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Dengs is commonly called Dengpa. They live in Zayu County along the Zayu River, Gongrigabuhe River and Dulaihe River. There are about 900 Dengs in China.
Looked from dress, a woman usually pulls on a pair of long-drum-shaped silver earrings and forehead adornment, encircles her neck with a string of beads or other silvery adornments, wears tube-shaped skirt with feet being bare. While a man coils his head up with long black cloth and also pulls up earrings. Commonly, the mercenary marriage and plural marriage exist among the Dengs. The women are just the slaves of men and take on the main labor. Due to the deep national estrangement from the Tibetans and Lhobas, there is no intermarriage between the Dengs and the people of the other two ethic groups.
Before Liberation, most of the Dengs resided in the remote mountains and lived quite primitive lives. They used coarse productive tools and practiced to farm by the slash-and-burn method. Because of the low grain production, they had to hunt with noose and collect wild vegetables and fruits in order to keep existence within eight or nine months in one year. In such a certain historical phrase, class polarization did not take into formation and the ideas of social stratum and privacy were also not obvious. After the Democratic Reform starting from 1959, the Dengs walked out from the far mountains and built their houses and villages along the river valleys to begin their new lives.
At the juncture of the southeast edge of the Nyainqintanglha Mountain and Henduan mountain ranges, the rivers of Zayu, Gongrigabuhe and Dulaihe meet; mountains rise one higher than another; rushing water rolls down; on both sides of the valleys are covered with subtropical pine forests, and broad leaves forests of camphor and nanmu, where wild animals like bear, monkey, roe and leopard haunt. Here the mountains and rivers are powerful and beautiful, the resources are rich, the climate is agreeable. The industrious and brave Dengs have long been living on this fertile land. The live together themselves and have their own language and custom.
Productive method
 In the past, the Dengs inhabited in the middle slopes of the mountains and produced corn by slash-and burn method. When there was lack of food supplies, they allayed their hunger with tree leaves, wild vegetables and animals by ways of hunting and collecting. Now, most of the Dengs have descended to the tablelands at the foot of the mountains and begun to use iron tools. They plant corn, dry rice, Tibetan barley, chicken-claw rice, dasheen and vegetables in the layers and layers of terrace dug up by themselves.
Smoking and drinking
The Dengs used to plant opium, which mostly was used to exchange other goods and partly for their own enjoyment. Now the Dengs have abstained from smoking opium and replaced it with the dried tobacco leaves. The woman smokes the dried tobacco leaves planted by herself and like to hold the stem of the pipe in her mouth. Usually, the pipe stem made of silver or copper is somewhat long and can be folded into two parts. A special placket is used to carry the pipe, tobacco leaves box and match with her.
 The Dengs are fond of drinking wines. To them, drinking wine is as easy as drinking tea. They brew sweet-and-sour wine from rice and entertain guests with this wine.
Bamai Cattle
It was said that the Dengs got the tall and hale Bamai cattle by way of exchange with Indians. Not only are the Bamai cattle the main property of the Dengs, but also the main betrothal gifts to the girl’s family. The more the cattle skulls hanging under the eaves of the house, the more rich and respectable the family it hints. Though they breed lots of cattle, they have no the habit of squeezing milk to make butter tea.
Plural mercenary marriage
In the past, the Dengs’ marriage went like that the man asked the matchmaker to propose for him to the woman’s family. The betrothal gifts comprising cattle, pigs and hunting gun varied depending on the woman’s “price.” There was no specified ceremony for the wedding except that the man should present some chickens, mice and sparrows to the woman’s family. The woman turned into the husband’s private belongings as long as she got married, and was obligated to engage in farming production and family labor but not allowed to control the family possessions. If only the man had cattle or other property, he was able to marry several women. Without Bamai cattle, the poor men can’t afford to marry for life. In a plural-marriage family, the wives have their own chamber separately within the husband’s long house and they set up their own stove for cooking. They separately plant various vegetables and grains and breed livestock allocated by their husband, and crop and preserve their own earnings, forming self-governed economic units. As the husband decides to stay with one wife, he puts up his bearskin bag on the door of his wife’s chamber where he is entertained as a respectable guest. If the husband passed away, one of the husband’s family numbers sharing the same family name, maybe his brothers or nephews can marry his wives again. Furthermore, his other wife’s son can also marry her. Anyhow, the eldership like uncles are not allowed to marry her. Now, most Dengs put monogamous marriage into practice.
