Tibetannet

“Today is the holiday to thank women, and on behalf of the village committee, I’d like to wish all village women a happy holiday, tashi delek.” On the morning of March 8, following blessings from Tsering Zhadui, secretary of the village Party branch, Changjiangyuan Village in Dangla Township, Golmud City of Qinghai Province, began its International Women’s Day cultural activities.

Early in the morning, men and women young and old from the village arrived at the small square, including several Tibetan women dressed for chorus practice, standing next to members of the dance team organized by the villagers who were nervously rehearsing.

“My mother came with me early this morning, she loves to watch me dance,” 24-year-old Laje, a member of the Changjiangyuan dance team said.

Changjiangyuan Village, located in the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau at an average elevation of 3,000 meters, is a Tibetan nomad village.

Before 2004, all 128 households of Changjiangyuan Village lived at the source of the Yangtze River in Dangla Mountain Township, at an average elevation of 4,700 meters, where the climate was very harsh. With the launch of construction work on the China Sanjiangyuan Ecological Nature Reserve, they were moved to the outskirts of Golmud City.

“Living in the mountains before, households were dozens of kilometers away from each other, even riding horses to get around was not very convenient, so we often did not have this kind of activity or prepare special gifts for the holidays,” Laje said.

“This back cushion is for my mother, this shirt is mine… all of this was bought online last night with the specially reduced prices. It’s easier to make money now than in the mountains, and to keep up with holiday specials, so I bought a lot of things for my family,” Laje said.

Since they were moved from Sanjiangyuan Ecological Reserve to Changjiangyuan Village, the government has invested 130 million yuan (21 million US dollars) to build the village infrastructure and develop a follow-up industry.

Changjiangyuan Village has already opened a Mani stone carving factory and Tibetan carpet factory, as well as a cattle and sheep fattening base and a 300-acre grass fodder base, solving a problem of a surplus in labor force.

While generating profits, the government provides subsidies of 4,800 yuan (774.1 US dollars) per person for 154 poor people under age 16 and over age 55 and 2,000 yuan (322.6 US dollars) per household for fuel, so that currently Changjiangyuan has been lifted out of poverty.