producing什么意思 [The,Ancient,Salt-producing,Town,Tsakhalho]

　　 　　Tsakhalho is a town steeped with a thousand years of history while remaining hidden in the Valley of River Lancang J iang at the boundaries of Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province. The locals still rely on their traditional production of salt. Unfortunately, the history regarding the discovery of this place and when it was settled is unrecorded. Nevertheless, it has the only Catholic Church in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and many local Tibetans living there are following both Tibetan Buddhism and Catholicism. This is also an area where ethnic Tibetans and ethnic Naxi sharing the same land.
　　I have visited Tsakhalho four times since the 1990s. This is a town with about 1300 years of history. During my more than ten years of experience, the ancient town remains intact and the people continue their traditional method to produce salt by drying in the sun as their source of livelihood. The women of the town are fully involved in salt production. However, these people living in Tsakhalho who traditionally rely on salt production and selling are now gradually experiencing a change of focus towards an alternative income: building a tourist industry by preserving and enhancing the local cultural heritage.
　　Setting off from Chamdo, the key city in the east of Tibet Autonomous Region, our vehicles headed southward. Passing through Bangda Grassland, via Zogang, we arrived at Markham at the intersection of the Sichuan-Tibet National Road and the YunnanTibet National Road. The total distance is about 470 kilometers.
　　Tsakhalho is one of the towns of Markham County, which is situated to the south and beside the YunnanTibet National Road. It is over ten kilometers away from Dechen County of Yunnan Province. The town is located 2700 meters above sea level and the River Lancang J iang passes through Tsakhalho. There are about 3700 salt fields, big and small, supporting local people. Following their traditional method of salt production, the total annual production is about three million J in of salt. This is also the only location of a community of ethnic Naxi people in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Notwithstanding, no one knows when Tsakhalho was founded or when ethnic Naxi people moved there. Throughout local history there is no written record. According to the local older generation, Tsakhalho has already existed for a thousand years. Full of curiosity regarding the ancient town, we decided to visit the salt fi elds as well as the people living there.
　　
　　
　　 The Thousand Years Old Town and Ethnic Naxi People
　　In 1996, when I paid my first visit to Tsakhalho, I was attracted by the unique and mysterious town. It was in August. The River Lancang J iang was running high and carrying a tremendous amount of sand. The red muddy water in the river looked like a giant dragon, throwing rocks at the valley as it flowed downhill. On the west side of the river there were overlapping green fi elds accompanied by clusters of white Tibetan houses hidden in thick forest. On the east side, were the ancient salt fi elds overlapping one another, which perfectively corresponded with the color of the rocks. The two sides of the riverbank showed completely different landscapes but in perfect contrast and the dark brown salt fi elds appeared more ancient and splendid. Several years later, I made another two visits to Tsakhalho, and I found there was little change.
　　Entering a big valley in east Tibet where the mountains overlap, the steep Yunnan-Tibet National Road is often accompanied by the zigzagging River Lancang J iang. Sometimes it seemed to me that the only sign of life was the dust left behind by speeding vehicles and the fl owing river to break the silence. When the vehicles gradually draw close to the ancient salt fi elds, the landscape suddenly changes. From Chutsankha, beside River Lancang J iang(via the upper reach of Tsakhalho) to the lower reach of Tsakhalho, is about ten kilometers. The whole area is covered with deep salt fi elds. Looked from a distance they resemble fl at houses supported by wood pillars along the riverbank. The salt fi elds overlap one-another and look striking. The dark brown salt fi elds seem to reveal to us their long history and rich experience in conjunction with the history, prosperity and glory of the historic tea-horse trade route. Of the varied sizes of the different salt fi elds, only the salt fi elds situated in the lower reach of Tsakhalho were large. This is actually the only town of ethnic Naxi people in Tibet Autonomous Region.
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　According to the local legend, Tsakhalho was originally the home of the ancient Qiang people. Since the community was made prosperous by salt - the indispensable key resource of all human beings - the land has gone through a series of wars launched by various powers aiming to control this particular resource. Nevertheless, these wars also gradually promoted the development of the land in other ways. Trade and transportation makes this the must-pass spot for the exchanging of goods between the south and the north. People build houses and explore land for farming fi elds. In the end of the Ming Dynasty, as well as at the dawn of the Qing Dynasty, the power of the Mu Family chieftain from Yunnan, combined with the power of ethnic Naxi people, suffered a downfall and was soon replaced by the growing power of ethnic Tibetans. In the wake of the change in power, the local Naxi people were gradually assimilated by ethnic Tibetans - in terms of adopting their language, customs, architecture, folk culture and even adopted the religious faith of ethnic Tibetans. As time went by, the local people, despite experiencing a long history, are still sure they are ethnic Naxi people. The traditional salt fi elds remain crucial to maintaining their heritage.