The Dengs’ name
There is no script record about the history of the Dengs. It was said that they named themselves according to the places they lived. People of the same surname formed a clan group. They shared mountains and forests, inherited property each other, dealt with and resolved marriage matters and other problems collectively. People of the same surname are under obligation to stake and revenge each other. Marriage within the people of the same surname is prohibited. Out of mourn, people stop working for four days as an adult man sharing the same surname passed away. Now, the Dengs’ concept of surname becomes dim.
When the girl grows at an age of eight or nine years and begins to wear skirt, her parents will strictly forbid her to eat beef, pork and chicken (mouse, sparrow, fish and wild chicken are not on the list), otherwise the girl would be blamed by public opinion and get a fame of “eating-meat girl”, which is the mostly extreme insult to her. She can eat meat until she has got married and had birth of three or four children.
Long house built with wood block
The Dengs’ house faces south and is separated some small chambers. There are two storeys in all. The lower storey is less than one meter high and used to raise livestock like pig and chickens. On the upper storey, the living chambers, nine square meters around, are separated with 2.5-meter high wood blocks. In front of the chambers is the corridor. In the middle of the room is the fire stove, which is about one square meter around and supported by three stones. On the left is the rack for the clothes and carpets. Except for the boilers, bowls, wooden dippers and spoons, there are few furniture inside. Though no windows are built, the light and air circulation are not bad because there is a door in the north side of the room and the seams among the blocks are big enough. The first living chamber to the east is for the host and others are for the wives. On both sides of the corridor there is door, one to the east for the males and the other for the females. A special granary is built to store the grains. It keeps space with the residence to protect the fire.
The Dengs believe in ghost. Whenever there is something involved with disease, burial or procreation, they would stop working for one to four days and hold the ceremony of sending-off-ghost. During the ceremony the sacrificial animals are killed; the witch, without special garment and religious objects, mumble some words and hacks the air continuously with the broadsword in his hand and falls into a coma several times on some occasions, which symbolize the fierce fight with ghosts. The payment for the witch is some meat. During the time of sending-off-ghost, tree branches are stuck into the earth in front of the door to notify that strangers should not enter the house; otherwise a compensation for the payment of sending-off-ghost will be asked. There are not fixed festivals for the Dengs; the time of sending-off-ghost works as a festival when people slay animals and treat relatives and friends.
The Dengs have their own language, belonging to the Tibetan-Burmese family. As they have no script, they have to record what happened by ways of carving on wood, knotting ropes, put grass stems and tree branches. For example, if they invite somebody to come to take part in a ceremony of sending-off-ghost, they would send him a rope with five knots. Taking another instance, if a bother occurs between some people, someone, who is responsible to judge which one is right, would put a grass stem in front of the person who is thought to be right. The more stems before the person, the more causes the person to be thought to be right. The Dengs have a bad concept of numbers. Having on calendar, they regard the period of time from the wax to wane as one month; and one season of the crops of corn one year.
Burial custom
In the past, the Dengs bent the limbs of the dead and buried it in the earth. Later, they practice cremation, that is to bend the limbs of the dead first and then put it on the top of a woodpile and burned it. Three or four days latter, people pick out the remains out of the ash and bury it. No fixed place is prepared for the cremation. People abstain from mentioning the name of the dead. Now, the Dengs change the cremation into inhumation. The coffin made of timber is buried under the ground, without grave appearing above the ground.
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