Changing Pastoral Life in Khar Us

Abstract

This video explores the lives of ordinary herders by interviewing Tsagadai, a Torghut herder from Khar Us. According to the interview, not only have the pastoral lifestyle and related cultural elements changed over the years, but herders’ understanding of pastoral life has also evolved. Additionally, their physical adaptation has decreased as new waves of modernisation, such as cars and technologies, have impacted the local people. Tsagadai, aged 75, was born in Emgelj, Khar Us. Before the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Tsagadai’s father was conscripted into the army by his aristocratic leader and never returned. Tragically, her mother passed away shortly after giving birth. Consequently, Tsagadai was raised by her aunt and married at 19. During the communal era after the establishment of the PRC in 1949, she herded various livestock for communes and, following privatisation in 1983, raised her own livestock. She now owns 70 cows and several hundred sheep. Tsagadai: My summer pasture is located in the remote Tenger Mountain, where we stay throughout the summer and winter. To reach these pastures, we must load our daily necessities onto steers, and it takes at least four to five days to complete the journey. However, herders nowadays are reluctant to migrate to their pastures because, on one hand, they complain it is too far and too difficult to move back and forth, and on the other, they must accompany their children who attend school in the town centre. Consequently, herders tend to raise cows and horse herds, sending their livestock to pastureland while they stay in the town centre. This has caused a severe imbalance in the livestock structure, leading to damage to the pastureland. Herders have also become less active compared to our generation. In my youth, my parents and many other herders either rode horses or walked in the mountains without any physical difficulties, whereas the younger generations now complain of tiredness or muscle soreness even driving a car.