ་ལྷོ། / Hainan (Ch.) 海南 • a Tibetan autonomous prefecture south of Qinghai Lake

Tsongon (T) མཚོ་སྔོན། / Qinghai (Ch.) 青海 • a province in Northwest China

Tsongonpo མཚོ་སྔོན་པོ། • Qinghai Lake; also the title of a poem by Dondrup Jya that is regarded by some as a Tibetan national anthem

tulku སྤྲུལ་སྐུ། • a reincarnate lama; also the name of a famous satirical short story by Dondrup Jya

Ü-Tsang དབུས་གཙང་། • one of the three major ethnolinguistic regions of Tibet mentioned in the chol kha sum formulation, often glossed simply as “Central Tibet”

Weixin (Ch.) 微信 • a popular Chinese social media application, commonly known as WeChat

xiangsheng (Ch.) 相声 • the Han tradition of staged and scripted comic dialogues from northern China, commonly translated as “crosstalk” or “face and mouth routines”

xiaopin (Ch.) 小品 • see garchung

Xin qingnian (Ch.) 新青年 • New Youth, a magazine of the May Fourth Movement

xin min (Ch.) 新民 • new people, a discursive formation from Chinese scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

xin wenti (Ch.) 新文体 • new prose style, a form of writing promoted by Chinese scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Xining (Ch.) 西宁 • see Ziling

Yangjenma དབྱངས་ཅན་མ། • the boddhisattva associated with music and the arts

Yangsel དབྱངས་གསལ། • “Vowels and consonants,” the title of a popular rap song

yartsa gunbu (T) དབྱར་རྩྭ་དགུན་འབུ། / dongchong xiacao (Ch.) 冬虫夏草 • caterpillar fungus (Ophiocordyceps sinensis)

Zalejya ཟ་ལེ་རྒྱལ། • a fictional character from “Careful Village’s Bride”

Zangzu (Ch.) 藏族 • see Bod

Zeku (Ch.) 泽库 • see Tsekhog

zerjyu ré ཟེར་རྒྱུ་རེད། • a phrase appended at the ends of stanzas in traditional oratory

zhadgar བཞད་གར། • a humorous play; used interchangeably with garchung

zheematam གཞས་མ་གཏམ། • rap music, literally “neither verse nor speech”

zheng nengliang (Ch.) 正能量 • positive energy

Ziling (T) / Xining (Ch.) 西宁 • capital city of Tsongon (Qinghai)

Zonthar Gyal ཟོན་ཐར་རྒྱལ། • b. 1974, a Tibetan filmmaker from Amdo

zurza ཟུར་ཟ། • the Tibetan practice of critique targeting an individual or a type of social figure through indirection and humor, literally “eating the side.” Sometimes glossed in English as “satire” and “sarcasm,” the concept emerges in post-Mao Amdo as a key feature of some of the most popular forms of cultural production.