The village above the clouds

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This project documents the simple and authentic pastoral life of Tibetan herdsmen villages based on Himalayan culture. Due to modern culture and government intervention. More and more young people are moving to the city to live. The local culture that evolved from Himalayan culture is slowly being lost. The majority of people are not aware of the need to preserve culture. Along with the abandoned houses, the herdsman's songs, the operas performed by the old entertainers, and some myths and stories were slowly lost.

Tarshul Village

Sichuan Porvince

China

2020 June - August

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Sichuan Province has the second largest group of Tibetans in China (the first is in Tibet). I spent two months conducting interviews and shooting in Tarshul village with an average altitude of 4,520 meters, which is one of the highest altitude villages in China. Usually people like to build a village around a monastery, so this village was created and it is a very typical Tibetan village based on Himalayan culture.

Tibetan herdsmen are dominated by men, however both men and women participate in cooperative activities. Families require every member to contribute to family responsibilities and work, including a young child after school. The majority of them begin grazing when they are teenagers. Those who do not wish to graze choose to become monks, so essentially the villages consist of herders and monks. They are closely related to each other.

Due to the popularization of education and the influence of modern culture and the internet, more and more Tibetan young people are looking forward to a life different from their parents. In another aspect, because of the government intervention, young children are not allowed to become monks anymore. The number of herdsmen and monks has gradually disappeared so that the culture and art derived from these ways of life are gradually not being valued by young Tibetans. More and more young people decide to go to cities for development. Himalayan culture is slowly degenerating for young people.

At present, many local cultures are not well organized and summarized, and fewer and fewer people are aware of many very interesting cultures. Most Tibetan herdsmen, especially those who are relatively extensive herdsmen, do not understand the significance of cultural protection and cultural heritage. Even if they are aware, they have no plan for protecting or arranging. My plans are to continue to photograph and document cultural subjects in the village over the next few years, including ancient Thangkas, oral traditions, and some folk dramas. There are many things that are worth recording, but unfortunately, not enough people are taking the time to do so. As part of these projects, I hope that I can work with local residents and attract the attention of more local young people.