Xibe people
"Sibo military colonists", picture drawn by Henry Lansdell during his 1882 visit to what is now Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County
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| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 172,900 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 China (Xinjiang · Liaoning · Jilin)
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| Languages | |
| Xibe and Mandarin Chinese | |
| Religion | |
| Tibetan Buddhism and shamanism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Manchu, Daur, Nanai, Orok, Evenks and Solon |
The Sibe or Xibo (
IPA: [ɕivə];simplified Chinese: 锡伯; traditional Chinese: 錫伯; pinyin: Xībó) are a Tungusic people living mostly in Xinjiang, Jilin (bordering North Korea) and Shenyang in Liaoning. The Sibe form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by China.
The Sibe are known by several variations of their name. The self-appellation of the Sibe people is pronounced Śivə, the official Chinese term is Xibo, in Russian literature the terms sibin'ci/šibin'ci are used, while in English works the name Sibe has been established, which corresponds to the written form.
According to the Russian scholar Elena P. Lebedeva, the Sibe people originated as a southern, Tungusic-speaking offshoot of the ancient Shiwei people. They lived in small town-like settlements, a portion of them nomadic, in the Songyuan and Qiqihar areas of what is now Jilin.
When the Buyeo kingdom was conquered by the Xianbei in 286, the southern Shiwei started practicing agriculture. Some historians have theorized that the Xianbei were the direct progenitors of the Sibe, a theory described as politically motivated.Pamela Kyle Crossley writes the Xianbei might have undergone a language shift from an earlier Turkic or proto-Mongolian language to a Tungusic one. However, the name "Sibe" was not used in historical records during Xianbei times.
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Wikipedia