　　Previously, Ngawang Nyima, the old governor of the town of the ethnic Naxi in Tsakhalho told me, nine hundred out of total of 1200 local people are ethnic Naxi people. They still maintain the language of ethnic Naxi besides Tibetan. Except for that, almost everything has changed into Tibetan culture. With the companion of the old governor, we walked for about three hours to reach the salt fi elds at the riverbank. At the overlapping salt fields we saw at least ten Naxi women carrying water to the salt fields. The old governor pointed to the brine, favorably located on the riverbank, and said that there were two brine wells that provided all the water required for the salt fi elds at the mountainside. He observed that the wind in this area usually blew toward the west. A particularly strong wind often brings benefi ts to salt production as weak wind could slow down salt production. In addition, strong sunlight causes fast evaporation of the brine water, resulting in low production of salt and heavy rainfall washes the salt away. Because of the requirements of salt production, the particular geographical location of Tsakhalho, its climactic conditions, temperature and year-around stability in season and wind make it possible for the ancient town of Tsakhalho to survive until today.
　　
　　I walked carefully to reach the salt fields along a narrow path. I felt the strong wind blowing from the riverbank and drying the heavy salt from the air. For a while, my body became hot. The salt field sits on a thick layer of cement above the original sand foundation in order to avoid water being drained off. On the bottom of almost every salt field appeared slim and long white pillars of salt. Seen in the distance, they were like ice crystals when winter comes. Groups of women were carrying wooden baskets about one meter high. They were used to climbing up and down the salt fields while talking and laughing. Our visit did not make them nervous but rather it added to the atmosphere. They looked like very young ladies. Probably the youngest is about 16 or 17 years old. Even so, they still carried baskets weighing about 30-40 Kg. Ngawang Nyima told me that since ancient times, local women had been taking the responsibility to carry the brine water. Traditionally, every woman usually carries 60-70 baskets minimum and a hundred baskets maximum in a day. He said proudly that Naxi women were always capable and competent. The brine well has a mouth of about one-diameter and about four to fi ve meters in depth. Since the mouth is so small, the brine water can only be spooned out to fi ll the baskets and then be carried to the salt fi eld by the women using wooden sliders as they pass along the narrow path. The traditional order at Tsakhalho is that women work for salt production while men use horse caravans to transport salt to sell outside. People have been living this way since ancient times.
　　
　　
　　In 1999, when we came to Dechen of Yunnan through the national road between Yunnan and Tibet to Tsakhalho, it was just the local season to start to basking salt. Three years ago, because the river was in fl ood, the brine water could not be collected so that local salt production had to be halted. Reviewing my diary on March 23rd, 1999, I had recorded: “Observing in the distance a number of salt fields are shining under the strong sunlight. Seeing those women working in fi elds, they show their competence and capability. They are repeatedly carrying the heavy baskets on their back to walk along the zigzagging path. Up and down, they keep going repeatedly. The only difference is that whenever they carry one basket to the salt fields, they leave one pebble as a record. Apart from the income earned from farming, animal husbandry and selling walnuts, every individual household can earn several thousand Yuan from salt annually.”
　　May 3rd, 2003, was my third visit to Tsakhalho. Of over 200 households living in Drongge Village, about 70 percent of farming households have salt fields. Yudron, who was 46 years old and had three children, told me that she started to carry the brine water when she was 12 years old as her mother had died very early. She worked with adults from nine o’clock in the morning to four o’clock in the afternoon each day. They prepared their own lunch by themselves in the salt fields. Due to constraints caused by history and natural environment, every individual household has a different number of salt fields - between six to eight plots. Each individual carries about 50 baskets of brine water every day. Each basket is about 30 Kg in weight. So in a day an individual almost carries 1500 Kg of brine water. She said that they were used to carrying the big basket when they carried brine water, but the people living in Drada Village - situated on the opposite side of the river are accustomed to using small baskets. For a total of six months out of the year(from April to J une and from October to December) is the best season to produce salt. Dry salt can be sold at the price of 90 Yuan per Kg. Therefore, a yearly income of per household is about 4000 - 5000 Yuan.
