China's real Pandora: the grasslands of Kham and its nomads
We met him by the shores of Yilhun Latso, a sacred glacial lake at an elevation of 4,110 meters (13,484 feet). He asked to have his photograph taken, first with my digital camera then with the panoramic Horizon.
He and his family were building a house, he said. Soon, everyone else arrived, materializing through the pine forest. They were mostly young men and young women, but a wizened, necklace-bedecked matriarch also came along to supervise from a stony seat. A flotilla of logs gently bumped to shore, floating from the far end of the Yilhun Latso, which extended all the way to the glaciers of the rugged Tro-La mountains, towering above the lake at over 6,100 meters (approx. 20,000 feet). Beyond the Tro-La peaks lies the town of Dêrge and its sacred scripture presses, and just a little beyond that, Tibet proper. Log-hauling was a festive activity in the western highlands of Dêrge. Cheers, chatter, and yells rose to skies, as just four people lifted one of the massive logs and hefted them away. We were invited to join in, but only Gabriel took up the challenge – shame on me, as quite a few of the log-carriers were tough-looking young women. Afterwards there was a fire, and yak butter tea, and dried bits of fried youtiao from a bag. The head of the family (he of the photo) tried to sell us deer penis (to boost virility, and I'm still not sure if it was a joke) and/or some giant necklaces. The whole clan relaxed, sprawling on the ground. It was a jovial, friendly family scene as many another.Along our drive through Kham (western Sichuan) we had seen many low, many-pointed black tents dotting the forbidding highlands and grasslands. These tents, woven of black yak hair, belong to the nomads who wander throughout Tibet, Kham, and Amdo (Qinghai). They are a proud, fierce, devout, independent people, living close to the sky, following the sun. Their livelihood are their herds, some thousands strong of yaks, sheep, goats, and horses. Prayer flags flutter by their tents at all seasons, and alpine flowers in the summer.Unfortunately, this way of life is under threat, like so many things here in Kham. The Sichuan government is forcibly resettling 470,000 nomads, out of a total of 530,000, in newly built towns and villages. On our way to Yilhun Latso, we passed the town of Manigango, whose perimeters bristled with new construction, most of them character-less concrete buildings. For the high summer, there were far fewer nomads, far fewer black tents, than there should have been.
It all bears eerie resemblance to Avatar, whose setting may be fantastical but whose events are all too similar to the stories of exploitation on earth. No wonder the government is uneasy. Some of the relocation is done by incentive (subsidized housing and education) and some by force (the herds are forcibly culled). Swathes of land are designated national parks and reserves; the nomads are forced to leave; then the mining company arrives.Ostensibly, all this resettlement is for the good of the nomads. Life is so harsh up in the highlands, and so dirty, living in a tent! Why not let us give you some free houses, never mind that they’re cookie-cutter ugly, and some free education, so that your kids can mouth the Party doctrine? And oh, the glories of life in a town. Even the argument of environmental protection has been brought into play. Chinese scientists claim that the large herds of yaks are overgrazing the grasslands and want to put an end to the practice. And these herds are massive; unfurled across a mountainside, surging around the car, they are an amazing sight. But nomads know that their lives depend on the grasslands; they steward the environment. Western scientists tend to blame global warming for the degradation of the grasslands instead, or, hmmm, what about all those mines?The real reason, of course, behind the relocation, is the government’s attempt to assert control over an independent segment of the Tibetan population whose rootless lifestyle make them difficult to keep track of. Nomads also emobdy a fundamental aspect of Tibetan identity. The only substantial difference between real life and Avatar is that there won't be a hero to save us all.
