In Qinghai, ice cream taking over from yaks
Most Tibetans in Xueshan Township in northwest China鈥檚 Qinghai Province used to make butter and yogurt from yak milk, but now they have another choice 鈥 ice cream.
A factory set up in 2018 has been producing 5,000 bars of the creamy treat every day since last year.
At 4,200 meters above sea level under the Tibetan holy mountain Anyemaqen, Xueshan Township 鈥 which means 鈥淪now Mountain Township鈥 鈥 is in Machen County of Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
In the 1970s, the township was the only one that could not be reached by road among the 10 counties and townships in Machen, but now the ice cream business has made its name.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 expect an ice cream factory to be built at my door, and I don鈥檛 have to go out to work any more,鈥 said 28-year-old Tashitso, who used to be poor. But now she and her husband work in the factory and receive a monthly pay of more than 8,000 yuan (US$1,200).
Xueshan County, with a population of 2,029, has two villages and nearly 102,000 hectares of grassland.
鈥淚 remember we brought together villagers in cold weather for a meeting to discuss construction of the ice-cream factory, but some old people rejected the idea,鈥 said Cering Dondrup, a cadre in Yinkehe Village鈥檚 management committee. Villagers used to make a living by herding and digging caterpillar fungus, an expensive ingredient of traditional Chinese medicine mostly found on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
鈥淭here are abundant pastures and more than 20,000 yaks in the village, but no stable industry that can lead villagers to prosperity,鈥 said Wangchuk Dorje, an official of Xueshan Township.
The ice-cream company as set up in September 2018. 鈥淲e collected 800,000 yuan of village development funds and the township government also helped collect 500,000 yuan,鈥 said Wangchuk Dorje.
鈥淔rom technology, equipment to packaging design, everything needed to build the ice-cream factory could not have been obtained without aid from Shanghai,鈥 he said.
As Shanghai has long been supporting the development of Golog prefecture under a pairing-up policy, it also sent technicians to help build the factory.
During the trial run, the sterilization equipment nearly caught fire when a worker could not operate it properly. It was then that an expert from Shanghai came to the help. Many workers, who were herders and had never touched a modern machine, can now operate them after being trained.
In 2019, the first batch of 18 bars of ice cream was produced. Wangchuk Dorje invited some old people and children to taste the product.
鈥淎s we have our own factory in the village and young people have stable jobs, I feel the ice cream tastes sweeter,鈥 he said. 鈥淗erdsmen used yak milk to make butter and other diary products, but their added value was not high,鈥 said Walchim Dorje, general manager of the ice-cream company.
鈥淣ow the factory buys about 300 kilograms of yak milk at 8 yuan per kg from people in the township every day, bringing benefits to more than 300 herdsmen.鈥
鈥淥ur family feeds over 40 female yaks, and we milk them twice a day. We can earn at least 20,000 yuan every year,鈥 said Rigzin Dorje, a 48-year-old villager.
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