TIBET’s LAST CAR AVAN With Transporting Salt(V)

A collective photo of the caravan

After finishing gathering salt, the next step was to carry it home. Because the salt-carrying cattle had been tied up the previous day, the caravan should by rights have set out well before dawn according to habit, Director Tan asked Galsang Wangdui to delay the departure until daylight so as to provide a filming opportunity. The saltmen, of course, were not happy because it not only threw out their schedule but also made it hard for the cattle to get sufficient nourishment; Nevertheless, Galsang Wangdui agreed with our request.

He called the "father" Jorga of the Burqoin family to him and said: "Tanjiang (Xiangjiang Tan) asked us to set out after daybreak because they were afraid that nothing could be photographed too early; what are your ideas?" Jorga didn't oppose it, so Galsang Wangdui lifted his voice and said: "Since we started off from the hometown, this production team has always followed us and can be considered as our partners, so let's set out according to their request, isn't it all right, Gyayang? And tell Tanjiang please!"

The sky was still quite bright after the sunset. The cattle lay on the pure white salt alkaline land, and behind them were a pair of salt bags, which each would carry back to hometown and then on to the agricultural areas. In the pasturing area of the northern tibet, the carrying cattle and the salt dominated men's whole lives.

Why should the salt be carried in this season? We interviewed Galsang Wangdui.

Saltman waiting for morning tea.

He explained: "It is now February of the Tibetan calendar, and, in March, the salt will be exploited. When April comes, the ice and snow will thaw and the fresh water will fully fill the salt lake obliterating the salt pans. And after another month, the rainy season arrives with the water of the lake greatly rising, and there is no crystal salt but only a stretch of vast ocean and no salt to exploit except some salt lakes such as Kongkong where dry salt can be exploited. The other reason is that the water level of Zhagya Zangbo River in this season is comparatively low, so the cattle can easily cross with loads on their back. But that will not be possible when the water level rises later in the year. Not only would it be difficult for the cattle to cross the river but the water could get into the salt bags more easily. The last reason lies in that, in this season, though the cattle get thinner, they are able to carry salt, but when the summer comes, they will not only have a rest but also get fat and should exchange salt with grain. It is hard in the north to drink water in the winter: where there is water there is no grass and where there is grass there is no water. In a word, it's not possible to go in summer due to the harm caused by water, in autumn there is much exchanging to be done and in winter there is no water to drink. So the salt can only be exploited in the spring, which is certainly the main reason."

He continued: "In the winter, Tsangzong Salt Lake will be frozen. You saw that before we arrived, the caravan of No.1 Village hadn't dug up any salt at the south end of Tsangzong, so they could only go to the north end. Though we came seven or eight days behind them, the salt in the south end had already crystallized and the salt layer had begun to deepen. The quality of the crystal salt in the place where we have already dug it up will be better and better and its layer will be deeper and deeper, but we have no time to wait for the ideal moment because there are a lot of things to do at home and this kind of salt will be all right for the farmers. In fact, not for the farmers, we ourselves also eat this kind of salt."

After completing the interview with Galsang Wangdui, we left the caravan and went back to the small hut. The tent of the caravan disappeared in the darkness bit by bit, so did the cattle and their burden of salt bags; all that could be seen was the fire roaring into the night sky. There, we knew, the happy saltmen were enjoying their last supper near the salt lake.

Red Flags Put All Over the City of Tents

Our presence did not make a great splash; only a red flag was placed on the peak of the tent to show our victory one night more than twenty years ago, and this fresh in my memory till now.

It must start from the day the salt gathering ended. The productive team arranged each of the 35 cattle to carry 70 bags of salt equal in weight to 1,750 kg of salt, which was not a heavy task for a saltman, but represented a 12-day stay at the salt lake including two Sundays. In the middle of the day when the salt gathering was completed under the warm sunshine the leader asked us to come to the center of his mound of salt bags and discuss class struggle as outlined in Chairman Mao's famous works. The leader made a most revolutionary statement, declaring direction that: "The salt gathering has ended, which is a victory of the revolution, the victory of the thought of Mao Zedong and the victory of the proletariat, but we must guard against arrogance and carry through the revolution to the end...in the past, when the salt gathering ended, the people would send "Zomo" to worship at the salt lake, which was a feudal superstition. However, we should celebrate our victory with revolutionary fruits."

