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standing in front of the giant pop mart model on barkhor street, amin was a little dazed. this was the second day after he arrived in lhasa, and his stereotype of tibet had been overturned. it was "not at all" like the snowy grasslands and nomadic tibetan life he had imagined. instead, there were sichuan restaurants everywhere in lhasa, b&bs with unique decoration styles, and migrant workers from all over the country.

kfc on barkhor street in lhasa. (photo/visual china)

while most people's impression of the "roof of the world" is still stuck on the mysterious potala palace, the sacred mountain mount kailash and tibetan buddhism, tibet has quietly moved towards a commercial society. in pursuit of the mountains, rivers and seas in an ideal world, young people pack their backpacks and head west. now, in addition to many aspirations,people have one more reason to come to tibet: to make money.

amin always heard ordinary people's wealth stories from entrepreneurs who came to tibet in the early years: an ordinary couple-run store can earn 300,000 yuan a year just by selling barbecue; didi drivers and deliverymen who are struggling to make a living in the mainland can earn 20,000 yuan a month in tibet; there were even people who followed tibetans to dig cordyceps in the early years and could earn 200,000 yuan in just two months a year... this has attracted the envy of countless white-collar workers in beijing, shanghai and guangzhou.

these myths of wealth creation have more or less survivor bias, but it is undeniable that:tibet is becoming a place full of opportunities for young people to start businesses.

(photo/pexels)

zhang lixin, 47, runs a condiment business in lhasa. he traveled thousands of miles from his hometown in sichuan to lhasa because he saw the local consumption potential. after several years of promoting the western development plan, tibet has attracted many young people from the mainland with monthly salaries of over 10,000 yuan. they have money and free time but lack places to spend their money, making them the main potential consumers in the local area.

"you won't find such a wild consumption environment in the mainland."unlike the grand and magnificent capital narratives on the eastern coast, tibet leaves more opportunities and stages for ordinary people.

01

go to tibet to make money!

there is a general consensus among businessmen in tibet: compared with the mainland market, which has become a red ocean, business in tibet is much easier to do.

as long as you take a walk around the vegetable market in lhasa, you will find that local prices are on par with those in first-tier cities: a box of sunshine rose grapes costs 50% more than in the mainland; a plate of shredded pork with green peppers that sells for 25 yuan in chengdu has a starting price of 35 yuan in a restaurant in lhasa; even the lemonade at mixue ice city is symbolically one yuan more expensive.

gacha county market in shannan, tibetfruit stall. (photo/visualchina)

the objective price difference leaves plenty of room for imagination for the gold diggers who have just arrived. zhang lixin even found in a market survey that the retail price of a bag of chicken essence in lhasa increased by 10%, but the logistics cost of shipping from chengdu to the local area only increased by 2%.

"don't underestimate the 8% increase in gross profit. due to the existence of the platform, you can't even squeeze out 1% in the mainland." before coming to tibet, zhang lixin worked as a sales executive in a company, and later started his own seasoning company. in 2020, the community group buying battle was in full swing, and capital subsidies led to price inversion in the seasoning industry. the original profit was infinitely flattened to single digits or even lower. a year later, the company went bankrupt, and zhang lixin was burdened with 1.4 million yuan in foreign debt.

this painful experience provided zhang lixin with another perspective on tibet: compared with the situation of melee between e-commerce platforms in the mainland, tibet is a place where platform economy is rarely deployed. as of 2023, tibet's permanent population is only 3.65 million, which is not a good place for large platforms to eat, so capital has not intervened on a large scale. tibet's business relies on small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs to maintain, and the profits left to the intermediate circulation links are quite considerable.

a bird's-eye view of lhasa in 2017. (photo/visual china)

with only 20,000 yuan in his pocket, zhang lixin resumed his old business in tibet, driving a small van to visit wholesale markets and restaurants across tibet, and also started a short video account to keep up with the times. in one video, he said: "in tibet, i want to make a comeback and make a comeback."

in a sense, tibet provides a private land for many frustrated people like zhang lixin.

during the eight years he lived in tibet, aning heard many stories about ordinary people's wealth - a laundry shop in kailash, ngari, made 300,000 yuan a year; a mainlander with a debt of more than 100,000 yuan worked as a deliveryman in a mosque in downtown lhasa during the tourist peak season, earning a minimum of 20,000 yuan a month...

these stories were once far away from aning, but before she knew it, she had become a part of the story.

