Tenzin, a 22-year-old Tibetan girl, was born in Nima County, located in the heart of the Qiangtang grassland in northern Tibet, at an altitude of nearly 5,000 meters. "Nima" means "sun" in Tibetan. The sky and the earth are vast, the wind blows the clouds, and in the days of grazing, she waved "Wuerduo" and sang pastoral songs among the grass and trees.
More than 800 kilometers away from his hometown, in the Semburi Ecological Relocation and Resettlement Site in Shannan City, Tenzin has a new home. Go shopping, drink milk tea, do nail art, ......Life in the town allows young girls to find the "little luck" of life.
Shuttling between his new home and his hometown is the daily life of Tenzin, and it is also the footprint of the new generation of plateau herders running towards happiness.
The hometown of Gesang flowers.
Tenzin's hometown is in Maqian Village, Ojiu Township, Nima County, Nagqu City, ** Autonomous Region, located in the hinterland of the Qiangtang grassland in northern Tibet, with an altitude of more than 4,700 meters. As sung in the song "Northern Tibetan Grassland", there are blue skies and white clouds, grassland pastures, and Gesang flowers everywhere, which are extraordinarily beautiful.
However, the oxygen content of the air there is only about 40% of that in the mainland, and winds above level 8 blow for more than 200 days a year, and it will also be like the song "Spring, summer, autumn and winter appear in one day".
Tenzin grazes sheep on the pasture of his hometown in Maqian Village, Ojiu Township, Nima County (drone**, photo taken on December 18, 2023). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Fan.
At the end of 2023, the reporter met Tenzin who was herding sheep alone in Maqian Village. On that day, there was a windy weather in Nima County, with local winds reaching level 12, and the temperature in the evening reached minus ten degrees Celsius. Even though Tenzin was wearing the thickest of clothes, with only her eyes exposed, the whole day of outdoor work still made her cold and sore. "The tips of my fingers were all frozen, and it hurt terribly. She said.
Mother Gazong felt sorry for her daughter, made butter tea, and sent WeChat to ask her to go home early. Her 4-year-old sister, Ram Dolma, also waited outside early. But by the time everything was done, night had already covered the land.
Tenzin grazes sheep on the pasture of his hometown in Maqian Village, Ojiu Township, Nima County, December 18, 2023. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Fan.
Tenzin's mother, Gazong (left), and his 4-year-old sister, Ram Dolma, make butter tea at their home on the ranch (photo taken on December 18, 2023). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Fan.
Tenzing's 4-year-old sister Ram Dolma greets her sister at the pasture to drive sheep into the pen (photo taken on December 18, 2023). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Fan.
In Qiangtang, people have been affected by high altitude and harsh climate for a long time, and there are many cases of plateau rheumatism, gout, and heart disease. Difficulties in going to school, seeing a doctor, and traveling have always plagued them. In addition, with global warming, the grasslands of the Qiangtang grassland have also begun to degrade.
In order to build a solid national ecological security barrier and allow herders to live a higher quality of life, in 2018, the Party Committee of the Autonomous Region decided to implement ecological relocation in extremely high-altitude areas. In August 2022, Tenzin's family moved to the Senburi Ecological Relocation and Resettlement Site in Shannan City, more than 800 kilometers away from their hometown. Tossing and turning between the two families has become the norm in her life.
Tenzin prefers to stay in his new home near Lhasa in Semburi than in his hometown in Nima County, but because she is the eldest daughter and the main laborer in the family, she now spends most of her time herding sheep in her hometown. "My two younger brothers go to primary school in Sembuzh, where my father usually takes care of them. Mom and I take care of my 4-year-old sister and sheep at home. She said.
A new starting point for a happy life.
More than 30,000 high-altitude ecological relocation migrants from 16 relocated townships in Nagqu Shuanghu, Nima, Amdo and other counties are inhabited by the Senburi Ecological Relocation and Resettlement Site. Since 2019, they have successively relocated here from the hinterland of the Qiangtang grassland, which is more than 4,500 meters above sea level.
It is only more than 60 kilometers away from the downtown area of Lhasa, close to the airport, railway, and highway, with a patchwork of Tibetan-style courtyards, spacious classrooms in the newly built nine-year school, and supermarkets, post offices, banks, restaurants, etc. in the commercial street, which has formed a small town.
This is a full view of Sembuz taken from an airplane (mobile phone**, taken on January 22, 2024). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Fan.
In January 2024, Tenzin traveled more than 800 kilometers from his hometown to his new home to participate in horse racing activities and to Lhasa to buy New Year's goods. Compared with the adobe house of less than 50 square meters in his hometown, the new house of 119 square meters of Tenzin's family is more spacious and comfortable, the altitude is about 1,000 meters lower, the temperature is 10 degrees higher, and the life is comfortable and comfortable.
