The winter of a traditional herdsman in Shangri-La

　　Chinanews.com, Shangri-La, December 22, title: The winter of a traditional herdsman in Shangri-La

　　Author Chen Jing

　　During the winter solstice, 44-year-old Tsering Yangzong took care of more than 80 yaks, more than 10 mules, horses and other domestic animals alone at the Benggla Ranch in Niru Village, Shangri-La City, Diqing Prefecture, Yunnan Province, at an altitude of more than 3,700 meters, and welcomed them together. The arrival of winter.

　　Niru Village, with 640 people in 127 households, is a traditional Tibetan village with half farming and half pastoralism. Most families choose one person to cultivate crops in the village and one person to take care of cattle and sheep in the pasture.

Yangzong and her husband Tenzin Peichu also continued this tradition, managing the ranch and the family's fields separately.

As the fifth-generation heirs of their ranch, they settled down through the lifestyle passed down from generation to generation, and raised a pair of children, Xiao Yangzong and Tashi.

　　Winter is the hardest time of the year for ranches.

Yangzong said that in winter, the grass and trees withered, the yaks lost weight, and the mules and horses became thinner. In the high mountains where the wind was blowing, she had to carry feed to feed the yaks every day, worrying that they would get sick or fall off the cliff.

In Xinzhan Ranch in summer, she can milk yak milk in the cool morning and graze on the fertile grass. The cattle, sheep, mules and horses are strong and healthy without worrying too much.

Photo by Tenzin Peichu Liu Ranyang

　　Ranch life is much more modern than it was a generation ago.

Neighborhood contacts use walkie-talkies, water and electricity, and solar energy to add a lot of electrical appliances to the ranch, and there are even drones when looking for cattle and horses... The simple, free, and magnificent ranch makes the children who go out infinitely miss it.

Therefore, whenever Yangzong is free, he uses his mobile phone to take pictures of the rolling mountains, streams in the forest, and herds of cattle and sheep, and sends them to his second brother who works in Beijing where there is a signal, so as to relieve his homesickness.

Of course, she will also send the photos to her circle of friends to show the world of the ranch to the outside world.

　　However, the idyllic pastoral that is the envy of urbanites does not mean that life is full of poetry.

Pei Chu said that the eldest in a Tibetan family generally does not go out and stays at home to "head the family", that is, inherit the property of the parents and take care of the parents.

Due to the lack of staff in the family, Peichu, the eldest son, was forced to drop out of school in the third grade of primary school and returned to the pasture to graze.

As the youngest girl in the family, Yangzong had never studied, which became a regret in her life.

　　Now the children in Niru Village can enjoy "9+3" (9 years of compulsory education and 3 years of high school) free education. Pei Chu and Yangzong hope that the two children will study hard, but young people always have their own ideas.

The picture shows Yang Zong chasing yaks on the hillside, photographed by Liu Ranyang

　　Xiao Yangzong entered the society after graduating from junior high school. She believes that a stable job and income are more suitable for her.

Now they are married, her husband works in Shangri-La, and she is responsible for taking care of her one-year-old daughter.

The 17-year-old brother Tashi is in high school, and he has no intention of returning to the village to be the head of the family.

　　As the head of the family, Pei Chu is very conflicted. He hopes that his two children will have a better life through studying, but it is difficult to accept that no one will inherit the pasture that has been passed down from generation to generation.

In recent years, more and more families in Niru Village have resold their ranch due to no one inheriting it, and there are fewer and fewer young people in the village.

In the eyes of Peichu's generation, the fertile and peaceful pasture means loneliness and hardship to the next generation.

　　However, the traditional ranch life is quietly undergoing many changes.

In recent years, Niru, an ancient Tibetan village, has become popular in the circle of "donkey friends" across the country, and the Niru-Yading hiking route has attracted countless tourists.

Several B&Bs have opened in the village one after another. Pei Chu will act as a guide with young people in the village, leading tourists to hike and camp, bringing a considerable income to the family.

　　It takes 5 to 6 days to walk from Niru Village to Yading, and Peichu's Xinzhan Ranch is the only way to go.

Due to the lack of infrastructure, he built a new cabin not far from his own cabin, named "Tenzin Pechu's House", to provide tourists with a small world to shelter from the rain and cold.

It’s just that the ranch has no roads or signals, and there are potential safety hazards for tourists going up the mountain. In recent years, Niru Village’s forest protection has achieved remarkable results, and the lack of roads also brings certain difficulties to forest fire prevention.

　　Therefore, Peichu hopes that the main pastures in Niru Village can be connected to roads and mobile phone signals, which will not only facilitate the passage of villagers and tourists, but also reduce transportation costs and increase the price of cattle and sheep.

What's more, ranches are no longer isolated and inaccessible places.

　　In the future, if Xiao Yangzong and Tashi are unwilling to inherit the ranch, Pei Chu and Yangzong plan to "retire" at the age of 60, resell Xinzhan Ranch, and bid farewell to herding life.

But focusing on the present, he plans to build a log cabin to receive tourists in Nanbao Ranch in the spring of 2023. Even if he "retires" in the future, he can increase his income.

　　This winter, Pei Chu and Yangzong have different expectations in their hearts: With the optimization of the epidemic prevention policy, it seems that Xiao Yangzong's wedding can be re-organized after the Spring Festival next year. He hopes that the cattle and sheep can be sold for a good price before the end of the year. His new wooden house After the beginning of spring, it can be built smoothly, and the days to come will be better.

　　Yes, in spring, I hope that every little wish of this traditional herdsman family will slowly come true.

(use up)