From Yak H erderstO Ya rtsa Traders．．． 9 5 F r o m k H e r d e r s to r tsa T r a d e r s T ib eta n N o m a d s a n d N e w M a rk e t O p tio n s in Q in g h a i's Y u sh u R eg io n A n d re a s G ru sc h k e D iscu ssin g th e situ atio n o f T ib e ta n n o m ad s w ith in a fra m e w o rk th at su g g e sts th at m o re a n d m o re p asto ral p eo p le are left w ith o u t p a stu re s，a n d th ere fo re w ill g ra d u a lly fa il to su b sist fro m th e rap id ly d e c rea sin g n u m b e r o f th e ir a n im a ls ，it se e m s so m eh o w o b so le te tO scru tin iz e o n th e ir rela tio n sh ip tO th e m a rk e t，n o t tO sp ea k o f th e w o rld m a rk e t．O n th e o th e r h a n d ，w e h av e tO ad m it th at e v en w ith o u t th e p o licie s o f in te g ratio n a im e d at th e o n c e far —o f n o m ad s liv in g in th e c o re o f th e T ib e ta n H ig h la n d ，th o se p a sto ra lists w o u ld al re ad y h av e b e e n to u ch e d b y c ircu m stan ce s w h ic h ev o lv ed fr o m g lo b al iza tio n ，fro m ch anges on th e w orld m arket to w h ich ev en d istan t no m ads h ave been related once and again．A m ajor problem of an assessm ent of the pastoralists relationship w ith the w orld m a rk e t su rely is th at th e re is，SO fa r，n o se riou s g e n e ral a sse ssm en t o f th e ir liv e lih o o d s in m o d ern tim e s．Y et，w ith o u t a so u n d u n d e rsta n d in g o f th e cu rren t liv elih o o d sy ste m s in T ib e ta n n o m ad are a s ．it w il1 b e h a rd tO a sse ss w h ich p ro d u c ts o f th e p r e se n t—d a y ’S p astoralists are of m ajor im p ortan ce for their w ell-b ein g，su bsistence or survival，and w ill th e re fo re b e relev an t in an e x a m in atio n o f th e ir m ark e t rela tio n ． C o m p are d tO o th er p arts o f th e T ib e tan P latea u ，p a sto ra list reg io n s in ea ste rn T ib et 专业提供学术期刊、学位论文下载、外文文献检索下载服务m ay b e c o n sid 购买地址:e re http://wxfw.taobao.comd a s h av in g fa v o u r ab le co n d itio n s fo r m a r k e tin g a n im a l h u sb a n d ry p ro d u c ts ．H o w e v e r，a n ap p re c iab le d e v e lo p m e n t o f lin k s b e tw e e n th e ir e c o n o m y a n d m ark et rela tio n s se e m s n o t tO h av e ta k en p la ce ．S u b siste n c e e c o n o m y is still，o r ag a in ， p re v a ilin g ．T h e re a so n s fo r th is n e e d to b e sh o r tly d is c u sse d b e fo re th e b a sis o f th e liv e lih o o d s o f T ib e ta n p a sto ra lists is a sse sse d ，e x em p lifi ed b y th e c u rre n t situ atio n in the eastern T ibetan Y ushu region．T his autonom ous prefecture of Q inghai province in the P R C h in a is a ty p ic al h ig h lan d reg io n w h ere th e tra d itio n al liv e lih o o d s o f th e in h ab ita n ts d ep en d o n an im al h u sb an d ry ,c o m p le m e n ted b y v e ry little ag ricu ltu re an d so m e trad e ． W h ile in fra stru c tu ra l d e v e lo p m e n t ta k e s p lac e a n d re sh ap e s th e a d m in istra tiv e 9 6 China Tibetology N o ，M arch 2011 ce n tres o f Y u sh u ，th e ru ra l p a sto ra l are as re m a in m a in ly o n a p re c a rio u s su b siste n c e lev e 1 ． U n lik e n o m a d a re a s o u tsid e H ig h lan d A sia T ib eta n p a sto ra lists h av e ， h ow ev e r，a u n iq u e re so u rce w h ic h e n a b le s m a n y o f th e m to h av e a c o n sid erab le sh a re at m o d ern c o n su m p tio n a n d m a k e s th e m ap p e a r ric h e r th a n th eir p re ca rio u s p asto ra list liv elih o o d situ a tio n w o u ld a ctu ally a llo w th e m to b e ．