CHINA: A future for Tibetan nomads?

For thousands of years the nomads of eastern Tibet roamed the area’s vast grasslands, tending their yaks and staunchly defying any interference that came their way.

Spurred on by China's quest to bring the country's hinterland in from the cold, the nomads are now facing unprecedented change. Government taxes and strict migration laws are forcing many of them to give up their traditional lifestyles for a small concrete house in an estate built purposely to accommodate them. Rumors speak of the government’s other plans for the grasslands, including large scale cotton farms and gas exploration. Could this be the end of the road for Tibet's nomads?

Published in Geographical Magazine, Magazine of the Royal Geographical Society