LIFE
20 | Thursday, August 22, 2019 CHINA DAILYI
t was butter tea — not her flu-
ent Tibetan or clothing — that
changed Wei Yaping’s life. Her
parents are ethnic Han and
come from Jiangsu province. They
came to work in the Tibet autono-
mous region in the early 1960s. Wei
was born there.
Wei’s husband, Tsetan Sharpa,
was originally from Yaleb township
in the region’s Nyalam county. He
was raised and educated in Nepal,
and was in the wool-rug business
when they met.
Tibetan people are fond of drink-
ing butter tea, a mix of leaves pro-
duced around the country and the
yak butter produced on the Qinghai-
Tibet Plateau.
While Wei was working for a
hotel in Tibet’s Zhangmu land port
on the border with Nepal, her
future husband, Tsetan, visited
often for a taste.
“The butter tea she offered was
delicious. It was hard to believe she
was Han. To me, she seemed like a
Tibetan because of her personality
and her way of speaking,” Tsetan
says.
It wasn’t love at first sip, however.
Wei had her doubts.
“When we met, I felt he was a man
who would be hard to get along
with. But as time went by, he was
cheerful and kind to me,” she says.
The tea led to love — and eventu-
ally marriage. And then more tea.
And rugs.
Wei and Tsetan were married in
the early 2000s and lived in Nepal
for a time. There, they continued the
rug-making business.
Facing an economic depression in
Nepal early on, however, they start-
ed thinking about returning to Chi-
na, where businesses were thriving
thanks to the country’s reform and
opening-up.
At first, Tsetan didn’t think the
move was a good idea. Nepal was his
second home. But an economic con-
ference in Jiangsu’s capital, Nanjing,
in 2004 changed his mind. And that
led them to Lhasa.
With little business experience in
China, and with a limited staff, the
couple encountered many difficul-
ties.
In Nepal, Tsetan handled most of
the business duties, but in Lhasa,
Wei took on a much greater role.
“He had difficulty communicat-
ing in Mandarin,” she says, adding
that he had few friends and was
always thinking about returning to
Nepal.
Tsetan speaks Tibetan, Nepali
and English fluently, but he didn’t
know Mandarin. So, Wei handled
most of the paperwork and coordi-
nated business.
“I felt a little embarrassed at
first,” Tsetan says. “In Nepal, it’snot right for a man to stay at home
with a woman doing all the work.”Problems and solutions
Many experts consider Tibetan
wool to be best for rugs. It’s warm in
the winter and cool in the summer.
But a lack of qualified workers is a
major headache. The rugs produced
by the local people were very rough
and attracted insects, Wei says.
Tsetan recalls the problems and
solutions: “The carpets produced by
Tibetan people using ancient skills
would last a long time in Tibet, but
they’d become moth-eaten in the
summer in other places.” So, the cou-
ple’s enterprise, Tibet Pangyenmedo
Industrial and Trading Co, adopted
new processing methods.
But one thing didn’t change:
They continued to weave by hand
to ensure quality.
Over two decades, local residents
were trained in rug-making, with
guidance from Nepali and Indian
associates in the company. Now, the
company has more than 70 employ-
ees. Its rugs have gained popularity in
the region and other parts of China.
Products include Tibetan mat-
tresses, backrests, tapestries,
phone mats, placemats, rugs, sad-
dle pads, automobile pillows, seat
cushions and khata, scarves that
Tibetans present to guests as a sym-
bol of purity and sincerity.
With Tibetan, Han and Nepali
artworks and furniture in their liv-
ing room, Tsetan and Wei engagethree cultures every day, from food
to thought.
Tsetan gave his wife a Tibetan
name, Losang Chodron, and she
gave him a Han coat.
“I think I was a Tibetan in my
previous life,” she says. “Others also
consider me a Tibetan.”Carpet to culture
They drink butter tea or coffee in
the morning, eat Chinese or West-
ern food for lunch and drink Chi-
nese green tea in the afternoon.
Their four children have gradu-
ated from university. Wei has seven
brothers and sisters. They all live in
Lhasa, speak Tibetan and are mar-
ried to Tibetans.
At first, they only communicated
in Tibetan, but in recent years, Tset-
an has learned Mandarin. Wei also
learned to make Nepali food, and
she and her husband share Nepali
tastes.
On the surface, the trading com-
pany is a business, but from anoth-
er perspective it’s a cultural-
preservation undertaking.
Turkish, Tibetan and Persian car-
pets are considered the world’s best.
Tibetan rugs are widely sold in the
United States and Europe.
Tibetan rug-making dates to the
Shangshung Kingdom 3,000 years
ago and was promoted by Tashi Tob-
gyal, the grandson of Langdarma,
the 40th king of the Tubo Kingdom
in the region’s Gyalze county in AD
623, Tsetan says.
“Half a century ago, the craft
declined in Tibet, but it was revived
in Nepal between the 1960s and
2000s. It declined again afterward,
and now, it’s very developed in
Nepal,” he says.
The pair plans to open a Tibetan-
rug museum in Lhasa in the next
few years.
“It’s an invaluable asset inherited
from Tibetan ancestors,” Tsetan
says. “It’d be a great pity if it vanishes
one day. It can never be replicated.”Contact the writers at
[email protected]Top: Indian Kumar Saroj (left)
trains locals in rug-making at
Wei Yaping’s and Tsetan
Sharpa’s company in Lhasa.
Above: Employees hand weave
a carpet.
Left: Wei Yaping and her
husband, Tsetan Sharpa, enjoy
tea. Tea has led to love and,
eventually, marriage for the
couple.
PHOTOS BY DAQIONG / CHINA DAILYRich tapestry of tenacity
The story of Wei Yaping and her husband, Tsetan Sharpa, who run a thriving Tibetan-rug business,
is also about overcoming cultural differences and succeeding, Daqiong and Palden Nyima report in Lhasa.
70 YEARS ON | SPIRIT OF CHINAIt’s an invaluable
asset inherited from
Tibetan ancestors.
It’d be a great pity if it
vanishes one day. It
can never be
replicated.”
Tsetan Sharpa, cofounder of
Tibet Pangyenmedo Industrial
and Trading Co