The population is close to 310 thousand. The Qiang people mainly live in the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province and its vicinity, with concentration in Mao, Wenchuan, Li and Beichuan counties. A small number of the Qiang people live together with the Han, Tibetan, Hui and other ethnic groups. They use the Qiang language, which belongs to the Qiangic branch of Tibeto-Burman languages of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is divided into two major dialects,  the south and the north, and each dialect is divided into five vernaculars. Most Qiang people can speak Chinese. The Qiang ethnic group does not have its own script and Chinese characters have been used for a long time. The Qiang people call themselves “Erma” or “Ermie”, which means the “local people”. They are mainly engaged in agricultural production as well as animal husbandry. Except for some Qiang people in some areas close to the Tibetan ethnic group who believe in Tibetan Buddhism, the Qiang people generally believe in the animistic primitive religion. The Qiang people have their own calendar. The traditional New Year in Qiang calendar is the tenth month of the lunar calendar every year, which is the most important day of the year. Various celebrations are held at that time, and the young people do the folk dances such as “Shalang Dance” and “Leather Drum Dance” with fast rhythm and strong moves, showing the heroic character of the Qiang people.