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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Eastern Jiarong of China

The Eastern Jiarong of China, numbering approximately 266,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Sichuan alpine people calling themselves Keru, officially classified under China's Tibetan nationality despite a distinct language, dress, and customs, blending Tibetan Buddhism with Bon temple traditions shared by their Qiang neighbors. They mostly adhere to Tibetan Buddhism and Jiarong is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Jiarong, Eastern

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Tibetan Peoples
Country: China
People Cluster: Tibetan
Primary Language(s): Jiarong (jya)
Primary Religion(s): Tibetan Buddhism
Population: 266,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG007213
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Pray for the Eastern Jiarong of China

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Tibetan Buddhism
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

95%
%
Tibetan Buddhism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Jiarong
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

80%
%
Jiarong Speakers

Media Resources in Jiarong:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Jiarong:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Jiarong bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Eastern Jiarong are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Eastern Jiarong:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Eastern Jiarong of China

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him
readLuke 10:34

Pray that the lost among them will experience the kind of compassion Jesus taught His followers to show others, and that they will trust in Him because He is the one who brings healing to the broken and lost.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
readRomans 1:19-20

Pray that God will use His creation – the “things that have been made” – to spark a fresh and passionate curiosity among them to draw near to the Maker and that, as they seek Him, He will make a way for them to hear the gospel and receive it with joy.

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
readLamentations 3:24

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and walk through trials, they will be satisfied with the Lord as their portion and will place all their hope in Him.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
readMatthew 7:28-29

Pray that God will remind believers that they have His authority as they share His truth with the lost, and pray He will draw crowds of people to this message and plant it deeply in their hearts.

Jiarong, Situ Across Countries (ROP3 - 114123) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Eastern JiarongPG007213Eastern JiarongChina266,000Engaged yet UnreachedJiarongTibetan Buddhism

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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