Tibetannet

XINING－In front of a black tent, a herder holding a wooden handle stirs yak milk in a shiny barrel, until the oil in the liquid coagulates and floats to the top.

She then pours the oil onto a plate, which turns into ghee－a type of clarified butter widely used for cooking－after it cools down. The yak milk residue is then boiled and a popular cheese-like product called qula in the Tibetan language, forms in the pot.

The herder separates the qula and continues boiling and fermenting the remaining liquid to make chukha ngadak, a sour and sweet calcium-rich dairy product dating back more than 4,000 years. The treat takes Peka back to her childhood. "Those were tough days, but candies made by grandma using chukha ngadak would immediately make life sweeter," Peka said.

Candies and TV

Peka's parents divorced when she was 5. Her father remarried and her mother moved away, leaving her behind with two younger sisters and a grandmother in a pasture area of Yunta village in Qinghai province's Yushu Tibetan autonomous prefecture.

"We were too young and grandma too old for grazing work, so she took us to the township when I was 9. But we couldn't afford a fixed place to live," the 32-year-old said. "We then started living with relatives and friends. As they often drove us away for various reasons, we moved places frequently."

With no parents or a home, Peka was often bullied during her childhood. "When I used to go to the foot of the mountain to fetch water, children would deliberately knock over my bucket. Even though grandma's legs hurt, she would still hobble halfway down the mountain to help me with those naughty kids," Peka said. The Tibetan girl's childhood dream was all about television.

"During those days, only wealthy families could afford a television. Grandma liked to watch TV, but when we went to a relative's house to watch it, people there always insulted us and asked us to leave," Peka said. "That's when I vowed that one day I would own a big house with a TV in every room."

Unfortunately, Peka's grandmother died before that dream was realized. "Grandma passed away when I was 17. I lost the only person I could rely on. Everything seemed worthless without grandma. I just wanted her back," she said.

Education triumph

After her grandmother's death, Peka knew she had to be a pillar of strength for the family.

She learned Mandarin on her own, and with the help of a charity foundation, enrolled in a Tibetan medical school at the age of 19.

"I had always been eager to go to school. When picking up cow dung in the past, I would hear students studying at a school. I often cried and wished to be one of them," she said. "So once I got the chance, I worked very hard from dawn till dusk."

However, after graduating from medical school, Peka realized she did not want to be a doctor.

She formed a business concept based on her grandmother's chukha ngadak. "Grandma's candies are the best memory of my life and they are also a part of Tibetan culture. I wanted to introduce the candies to more people," Peka said.

In 2015, Peka used all her savings to set up Yushu Munv Trading, but it did not have a smooth start. "I went door to door selling candies, but few people were willing to pay for them," she said.

In 2017, a great opportunity arose when Peka was recognized as the prefecture-level inheritor of the Tibetan candy and attend Tsinghua University for training.

"By exchanging views with experts and industry insiders from home and abroad, I gained a systematic and new understanding of the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage," she said.

Peka said she made friends with important people who referred her to Peking University's Mulan Academy, which focuses on female leadership. At a training class, she met female entrepreneur Ren Jianxin. After learning that chukha ngadak was also used by Tibetan women to protect their skin, Ren helped Peka find a research and development company in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, and invested 600,000 yuan to create an edible face mask.

Think big

Peka has expanded her business from candy to face masks, handmade soaps and Tibetan tea, with her company accepting orders worth 900,000 yuan ($29,000) last year and generating income for at least 289 Tibetan households. Despite her flourishing business, Peka insists that she is not a businesswoman.

"I have never been a businesswoman, but an inheritor passing down the Tibetan culture and grandma's recipe," she said. "My employees are the best helpers, who are Tibetan housewives with genuine expertise in chukha ngadak."

Thirteen of the 15 workers in Peka's company are women from poverty-stricken families, with an average age of about 40. Last year, they received dividends ranging from 3,000 yuan to 9,000 yuan.

Kadron, a single mother who has chronic illnesses, is in charge of the production of the company's Tibetan tea. "I couldn't be more grateful. I used to know nothing but I've learned and earned here," she said.