Trading caterpillar fungus in Tibet : when economic boom hits rural area / Emilia Roza Sulek.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sulek, Emilia Roza, author.

Series:

Global Asia (Amsterdam, Netherlands) ; 10.

Global Asia ; 10

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Farmers.

Tibet Autonomous Region (China)--Economic conditions.

Tibet Autonomous Region (China).

Tibetan Plateau--Economic conditions.

Tibetan Plateau.

Farmers--Tibet, Plateau of.

Physical Description:

326 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, [2019]

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.

Contents:

1 Golok: People and Places p. 37

Golok is Heaven and Earth p. 37

Weather p. 39

Administration and Travel p. 41

Research Locations p. 49

2 Digging p. 55

Diggers p. 56

Time and Tools p. 57

Does Everyone go Digging? p. 61

Women and Men p. 63

3 Fungus, Medicine, Commodity p. 67

Medicine p. 68

Domestic Uses p. 73

Trade p. 76

The Boom p. 81

Caterpillar Fungus Production in Qinghai and Golok p. 83

Commodity p. 86

4 Market and Traders p. 91

Traders' Official Status p. 96

The Informal Economy p. 99

Tibetans and Others p. 102

The Multilayered World of Caterpillar Fungus Traders p. 105

Traders and their Suppliers p. 109

Does Ethnicity Matter? p. 111

From Hand to Hand p. 115

5 Market Operations p. 119

Quality and Prices p. 122

Bargaining p. 128

Market Fluctuations p. 135

6 The Law in Action p. 141

The Open Door Starts to Close p. 142

Banishing the Licences: The Door Closes p. 147

A Checkpoint p. 152

The Pastoralists' Opinions p. 157

The Law and Control p. 159

Legality and Licitness p. 162

7 Money p. 167

Money Talk p. 168

The Mystery of Spring p. 178

Sacred Mountains p. 182

Dangerous Money p. 186

8 Pastoral Life and the Market p. 193

Pastoral Products and the Pastoral Calendar p. 197

Pastoral Products and the Market p. 204

Growing Yak Herds p. 208

Disappearing Sheep p. 213

Lazy Nomads p. 219

9 Spending the Money p. 223

Crazy about Houses p. 224

Vehicles of Change p. 236

Consumer Months p. 245.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

946298526X

9789462985261

OCLC:

1090278540