T h e re so u rce is a m ed icin al p lan t c al le d c aterp illa r fu n g u s w h ic h b rin g s sig n ifi c a n t am o u n ts o f c ap ital an d a sse ts in to th e Y u sh u reg io n as w ell a s in to its rem ote n om ad h ou seh old s．It h as b ecom e on e o f, if n ot th e m ajor com m o d ity of m any h o u seh o ld s in T ib eta n n o m a d are a s． T h e d ig g in g fo r a n d tra d in g w ith c a te rp illa r fu n g u s m a rk e d ly c h a n g e d p a sto ra l stra teg ies in Y u sh u ’S ru ra l a re as an d e sta b lish e s m ark e tin g ch a in s w h ich o b v io u sly re ac h b e y o n d tra d itio n a l trad e re latio n s o u t o f th e reg io n ．It o f ers m an y p a sto ra list h o u seh o ld s to w id e n th e ir ra n g e o f e c o n o m ic ac tiv itie s an d to d ev elo p n ew fo rm s o f so cia l m o b ility ． T h e u se o f m o d e rn m ea n s o f c o m m u n ic a tio n s fo r m a rk etin g th is co m m o d ity h as b e co m e a m a tte r o f c o u rse ，w h ile a t th e sa m e tim e th e e a sie r acc e ss to fo r m erly re m o te reg io n s in T ib et h a s cre ate d n e w are a s o f co n fl ic ts o n re so u rc e s．H ow p eo p le o f Y u sh u re a ct an d d e al w ith th e c o n fl icts，h o w th ey m an ag e th e ir d if e ren t re so u rce s a n d e sta b lish m ark et re latio n s b ey o n d th e reg io n a l fra m ew o rk w ill b e d iscu ssed in th is p a p e r． H e re w e m a in ly d raw o n tw o so u rce s：first th e 1ite ratu re av a ilab le in C h in e se a n d E n g lish ，a n d se c o n d o n m y o w n em p ir ic a l k n o w led g e ．T h e latte r in c lu d e s e x p e rien c e s in a lm o st al l T ib e tan re g io n s g a in e d d u rin g th e la st tW O d ec a d e s，a n d sp e c ifi c re se a rch ex p e rien ce in n o m a d ic a rea s o f th e T A P Y ru sh u ．a k ey reg io n in e aste rn T ib e t's n o rth ern K h am a rea ，startin g in 20 o 4 ． F ig ．I From Yak H erdersto Yartsa Traders．．． 9 7 1 ．T h e liv e lih o o d s itu a tio n o f p a s to r a lis t s in Y u sh u W h ile th e h u g e T ib e ta n p la teau ex ten d s ac ro ss th e v ast a re a o f ap p ro x im a te ly 2 ．5 m illion square km s，only a sm all portion of this land is arable．(Fig．i) T he bulk is fit for m o b ile p a sto r a lism ．T h e ex e m p la ry re s e a rch reg io n ，th e Y u sh u T ib e t an A u to n o m o u s P refectu re (T A P )，on e o f six autono m ou s p refectu res o f Q ing hai provin ce，exten ds alm ost e n tire ly w ith in t h e p u re ly p a sto ra list sp h e re o f th e T ib e ta n h ig h la n d ．S o m e 3 o o ．0 0 0 in h ab ita n ts p o p u la te th is re g io n ，o f w h o m 6 8 ．3 p er c en t a re p a sto ra lists ，o r m o re th a n 8 0 p e r c en t o f th e ru ra l p o p u latio n in Y u sh u T A P ．T h e p re fe c tu re b e lo n g s to th e p o o re r an d le a st d e v elo p e d p ro v in ce s in C h in a ， lag g in g b eh in d in b o th p ro d u ctiv ity a n d in c o m e ． W ith in Q in gh ai Y u shu T A P is con sid ered to b e o ne of the least develop ed an d p oorest a r e a s ． T h e d istrict covers an area o f 197，0 0 0 k m ，m ore th an a q uarter o f Q ingh ai p rovin ce． R a n g e la n d u se d b y p a sto ra lists m a k es u p fo r 5 6 ％ o f th e e n tire p rov in c e ’s a n d 7 8 ％ o f Y u sh u ’s su rfa ce ．