The saltmen of four productive teams were divided into two groups to dance with the first and the second team as one group and the third and the fourth as another. The opening song was a famous folk song In the East of the Sun adapted in the democratic reform period:

In the east of the sun,

There is a golden palace.

In the gold-built palace,

Our great leader Mao Zedong stands.

In the south of the sun,

There is a silvery palace.

In the silver-built palace,

Our great Chinese Communist Party exists.

In the west of the sun,

There is a white palace.

In the conch-built palace,

Our great People's Liberation Army queues.

In the north of the sun,

There is a green palace.

In the jasper-built palace,

All the great ethnic groups of our country gather.

The lyrics were an exact quotation of Chairman Mao. After the victory songs and dances had finished, every tent sent for one person to welcome the cattle.

Thousands of salt-carrying cattle gathered near the salt lake and grazed on the surrounding grassland. During the salt gathering, the animals should be led to the farther meadow and led back by the herder after the salt gathering has been completed. I didn't think that the "father" of our "family" arranged this assignment to me, saying that, "the little child is nimble, so you go to welcome the cattle." In fact, I had fallen ill several days before and I was weaker than others. However, my uncle had given me some medicines. He was a famous Tibetan doctor and had never collected salt before, so he appeared as an old "Bopur" in the caravan, amid which some sense of "reform through labor" existed. Being a "rebel", he lost his medical qualification and was sent to mend houses and animal pens.

Carrying the bag of zanba and several pieces of meat, our group of four set out northward; to the front was the continuous grassy mountain and a vast expanse of land. On the plain were the strong and vigorous kiangs, slender Tibetan Takin, yellow sheep and female foxes watching everything and plain grey wolves, red foxes and brown bears wandering about. The female leopards and lynxes had become almost extinct and it's hard to find any. In fact, those wild animals were not dangerous to people so no one was worried about them. In the broad plain, flocks of cattle for salt carrying stretched in every direction, so we had to keep inquiring repeatedly until dusk and walk a long way to find our own.

Though the saltmen worked hard, the people herding in the open were even busier. In taking charge of hundreds of cattle, they also had to feed them and prevent them from straying. With the heaven as the tent and earth as the mat and eating in the wind and sleeping in the dew for more than ten days, everyone's face was coated with a layer of livid glaze.

When the curtain of night fell, a fire was lit in the dry riverbed and the fragrance of the tea carried by the wind finally satisfied the stomach which had suffered deprivation all day. Using the herder's small aluminum bowl which was difficult to tell its inside from the outside, I made a bowl of meat soup with a lump of Zanba, a sumptuous supper. It was getting late, the stars filled the sky and the silenced was broken only by the stamp of the horses. It is experience of profound silence experienced when people get close to nature that reveals the true meaning of the expression "son of the earth"

The next day, we drove the cattle back to the salt lake. Leaving out the ceremony to offer sacrifices to the lake, the celebratory activities had been completed, so that, after gethering the cattle, carefully loading the bags of salt, having the supper and packing up the tent, we all went back to our own cattle pen with a shoulder-bag across the shoulder. At that time, I had a kind of strange feeling: that, all here belonged to me, including the cattle, bags of salt, this expanse of heaven and earth and even Dainzin Bandian, because he was my partner, I had become the master of all of this.

The caravan would return to the hometown tomorrow, and I would go back to my parents. Though I was no longer a child, whether I was a man or not, the next morning would reveal. Thinking of this, I could not fall asleep peacefully with my mind wandering far and wide in the world of the man, full of challenges and competitions.

Among us three "Bopur", one was the son of the leader and working with him. In the middle of one day, someone suggested holding a salt carrying competition among us. I didn't want to make my partner and families lose face, but the son of the leader was not convinced and talked big that, "who is the real saltman depend on who set out first on the first day of the return journey." The old men present clapped and highly approved these words. Lying in the fur-lined jacket, hearing the ringing of the horse bell in the far distance and looking at the stars covering the sky, his words kept ringing in my ears. I tossed and turned and was unable to go to sleep. In my sleeplessness, I tried to judge the time by observing the passage of the stars, but they went on twinkling brightly and seemed unwilling to move. Once in a while, there were signs of movement among the cattle as they were nervous and excited about tomorrow's march .

Wake! Wake! Wake up!

