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The Eastern Jiarong of China

The Eastern Jiarong of China, numbering approximately 267,000 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: 267,000
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

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
readTitus 3:3

Pray for those who seek worldly pleasures instead of God to flee from sin and choose God’s goodness and lovingkindness by placing their faith in Jesus.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
readLamentations 3:23-23

Pray that they will have hope in the Lord, knowing that His compassions never fails and that His mercies are new every morning.

"...I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
readMatthew 16:18b

Pray that God will build and grow His Church among this people.

Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!
readPsalm 105:1

Pray that many among them will call on the name of Jesus, develop a heart for the nations, and go to places where the gospel has not yet been received.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountry ▼PopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Eastern JiarongPG007213Eastern JiarongChina267,000Engaged 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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