Why are T ung “undiscovered” pygmies?
The western scientist who defined the Taron as pygmies in Burma did not look to this ethnic group’s historical roots in Tibet to see if there were others, because Tibet and parts of western China were “closed areas” until the past decade. Fisher was the first American to enter and publish on many of these vast canyonlands starting in 1987 most particularly the Yarlung Tsanpo where the issue of a lost Tibetan Pygmy tribe first came into question. C. While Chinese ethnologists have long recognized the Dulong or Qui-pa people as exceptionally physically small and indeed a unique separate culture, they have never, until May 14, 2009, considered the issue that they might actually be pygmies. Why is this discovery important?