In the early morning, when we hurried excitedly to the salt lake, it was just on daybreak. The saltmen had already got up, and were cinching the cattle tightly. Herders of northern Tibet had two different kinds of cattle saddle different from the horse saddle. The material of the horse saddle was selected exquisitely with excellent workmanship and various kinds. A horse saddle with gold rim was worth ten thousands liang of silver and there were also ones with a silver, copper and iron rim. The price of a superior saddle or stirrup would surpass that of a first-class horse. The saddles for cattle paid little heed to daintiness and did not have many varieties. There was one called "Yagar" with a mat board and another called "Benggar" without a mat board. The herders of western Nagqu liked to use "Benggar", while those in the central and eastern area preferred "Yagar". Under the cattle saddle were two small mats encasing the animal's flanks, being sewed on the saddle and thus becoming part of it. When preparing a saddle for cattle, a saddle mat called "Kedian" was needed underneath, which was sewed with felt and carpeting made of cattle hairs, and the clever and deft saltmen liked to embroider designs of "the Great Wall in the Han Dynasty" and "a horse's head" on it. During the journey, the saddle always remained on the animal's back. The cinch should be loosened every night in order to make them sleep easily and then re-tied closely every morning so as to prevent the saddle and the goods from falling off.

The saltmen of Galsang Wangdui's caravan were ready and only awaiting his order.

Seeing we had arrived, he was extremely anxious to give the order of the march: "Wake! Wake! Wake up!" "Ding! Ding! Ding, Ding!" the members responded at once.

Making preparation for moving

Panting for breathe, the people rushed to the middle of the flock, holding the bags of salt off the ground to put on the cattle's back and then tightened the buckles with a round button; some cattle needed a cinch to pin up their load.

Thinking of the time when I transported salt, I recall I was extremely thirsty and dizzy and as if I would fall down. However, as a saltman, I would absolutely not fall down and anyone unable to carry a regular load was unworthy of being called a saltman. If this kind of man entered the caravan, it would be a humiliation for everyone, and he himself would feel too ashamed to show his face. For the dignity of the saltmen and the honor of the caravan, I stuck to carrying the last bag of salt on the back of the cattle, but when we started off, I found that I was in second place among the three "Bopur", which seemed a great wrong and I wore a long face all the way. What was even more galling was the son of the leader could actually carry seventy bags of salt in one go and walk ahead me. I thought that after setting up the camp, he would make a display of his ability to laugh at me.

When Galsang Wangdui and Radi were carrying the bags of salt to load on the last few cattle, several groups had already set out. Standing within the circle on the ground with the bags of salt on their back, the cattle of Galsang Wangdui were somewhat impatient to be off, as if they knew it was a competition of speed and stamina. Rolling their heads and smelling the caravan ahead, they lifted up highly their tails like banners, as if taking an oath not to let down their owners. Finally, Galsang Wangdui let the cattle go from the line with a cry of "ur, ur!" followed by the sound of a beautiful whistle that told the animals it was time to be off.

Showing no interest in the cattle, Galsang Wangdui walked behind them, and no one knew whether the person was driving the cattle or they were simply pulling him along, but, in this competition, the over 50 years old Galsang didn't fall behind. Tidying up the line on the ground and putting it up on the back of the horse, Radi rode along whipping and singing.

The caravan set out, two persons in one group and sixteen in all with eight yak phalanxes. Wrapping the sunglow all over the body and leaving the salt lake mother, they moved back towards their own parents.

After walking a distance of one station, the caravan prepared to camp near the spring called Namoche. With two persons as one group, one drove the cattle, and the other nailed the line on the ground before setting up the camp. It was a competition in which every time the line was picked up or nailed down. Toingya picked up the line of both Soggya and himself on the ground and put it on his back, pulling Soggya's small dappled mare along and running all the way to join the queue of the horse race. The caravan arrived at the spring with a jingling of horse bells and the Song of Fastening the Cattle "Come on, come on" echoing around. Galsang Wangdui liked to edit the color of the hair, the appearance or the shape of the ox horn in an impromptu way in the song of fastening the cattle, such as "Come on, come on, inclined horn green ox; come on, come on, white face and large head, come on!?and according to the people's habit, "come on" could be sung in a partial tone. Ten men in one caravan sang the same song and fastened over hundred or even thousand yaks, which was a beautiful and magnificent sight.