Abstract

This paper is based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Chengdu of China, capital of Sichuan Province, using anthropological research methods such as participant-observation and individual interviews of devotees, and collecting first-hand information during July 2010 and March 2011. Through descriptive analysis of the Tibetans’ life in Chengdu, this paper explores changes to the traditional Tibetan cultures and challenges faced by Tibetans while coping to this new environment in the context of urbanization and globalization. By means of one of the Tibetan’s stories happed in the Wuhou District in Chengdu, the paper attempts to show how the traditional Tibetan culture adapts to the change. The result shows that Tibetans have established a new urban community that has many functions, and plays a significant role for Tibetans migrants, preservation of the Tibetan cultures, and the development of Chengdu and the Tibetan countryside.

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