4 It th e re fo re is slig h tly sm alle r th a n G re a t B r ita in ，w h ile its p o p u latio n o f 2 9 7，O O O in h ab ita n ts o n ly co m p a re s to a m ed iu m —size d E u ro p e an city．Y u sh u p re fe c tu re in c lu d e s th e te rrito ry o f th e so u rc e s o f th e Y e llo w R iv e r in th e n o rth ，th e u p p er re a ch es o f th e Y an gzi an d M ek ong (D ri C h u ，D za C hu) in th e w est and south ，an d th e b order areas to th e neighb ou ring T ibet A u tonom ou s R egion (T A R ，C h i．X izang) in the south an d to Sichu an p rov ince in th e east．It consists of six cou nties — Q u m arl~b (cbu dm ar leb)，Z h id oi ('bri stoW)，Z adoi (rdza stoW) ，C h in du (khri ‘du)，Y ushu an d N an gq ~n (nang cben)，w ith th e p re fec tu ra l c ap ita l G y ~g u lo c ate d in Y u sh u co u n t~ T h e c o u n tie s d if e r co n sid e rab ly in size ， w ith Z hidoi covering m ore than 8o，000 km and N angq~n only about 12，7oo km ．T hree of th e co u n tie s a re c o m p le te ly p asto ralist，w h ile th e o th e r th ree fe atu re ag ric u ltu re o n a v e ry lim ite d sca le ：In 2o o 4 ，th e cu ltiv ate d la n d in th e p refe c tu re a m o u n ted to le ss th a n th re e per cent of the cultivated land in Q inghai province． T h e terra in g ra d u ally rises fro m th e so u th ea st，w h ere it n ev e r falls b elo w 35 IO m a b o v e sea lev el，to th e n o rth w e st，th e av erag e a ltitu d e b e in g 4 ，20 0 m to 4 ,50 0 m ．T h e clim ate o f Y ushu is on e o f extrem es：average ann ual tem p eratu res lie b etw een -4 ．3。C (Q ing sh uihe) an d 5．2~C (N an gq~n)．In w inter tem p eratu res can drop as low as -4 3。C (I975，Q ingshu ihe) w h ile in su m m er,tem peratu res can rise to +28。C (Y u sh u an d N angq 6n ) during the d ay．T h e p re c ip ita tio n d e c rea se s fr o m so u th e a st to n o rth w e st ，w ith N a n g q ~n a n d Z a d o i co u n tie s receiving 550—635 m m annuall~ Z hidoi and Q um arl~b only 380—500 m m ． N ot only are the w ea th e r co n d itio n s u n p re d ic tab le ，b u t th e clim ate v ariab ility also is e sp e cia lly h ig h ． W in te r p astu re s an d w in te r h o u se s in Y u sh u c an b e fo u n d o n a ltitu d es o f u p to 4 80 0 m ． A b ov e th is le v el，b u t in m o re fav o u rab le lo c atio n s a lso at low e r a ltitu d e s，lie s th e n o m a d s’ sum m er area of activity．T here they set up their tents and use the adjacent m eadow s up to 5000 m altitude as pastures．A rable field cultivation is only possible in the zone below 4 0 0 0 m ．T o d ay, th e h ig h e st fi e ld s in Y u sh u are situ a te d n o t h ig h er th a n 3 9 0 0 m ab ov e sea le v e1． A lim ite d p o p u la tio n o f farm ers a n d se m i-n o m a d s h av e fi e ld s an d p e rm a n e n t h o u ses th e re ．O n th e w h o le ，a n im a l h u sb a n d ry is th e p rev a ilin g sec to r o f p ro d u c tio n ，w h ile le ss 9 8 China Tibetology N o J，M arch 2011 th an a fi fth o f Y u shu ’S po pu lation is involved in field cu ltivatio n (Tabk ，the extent o f w h ic h v a rie s re g io n ally． TableI：Populationof T ushu TA P in 2005 H o u s eh o ld ty p e N u m b e r o f h o u se h o ld s N u m b er o f p e o p le P ro p o r tio n P a sto ra list 4 7 ，52 2 2 0 2 ，78 7 6 8 ．3 ％ P e a sa n t 2 3，28 8 4 8 ，9 2 I 16 ．5 ％ N o n -ru ra l 4 5，29 6 15．2.