Tenzin in front of his new home at the Semburi Ecological Relocation Site on January 24, 2024. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Fan.
Horse racing is an important folk activity on the grassland, which has the functions of competition, material exchange and social interaction. Northern Tibet is sparsely populated, and it is not easy for people to get together, and it is a custom for young people to meet, get together, know each other, and fall in love at the horse race. In previous years, the immigrants held horse races and horse racing festivals in their hometowns in northern Tibet in the summer, but this is the first time they have held horse races in Semburi, indicating that the focus of their lives has gradually shifted to their new home.
Early in the morning of January 24, Tenzin put on traditional Tibetan clothes, put on light makeup, and wore a full set of red coral jewelry to race horses with the villagers. In the crowd, she smiled like a flower, very eye-catching; When the reporter asked her if she had found the person she liked, she blushed and bowed her head and did not answer.
Tenzin (center) races horses at the Semburi Ecological Relocation Site** (photo taken on January 24, 2024). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Fan.
As soon as the horse racing was over, Tenzin and his little sister took a ride to Lhasa, 60 kilometers away. They went to Barkhor Street and Jokhang Temple, drank Internet celebrity milk tea, ate Pizza Hut, danced, and did nail art.
Tenzin eats with his little sisters at a Pizza Hut restaurant in Lhasa (photo taken on January 27, 2024). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Sun Fei.
Tenzin (right) and his little sisters pick up goods at a shop in downtown Lhasa (photo taken on January 27, 2024). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Sun Fei.
Tenzin (bottom left) picks out a nail style at a nail salon in central Lhasa (photo taken on January 27, 2024). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Sun Fei.
Daji Tsering, director of the Management Committee of the Senburi Ecological Relocation and Resettlement Site, told reporters: "When young people from the northern Tibetan grassland arrive in Senburi, their world has suddenly become bigger, their horizons have broadened, and their understanding and pursuit of happiness have also become higher. ”
On the way to riches.
Because their income is mainly dependent on animal husbandry, and pastures and livestock cannot be brought with them, young people like Tenzin who have moved to Semburi have to live in two places for the time being. It is understood that 3.About 7,000 of the 20,000 ecological migrants who have settled in Sembori still need to return to their hometowns to graze their cattle frequently, but the situation is improving.
Yao Peng, secretary of the party committee of Ojiu Township, said: "On the one hand, we have reduced the dependence of the masses on livestock by providing grassland subsidies and reducing the number of stocks, and on the other hand, we are also actively promoting the construction of animal husbandry cooperative organizations to liberate more young people from animal husbandry." Get a job near Sembugh and make a lifestyle change. In addition, the Shepherd Cooperative has become stronger and bigger, and has also begun to look for investment opportunities in the secondary and tertiary industries here in Senburi to help herders gradually realize the shift of the focus of their lives. ”
The animal husbandry cooperative organizations on the Qiangtang grassland adopt the voluntary input of people, grass and livestock by the masses, and make unified arrangements for labor, pasture and other production factors. If the original 3,000 sheep of 10 families need 10 laborers to graze, only 3 will be needed after the cooperative, and the laborers who participate in grazing will be counted as one more share, and those who do not participate in grazing can also get dividends, thus liberating a large number of laborers. Collectives can also invest in the establishment of hotels, shops, Tibetan restaurants and other industrial entities in Semburi to further increase the income of the masses and expand their employment channels.
If Tenzin's family were to invest their pastures and sheep in a livestock cooperative, she would be able to find a job near her new home. Her mother, Gazong, told reporters: "When the village animal husbandry cooperative was first established, it was reluctant to raise sheep from childhood to adulthood, for fear that others would not raise it well, so they still worked alone. In the past two years, the cooperative's dividends have been very good, and I am also considering joining the cooperative. ”
Tenzin (right) poses for a photo on the Potala Palace Square in Lhasa (photo taken on January 28, 2024). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Sun Fei.
Lu Ke, secretary of the management committee of the Senburi Ecological Relocation and Resettlement Site, said: "We now have dwarf apple bases, modern pastures and other industries, and we also plan to develop tourism, Lingang industry and other industries in Senburi to help the relocated herders find jobs in their new homes, and truly realize 'moving, stable, and rich'." ”
Producer: Wei Tiemin, Liu Chang.
Reporter: Jiang Fan, Cao Bin, Liu Wenbo.
*Production: Jiang Fan, Sun Fei.
Reporter: Tenzin Nubu.
Editor: Liu Chang.
Poster production: Lu Ye.
Xinhua News Agency is jointly produced by the outside world and the Xinhua News Agency's ** Branch.
Produced by the China Story Workshop.