look by ho_Tsakhalho,,a,Village,Run,by,Women

　　 　　I seldom watch TV programs. Several days ago I 　　tried to set my alarm and had to turn on my TV to
　　check the time. I did not expect that turning on the TV earn me a trip to Tsakhalho. The TV program was describing Tsakhalho, a small town on the way from Yunnan to Tibet. Between the River Lancang J iang and the mountain cliffs, there is a platform where a number of tiny salt fields overlap. Groups of women in Tibetan costumes carry wooden baskets up the steep wooden constructions to reach the salt fields. The salt fields extend from the mountainside to the riverbank and look perfective as the fi gures of the women combine with the image of the Tibetan village in the background.
　　On that journey, Tsakhalho was our first stop on the way from Yunnan to Tibet. Mountains, which were about 4,000 meters above sea level, surrounded the little town on both sides. There was plenty of salt on the banks of the River Lancang J iang, therefore, on the terrace, salt brine spouted forth just like a spring. J ust by piling up stones around the mouth of the spring a salt well is created. The local women are used to carrying water from the river and then climbing to the salt-collecting fi eld on the mountainside. The water is poured into the salt field. After natural evaporation, the salt dries into crystals in the sunlight. The local women collect the salt crystals using a wood plank and carry them in a bamboo basket to leak the moisture. Then they go back home and air the salt on the roof. After some process, the salt is fi nally produced and ready to sell.
　　At Markham, producing salt is the job of local women. The climate gives their faces a weather-beaten appearance. Their heavy labor covers their faces with sweat. Even so, they look very energetic and happy. The smooth salt fields are just like mirrors, reflecting their strength, dedication and beauty.
　　
　　Although using the same river, the salt fields situated on two sides of the river share quite different colors. The river’s west bank, Gayda Village, where the ethnic Tibetans live, produces red salt, but the east bank, Tsakhalho Village, where the ethnic Naxi people live, produces white salt. The different soil under the two different riverbanks produces a different color of brine. Though the price of red salt is lower than the white, the taste is superior to the white one while making butter tea - and that is why Tibetans are fond of red salt.
　　Despite all the work done by women, local men also take responsibility to transport salt by donkeys and horses to neighboring counties for sale. It seems unbelievable under today’s circumstances, when most salt is produced on the coastline, that salt produced in the mountain area could be still welcomed by Tibetans.
　　Local teenage girls of about 15-16 years old start to carry water from the river to the foot of the mountain until they reach around 40-50 years old. Apart from the rainy season, they do this every single working day. Also everyday, they climb up and back down the steep wooden drying fields, almost 100 times. Small pebbles placed at the side of the drying fields record their number of visits to the salt fi elds.
　　T hese women come to the salt fields every morning and go back home very late. They work hard. However, when they hear their husbands come back home after selling the salt they have produced, they show their happiness by telling the others that they have something in their home. Then they go to a silent place on the riverbank to comb their hair and change into clean clothes. With preparations complete, they go home to greet their husbands.
　　Though the business of selling salt is not difficult, the local men can take ten days or even half month on the journey. When the men came back home and hand over the presents especially purchased for their children and wives, their children prance about with the dogs to greet their father. Stepping into their house, they take off their jackets spotted with salt and sit down to wait for their wives’ attention. With a smile the wives present them with water and soap to wash. Then, after all else having been done, these men take out purses hidden in their underwear in a deliberate unhurried manner to give the income gained from selling salt, to their wives. The women discreetly wipe their hands on their aprons and then carefully accept it. Within one second, they turn to the bedroom to count the money. It is about this moment that the men often deliberately call out: “No need to count! It is not too much!” In fact, this is the way they show their pride on one hand, and urge their wives to give them wine on the other hand.
　　These women laboring at the salt fields, from the young to the old, may never leave the high mountain or even think about leaving the little town, but they still make a contribution in the history of the world. They are born with the local skills of producing salt. A local legend tells the story: “Many years ago, a young girl living at the bank of River Lancang J iang helped her mother remove a boil on her neck by praying on the holy mountain close-by. On the way home, she found spring that smelled fragrant. She collected a little brine to put on the boil growing on her mother’s neck. Soon the brine dried and salt crystals appeared, and then the boil was cured. Because of such a symbolic event, salt production became the life of local people.”
　　Salt production is the great pioneering creation of human beings other than fi re. It is unbelievable that these salt fields were discovered and built by women. If history cannot remember the names of each individual, please don’t forget their fi gures that carry brine baskets and walk on the steep wooden drying frames.
　　
　　Pouring the brine in the salt fi eld. Photo by Cheng Weidong in 1999
　　
　　A woman sweeping and collecting the salt in the salt fi eld. Photo by Xu Qiongfang
　　
　　Women carrying the brine. Photo by Cheng Weidong in 1999