　　 The Legend of the C atholic C hurch at Tsakhalho
　　Chutsankha is enriched by 108 hot springs on the bank of River Lancang J iang, not far from Tskhalho(about 10 kilometers). Water from these hot springs emerges and fl ows to the river. This place is quite warm and humid because of the hot springs. In the wake of this, the farming products (including apples, walnuts, pears, oranges, pomegranates, peaches, grapes and watermelons) are abundant, indicating valuable land in such a high location. In recent years, due to the hot springs, Chutsankha has encountered unprecedented business opportunities. Many tourists and pilgrims from Chamdo and Dechen of Yunnan Province pay special visits to Chutsankha, resulting in a boom in tourism.
　　At the upper reach of Tsakhalho, there is a Catholic Church - the only one in Tibet Autonomous Region. It is said to be about 200 years old. According to legend, many years ago, a French missionary came to Tsakhalho and wanted to build a church on this desolate land where only several households were settled. But such plan was rejected by the local authority in the wake of the wide prevalence of Tibetan Buddhism. Nevertheless, these wise French missionaries said to local authorities that they only needed floor space as big as a yak skin. The local authorities believed that such a little space would do nothing. They allowed the missionaries to build the church. Therefore, the wise French missionaries cut up a yak skin into suitable pieces and then made ropes to tie together to measure the required area. The local authority had to agree to let them build a church. It says in the community of Tsakhalho people are still keeping the fragments of bible which was translated into Tibetan by these French missionaries. The French missionaries originally brought even the grapes planted at Tsakhalho. In it’s early days, the church had gone through several destructive attacks but was later rebuilt. Local people habitually visited the church twice every day and three times on Sunday. They are accustomed to doing so. Interestingly, we observed so many families at Tsakhalho kept their faith in both Tibetan Buddhism and Catholicism. Over ten years ago, there were two sisters but no priest. A 70-year-old local sister told me that the church was built in 1820. It was about 1830 that the bible was translated into Tibetan and today’s Tibetan bible actually originated from the translation in the 19th century. She observed that the Tibetan version of the bible could be also bought at Kangding. She said the local government had decided to have a local priest for this church. She treated us to her own home-made grape wine and commented that the technology of the brewery was introduced by French missionaries…
　　I still remember that when I stood in front of the newly built church at my fi rst visit, I could hardly believe that the locals simultaneously practiced both Tibetan Buddhism and Catholicism. There are so many questions about this. Nevertheless, I seemed to understand -on such a deep and desolated mountain area such phenomenon might well fi ll the needs of locals to survive here…
　　When the ringing bells of local caravans sounded from the mountainsides, we said farewell to Tsakhalho for Yunnan Province… even though we still had so many questions and a deep infatuation.
　　
　　 Today’s People at Tsakhalho
　　In August of 2011, invited by my friends, I returned to Tsakhalho via Nyingchi of Tibet Autonomous Region. On the way, I not only felt strange but also familiar with the towns, villages, mountains and rivers. It had already been eight years since my last visit to Tsakhalho. Though Markham is in the hinterland of Mount Hengduan and at the junction of Sichuan Province, Yunnan Province and Tibet Autonomous Region, this is the southeast entrance of Tibet Autonomous Region. It is additionally the famous first stop on the “Tea-horse Route” in Tibet Autonomous Region. Of course, it is also the junction of two national roads: No. 214 and No. 318. Within the eight years, the road to Tsakhalho has been renovated. Towns and villages have revealed a new face by renovating their houses. It is clear that the livelihood of locals must have seen a big change because the previous backward situation of Tsakhalho has been erased by changes to widen the streets, build new clusters of houses, and increase the number of speeding vehicles and motorcycles to supplement services to telecommunication, hotels and shopping centers. People now can easily get access to telecommunications to make a long distance call… and accommodation is no more an issue for locals.
　　In my 16-year experience at Tsakhalho, I witnessed all these changes taking place. Despite the ancient salt fields alongside River Lancang J iang looking a little bit rundown, they are still standing there. So does Catholic Church that has had several renovations. The farming fields look much more prosperous and the people who have been here for generations, are enjoying living in this land though some youth would like to sell their labor outside of the mountain area. The changes that have taken place over the decades seem to highlight what is developing and what precious things remain unchanged.