A Day in Life Part II

Dechen Yudron

This 27-year-old Lhasa lady graduated from Peking University, majoring in International Politics. She finished her graduate study in New York University majoring in Educational Policy.

Shortly after she came back to Lhasa, Yudron established her own company on educational consultation. Different from Ta Tse, she focused only on female education which was suggested by her supervisor back in New York University: Go back to Lhasa where you are needed and use your knowledge to make a change.

Thus she conducted three seasons of Qingmozhai Project consecutively. At first, for fear of lack of students, she offered free trial lessons; considering the shyness of Tibetan girls, she arranged her lessons outdoors. Gradually, some parents began to introduce her educational concept. Following that, she invited traditional Tibetan housewives to attend a salon discussing coffee culture in order to help them establish a circle to enrich their socialization and culture knowledge.

Some people hold that Yudron』s project is over-idealized because Lhasa is not an international metropolis like New York. However, Yudron thinks in the other way around. According to her, not only students but also the middle class need to change in order to provide Lhasa with real changes and improvement.

Seeing from the time zone, the 10 o』clock in the morning in Lhasa is actually 8:00 a.m. in inland coastal cities. Even so, these entrepreneurs had already begun their work. Dechen Yudron was doing her new season of Qingmozhai Project, an experimental one offering opportunities for secondary school girls to improve their abilities in metacognition and communication through writing. Many Tibetan people were not clear of this educational concept. As a result, parents were not actively involved.

Nyiwoe Tashi』s store is located diagonally opposite to Makye Ame, a restaurant in Barkhor Street. Though in a good location, it is often missed due to its small storefront. Yet, as long as you pay attention, you will find a uniquely designed garment through the window, which offers you an impression of anything but a Tibetan style. In fact, Tashi is good at designing Tibetan clothes of new styles. He enjoys talking with others for several hours on whatever topics like personal experience, understanding of Tibetan culture, current political status and fashion trends. His talkativeness helped Drupchen a lot who was assigned to shoot a short film for him: no retake in all scenes. Then Drupchen even had extra time to try on several clothes after shooting.

Drupchen is a known modern dancer in Lhasa. Yet he is actually the boss of a company for film and television cultures. He shoots commercial trailers for governments and companies, as well as documentary films for temples.

Nyiwoe Tashi

Tashi, 32, was born in Dawu County, Garzê Prefecture, Sichuan Province. He graduated from Ludong University majoring in Chinese Language and Literature. He has rich personal experiences: He was once a website editor; then he became a police officer in Garzê Prefecture; later he worked as a personal assistant for a company boss in Beijing; in 2010 when he came to Lhasa, he once served as a lobby manager in a hotel, a gallery partner and a fashion designer. Now he runs a fashion studio on Tibetan clothes in fashion styles.

Perhaps thanks to his rich experiences, he is outgoing, straightforward, wise and talkative, unlike many Tibetan young entrepreneurs. He is able to talk from a piece of clothes he has designed to the intention of Shakyamuni to establish Buddhism; or he may arrange his topics from current political status to fashion trends.

At 9:00 a.m., Nyiwoe Tashi started his everyday meditation at his home in suburban Lhasa.

Nyiwoe Tashi came to his studio and started his work. On the television, a feature story shot for Tashi by CCTV-4 was broadcasting, showing a scene where he was interviewed. At the same time, Tibetan local media came to interview him as well. Inured to media, he continued with his work without being affected. Compared with other entrepreneurs, Nyiwoe Tashi pays more attention to interviews from and cooperation with media: For one reason, he is experienced in handling media because he once worked for public relations; for another, he knows that he needs help from media to spread his concepts which cannot be easily communicated simply from his tailoring.

At 9:00 p.m., Nyiwoe Tashi kept his wife, Wu Qian, company for a walk to the Potala Palace. Wu Qian is his 「fan.」 She likes listening to Tashi talking about his ideas. And Tashi also knows that without Wu Qian managing the daily affairs for him, he cannot devote all his energy to business. Therefore, they are a sweet couple making up for each other.

Drupchen

This 26-year-old Lhasa man graduated from Tangshan Polytechnic College majoring in Marketing. He is a known street dancer and runs his company for film and television cultures in Lhasa. He likes to call himself a 「Jack of all trades.」 Besides street dance, he started his business in college. Later he ran a tattoo studio and planned to be a music artist. And now he aims to 「march」 into the field of the catering sector. It seems that he is always changing his interests whenever he finds something attractive. However, as you get to know him more, you will find that he regards sincerely every job as a chance to learn something new and enjoys such a trial.

Drupchen has a close relationship with the Samye Monastery, located 300 kilometers away from Lhasa, because he has been shooting documentaries for intangible culture heritages in Tibetan areas. The annual Kalachakra Buddhist conference in the Samye Monastery was approaching. Drupchen had to come to the sub-monastery in Lhasa and took a vehicle there to the Samye Monastery at an early time. As a devout Buddhist, he minded his manners after entering the monastery, particularly in front of the eminent monks.

Standing outside the Samye Monastery, Drupchen missed his girlfriend in Lhasa when seeing the rape flowers. He told us that his girlfriend came from a better-off family than him. Now that she is with him this poor guy, he must work harder to get respected.

Karma Tsundoe Sanpo happened to pass by Tashi』s studio and thus paid a visit. Enjoying chatting with Tashi, he hardly had time recently because he, as a tour guide, was busy with the heated tourism season. He planned to go back to his hometown, Damxung County, for a period of time after he finished the recent work. Rather than finding it hard to make a living in Lhasa, he established a cooperative tourism project in his hometown: Households in the county gathered money to set up an experience tourism project on grassland husbandry cooperatively. He worked as the leader as well as the promoter. He can not only transport local specialties of those households to sell in Lhasa, but also guide tour groups back to the county. Riding yak, making butter, harvesting highland barleys and other daily activities for Tibetan people have been adjusted to experience activities for tourists. Thus tourists in Tibet now have more activities besides simply enjoying the landscape views.

