Herdsman Zhaxi Dongzhu from Heri Herdsmen Committee, Zeku County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southeastern Qinghai Province, never imagined that he would eventually give up herding to engage in stone carving.



In addition, what he did not imagine either was that all his fellow villagers would also handle the business like him. Now local herders' living habit and diet have changed greatly. Butter tea and tsampa (flour made from roasted highland barley), the staple food they used to have, have been replaced by foods made with flour and various vegetables.



The Heri Herdsmen Committee has 189 households with 744 people. Before 2005, due to improper herding and a huge number of rats, the total area of grasslands in Heri had decreased substantially.



Of the 60,000 mu (4,000 ha) of grasslands, only 53 percent could be used for grazing. Moreover, as the grasslands had a low yield of forage, 13 mu (0.87 ha) could only support a sheep.





As a result, the whole committee raised 4,000 head of sheep and cattle only. The households without livestock to raise accounted for 30 percent of the total number of households.



Most of the herders had to live on the income from selling Chinese caterpillar fungi. Consequently, the net annual per-capita income never exceeded 1,000 yuan (about 146.4 U.S. dollars).



In 2005, with the launch of the Sanjiangyuan ecological protection and construction project by China's Central Government, the Heri Herdsmen Committee was designated as an ecological immigration village. Each household was granted 30,000 yuan in subsidies by the government and 100 settlements were built for them in the area that had convenient traffic and favorable weather conditions. Scattered herders then began to live together and the deteriorated grasslands were sealed off to grow grass.



From then on, 70 percent of the herders of Heri bade farewell to their nomadic life marked by chasing grasslands and living in tents. Instead, they moved to a new village with drinkable water, electricity and health facilities.



To enrich the locals, the government of Zeku County held training courses for stone carving and the production of ethnic handcrafts. Previously, there were fewer than ten people who did stone craving. After the courses ended, almost 100 locals began to undertake the business. Meanwhile, the annual earnings of the committee rose to 280,000 yuan from several thousand yuan.



With the increasing number of people handling the business and varieties of stone sculptures, the Heri Herdsmen Committee has become famous in the Qingnan pastoral areas and received orders for their products from neighboring areas.



In order to set norms for the stone carving business and enhance its competitiveness, Heri Village set up a stone carving company to handle the management and sales of its products.



In 2008, the company's yearly revenue amounted to 700,000 yuan, with the net income of each herdsman reaching 22,000 yuan. In the first half of this year, the company earned 480,000 yuan and the income from orders exceeded one million yuan. By now, of the 189 households in Heri, 150 with 208 people are in the stone carving business.