Salt-making tradition revives with technology in Xizang

Tsering Samdrub extracts natural salt from local salt lakes in Tsakha township, Ngari prefecture of Xizang autonomous region on July 20. [Photo by Mo Jingxi/chinadaily.com.cn]

More than a millennium ago, salt traders based in Tsakha township, Ngari prefecture of Xizang autonomous region, would extract natural salt from local salt lakes and transport it by loading it onto yaks and sheep.

They herded the animals while traveling long distances to places like Pulan county of Ngari prefecture,Shigatse city of Xizang, and even across borders to India and Nepal.

During each journey that took two to three months and involved grueling hardships, the traders bartered salt for essential goods such as barley, brick tea, and cloth.

The 74-year-old Tsering Samdrub began working in the salt trade at the age of 16 or 17. He recalled using primitive tools, such as ram horns, to shovel salt from the lake, then loading it onto Tibetan sheep to carry it to Pulan for trade.

Villagers in Tsakha township, Ngari prefecture of Xizang autonomous region, pack the harvested salt into bags.[Photo by Mo Jingxi/chinadaily.com.cn]

"In good days, we could trade one kilogram of salt for one kilogram of grain," he said, "but when luck wasn't on our side, it took two kilograms of salt to get just one kilogram of food."

Samdrub said that it was the wisdom of ancestors that had helped them survive the hard days back then.

Nowadays, villagers have found prosperity by reviving the thousand-year-old salt-making tradition.

In 2018, to help increase local incomes, the township built a crude salt processing plant with a total investment of more than 3.65 million yuan ($511,000). The facility was equipped with a set of iodized salt production equipment, a modern belt conveyor, a hot-air dryer, and three packaging machines, among others.

Since then, a full industrial chain — from salt harvesting and storage to processing, packaging, and sales was formed.

Villagers in Tsakha township, Ngari prefecture of Xizang autonomous region, take away the packed salt bags.[Photo by Mo Jingxi/chinadaily.com.cn]

According to Konchok Tsering, Party secretary of Tsakha township, now salt is still mostly harvested by hand from the salt lakes for the purpose of ecological protection. But instead of using sheep to carry the salt, vehicles now do the transporting.

"Since salt is a renewable resource, by doing so, the lake returns to its pristine, snow-white state by the following year, leaving no trace of the harvest," he said.

From 2019 to the end of 2024, the plant has sold 870 tons of salt, generating total sales revenue of over 4.25 million yuan and a net profit of 2.78 million yuan. The salt operation has created jobs for 593 people, mostly in flexible roles, with wages totaling 1.16 million yuan.

Today, Samdrub no longer depends on salt harvesting to make a living as he receives over 20,000 yuan annually through government pasture subsidies and local dividends.

Yet, every autumn, he still returns to the salt lakes, humming the traditional song once sung by his ancestors as they heaped salt under the open sky — finding joy and a bit of extra income in an enduring legacy.