Trading caterpillar fungus in Tibet : when economic boom hits rural area /

Trading caterpillar fungus in Tibet : when economic boom hits rural area /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Sulek, Emilia Roza, author.
Imprint:Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, [2019]
©2019
Description:326 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps ; 24 cm.
Language:English
Series:Global Asia ; 10
Global Asia (Amsterdam, Netherlands) ; 10.
Subject:
Farmers -- Tibet, Plateau of.
Tibet Autonomous Region (China) -- Economic conditions.
Tibet, Plateau of -- Economic conditions.
Format: Map Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11964640
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:946298526X
9789462985261
9789048536290
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:Caterpillar fungus, often called the Himalayan Viagra, is a subject of the latest commodity boom which changed the economic fates of Tibetan pastoralists in China. This expensive medicinal resource made a spectacular market career in East Asia after the outbreak of avian influenza and SARS. Growing demand for this 'wonder drug' created for people on the Tibetan plateau where this fungus is endemic attractive income opportunities which they never had before. Tibetan pastoralists engaged in this new 'gold rush' and turned from subsistence-oriented yak and sheep breeders living in a cash-poor environment into local economic elite. This book tells a story of successful pastoralists high on the Tibetan plateau who take advantage of the economic boom in the Chinese market to accomplish their own goals. They emerge as far more sophisticated actors than most outsiders would give credit to before reading this book.
Table of Contents:
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes on Transliteration
  • List of Abbreviations
  • List of Units of Measurement and Currency
  • Introduction
  • Aim of this Book
  • Development and Modernity
  • Some Important Notes from the Author
  • The State of the Research
  • Structure of the Book
  • 1. Golok: People and Places
  • Golok is Heaven and Earth
  • Weather
  • Administration and Travel
  • The People
  • Research Locations
  • 2. Digging
  • Diggers
  • Time and Tools
  • Does Everyone go Digging?
  • Women and Men
  • 3. Fungus, Medicine, Commodity
  • Medicine
  • Domestic Uses
  • Trade
  • The Boom
  • Caterpillar Fungus Production in Qinghai and Golok
  • Commodity
  • 4. Market and Traders
  • Traders' Official Status
  • The Informal Economy
  • Tibetans and Others
  • The Multilayered World of Caterpillar Fungus Traders
  • Traders and their Suppliers
  • Does Ethnicity Matter?
  • From Hand to Hand
  • 5. Market Operations
  • Quality and Prices
  • Bargaining
  • Market Fluctuations
  • 6. The Law in Action
  • The Open Door Starts to Close
  • Banishing the Licences: The Door Closes
  • A Checkpoint
  • The Pastoralists' Opinions
  • The Law and Control
  • Legality and Licitness
  • 7. Money
  • Money Talk
  • The Mystery of Spring
  • Sacred Mountains
  • Dangerous Money
  • 8. Pastoral Life and the Market
  • Pastoral Products and the Pastoral Calendar
  • Pastoral Products and the Market
  • Growing Yak Herds
  • Disappearing Sheep
  • Lazy Nomads
  • 9. Spending the Money
  • Crazy about Houses
  • Vehicles of Change
  • Consumer Months
  • Conclusions
  • Afterword: A Note on Methodology
  • Appendix
  • Tibetan Word List
  • Bibliography
  • Index
  • List of Illustrations, Maps and Tables
  • Illustrations
  • Figure 1. Domkhok Township Seat
  • Figure 2. Soglung Valley in winter
  • Figure 3. Summer camp
  • Figure 4. Caterpillar fungus digging
  • Figure 5. Freshly dug caterpillar fungus
  • Figure 6. Dawu, view of the town from the direction of Domkhok
  • Figure 7. Koja, general view
  • Figure 8. Darlag Street, caterpillar fungus shop
  • Figure 9. Anywhere is good for business: street scene in Dawu
  • Figure 10. Gesar Square
  • Figure 11. Some traders go to pastoralists' homes
  • Figure 12. Caterpillar fungus: three quality classes
  • Figure 13. Bargaining in a shop in Koja
  • Figure 14. Hand signs used in bargaining
  • Figure 15. Emotions run high: Aren't these scales cheating?
  • Figure 16. Sumdo checkpoint
  • Figure 17. Caterpillar fungus records
  • Figure 18. In a pastoralist house: in-migrant diggers make notes on their harvests
  • Figure 19. Yak corral in front of the house: the women are collecting yak dung for fuel
  • Figure 20. Unusual sight: sheep taken for grazing
  • Figure 21. Black tent, an important family heritage
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