Karma Tsundoe Sanpo

Karma, 26 years old, was born in YangbajainTown, Damxung County, Tibet. He graduated from Northwest University for Nationalities majoring in Tibetan Language. After graduation, he, like most Tibetan young people, took the civil servant examination and worked for half a year as a village officer in a town in Lhorong County, Qamdo City, Tibet. Soon after, he resigned and went to Lhasa. There, he sang songs and wrote poems, enjoying arts and literature. Later, in order to make a living, he became a tour guide. After becoming familiar with tourism, he formulated a daring idea in his mind. He planned to establish a cooperative tourism project in his hometown for tourists to experience grassland husbandry. He can help local villagers to sell specialties and artifacts, and formulate tour routes, taking tourists back to his village to experience such daily activities as riding yak, making butter, and harvesting highland barleys. These daily ones are fresh and interactive for tourists. Though the project is still in embryo, economic benefits are already felt by the villagers.

At 12:00 p.m., Karma Tsundoe Sanpo met his tourists in front of the Jokhang Temple. In the next few days, he would serve as their guide in Lhasa. Also, he was confident to befriend them.

Karma Tsundoe Sangpo was sitting at the ground of the Ganden Monastery. At 3:00 p.m., the Ganden Monastery began its daily activity of debating on issues in Buddhist scriptures, a traditional visiting activity for tourists. Having seen it for countless times, Karma took the time to relax himself.

Tsering Tashi runs a company of culture communication which aims to promote music of neo-Tibetan styles: folk, jazz and even funk (funky breaks evolving from jazz music of black people). He hopes to localize pop music, but refuses to appeal for catchy songs. As a result, he often does everything himself including writing songs, recording, producing and promoting. He lives a lifestyle of modern people in metropolis: ordering take-out food and enjoying working at night — usually he would start his work at 3:00 p.m. Tsering Tashi and Drupchen used to cooperate with each other, but later they broke up because of divergence in concepts. Drupchen altered to handle film and television affairs.

Tsering Tashi

Graduating from Tibet University majoring in Tibetan News, this 27-year-old Lhasa young man is a devoted musician who can both sing and write songs. After graduation, he was required to take the civil service examinations by his family. Yet, without the slightest consideration to take, he borrowed some money and established a music production company with an ambition to contract singers, like that in inland, and cast Tibetan musicians. It was beyond expectation that he scouted out a good music band in the next year. Then, he dedicated himself on 「Neo-Tibetan Music」 by combining pop music and localized Tibetan music elements. After several years, his contracted musicians not only grow in quantity but also in styles, covering a wider range of rap, funk, jazz and ballad.

At 6:00 p.m., they were discussing while eating some take-out food as the first meal in the day because the musicians were in good status and thus they continued recording until everyone felt a little bit tired. There were many unique wall paintings in Tsering Tashi』s studio, the biggest one depicting a holy bird in Buddhism. The bird, named Karyobinga, has the most beautiful voice in all the Triloka. Its voice can educate people in the world.

At 8:00 p.m., Tsering Tashi was still not satisfied though they had recorded several times. He took up his guitar and demonstrated for the singer.

At 4:00 p.m. after his musician came to the studio, they first took a trial.

Unlike Tsering Tashi, Ta Tse is a different kind, the one of white-collar: He gets up punctually, sleeps punctually, and goes to office punctually. His everyday life is in schedule. He serves as an administrator of a good educational institution in Lhasa. Even so, sometimes you may think he is more like an interning undergraduate. Ta Tse can speak fluent English and once studied in America. But in the end, he returned to Lhasa, starting his work as a teacher and administrator for an educational institution. Though most people he encounter are primary and secondary students, he, however, is the only one here talking about planning and structure of his entrepreneurship.

Ta Tse

Ta Tse, 28 years old, was born in Gyangzê County, Xigazê City, Tibet and graduated from Southwest Jiaotong University majoring in International Trade. He is a co-partner administrating a professional educational institution. At the same time, he works as an English teacher there.

After graduation, Ta Tse had been teaching English in a training school in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. He can speak fluent English and once studied in America. Handsome and positive as he is, he works in a very self-disciplined manner.

At 9:00 a.m. when day was dawning in Lhasa, Ta Tse had prepared tsampa and buttered tea for breakfast. While eating, he turned on his computer and read some news reports.

At 12:00 p.m., Ta Tse finished his morning classes. Seeing some students, he talked with them about what they learned today. During class, he is a teacher; after class, he is the administrator of the institution.

At 5:00 p.m., Ta Tse was off from work on time. He made an appointment with his girlfriend to watch a movie. Usually riding a bicycle, he changed to an electronic bike today to pick up his girlfriend.

Lhasa is said to be a good place for a trance and everyone hopes to spend a leisured day here. Yet these young entrepreneurs live 「a day」 different from most people there. The sound of their busy steps rings by your side but never attracts your attention. However, this is the life of Lhasa — the city they live in.

I used to think these young people would enjoy a rich night life. Out of my expectation, most of them choose to stay at home, reading books or surfing on the internet after 10:00 p.m. At 11:00 p.m., only Tsering Tashi came to the bar. Today, the recording was not satisfying, so he came here to relax alone. At the same time, he also paid attention to other singers』 performances to search for inspiration.