MOUNTAINS OF CHANGE

By Li Nan

Renowned Italian Tibetologist and explorer Giuseppe Tucci（1894-1984） might have rescheduled his first journey to Tibet if he had known that then the only road out of Diyag， a border township located at the west gate of the region， would be blocked by snow for nearly half a year. He managed to arrive at Diyag on October 2， 1931 after years of preparation， only to find that due to heavy snow， he could not go a step further toward Ngari， his planned destination. After a short stay， he had to go back to Nepal and wait for another time.

Diyag， Chinas most-difficult-to-access township， lies in a river valley 20 km east of the China-India border， and 2，000 km west of Lhasa， capital of Tibet Autonomous Region.

Eight mountains towering above 4，000 meters stand between Diyag and downtown Zanda， the county the township is in. In winter， the road through the mountains is blocked by snow， isolating the township from the outside world for four to five months. In summer， it takes residents about eight hours to drive downtown.

Lasting link

But things changed last winter. A section of a new road built at a lower altitude became operational， slashing the travel time from the township to the county seat by half. Tsering Ngodrup， a 24-year-old Tibetan farmer born in Diyag， made the first winter trip out of the township in his life， taking his driving test and getting the long-awaited driving license in January.

“I am swamped by farm work most of the year and could take the test only in winter， the slack season for farming，” he told Beijing Review. Previously， no Diyag resident could access downtown in winter， so the only driving school in Zanda was out of bounds during the slack season. But now， with a road running at the warmer lower altitude， villagers can go out of the township in winter and do whatever they want.

Autumn is the busiest season for Tsering Ngodrup. Since his mother has difficulty in walking and his sister has a hearing impairment， he is the sole breadwinner of the family. They have 130 apple trees， which produce about 2，500 kg of apples a year， and some apricot trees as well. In the past， he had to hire a truck to carry the fruits to town， where he would rent a temporary stand and sell them. It usually took him 15 days to a month to complete the task. The transportation cost took up at least one sixth of the sales income. Regardless of whether all the apples had been sold， he had to head home before the end of November. Otherwise， he would not be able to return home for the whole of winter once the snow began.