(photo: "fallen leaves return to their roots")

in 2012, inspired by the road movie "falling leaves return to roots", after graduating from high school, aning set out from kangding, sichuan to embark on a cycling trip to tibet after two years of "staying at home". unexpectedly, this trip lasted for 8 years. at first, she worked as a salesperson in a local restaurant in linzhi. the salary was just enough to make ends meet, and the only benefit was that she lived comfortably.

perhaps luck favored this wandering stranger. when aning was helping a customer buy saffron, she discovered the business opportunity of purchasing local specialties on behalf of others. it was the cordyceps season, so she hurried to wolong mountain in nyingchi, but was blocked by several iron fences at the mountain pass.

in those years, the price of cordyceps skyrocketed, and local tibetans divided the mountain and did not allow people from other villages to enter. aning then found a tibetan friend and verbally advanced her 5,000 yuan "ticket fee" for chartering a car to the mountain, even though she only had 500 yuan in her pocket at the time.

cordyceps sinensis (abbreviated as "cordyceps") is known as "soft gold" and its highest price has reached 200,000 yuan per kilogram. at the largest cordyceps trading market in lhasa, tibet, cordyceps traders are busy trading. (photo/visual china)

aning only had seven days to make back his investment, which was undoubtedly a gamble.

before entering the mountain, aning posted a message on wechat moments: "going into the mountain to dig cordyceps, waiting for good news." following the tibetans whom he had only met a few times, aning walked through the foggy forest, lying on the muddy ground that had just rained, looking for cordyceps inch by inch.

luck always favors the brave. the bag of cordyceps was filled to the brim. although a thousand cordyceps were lost on the way, it was not a big deal. the return of aning's trip had exceeded expectations. in a week, aning's net income was more than 100,000 after deducting the cost. for the first time, aning felt that money was so easy to make.

after making his first fortune, aning rented a 4-storey house near the jokhang temple in the centre of lhasa, thus realizing his dream of running an inn. in the following years, aning spent two months digging cordyceps every year, and in his spare time he looked after the inn business, making a considerable profit.

"tibet will give everyone a chance to restart. even if you have nothing outside, even if you have lost millions."

02

swim until the blue sea turns red

where there is a market, there is competition. all blue oceans will eventually turn red.

as the phrase "youth has no price, trains go directly to lhasa" resounded across the internet, young people traveled in groups to visit mountains, rivers and seas. in 2023, tibet's tourism industry ushered in a blowout, with the number of visiting tourists reaching 55 million, more than double that of 2017.

those who visit bring consumption, and those who stay discover business opportunities.

coffee bars, antique markets, art centers and designer hotels... new things are springing up in lhasa. the once-sunny city has transformed into a city that never sleeps. "the market in lhasa is almost the same as that in chengdu, and there are no more blank industries waiting to be filled," said zhang lixin.

the lhasa open-air antique market is bustling with activity. (photo/ic photo)

behind the huge business opportunities is an increasingly saturated ecosystem.

in just one year, the blue ocean has gradually turned red. "at this stage, tibet's business advantage lies in high gross profit, nothing more." according to zhang lixin's observation, most newcomers to tibet generally choose two industries - catering or homestay, which to a certain extent leads to homogeneity and crowding out.

as an upstream supplier in the catering industry, zhang lixin has an intuitive feeling of market changes. after the new year, the supply of restaurants is no longer stable, and the contact person changes frequently. in order to survive, some time-honored restaurants have to switch to selling fast food, while others follow the example of the mainland and sell at nearly cost prices to attract customers. "we have communicated with wholesalers, and many restaurants that opened in lhasa last year have closed down this year."

the sudden fall also caught aning off guard.

in 2019, aning borrowed money from a bank and opened a restaurant that could accommodate hundreds of people in a scenic spot in linzhi. unexpectedly, the three-year epidemic hit, the number of tourists dropped sharply, and the restaurant encountered a booming catering industry. the restaurant's capital chain was completely broken. aning was even sued by the bank for debt collection and had to transfer the restaurant.

aning is at the snow mountain view restaurant in nyingchi. (photo/provided by the interviewee)

the inn business, which used to make money easily, is no longer as good as before. last year, the number of inns in tibet suddenly increased by 400, and the balance between supply and demand was broken. especially in the peak tourist season of july and august, hotels adopted a stampede-style price cut to attract customers. zhang lixin's homestay was still sold at 260 yuan per night last year, but this year it can only be reduced to 180 yuan per night.

while the tourist business is becoming more popular, the development of the local market in tibet is also progressing slowly.

the local media is not well developed. in order to win a client, zhang lixin spent up to half a year, but only got 200 yuan in return. "this situation is too common. the tibetan market is a place that is 'easy to defend but difficult to attack', just like its geographical advantages. local consumers will not easily accept a product, no matter how handsome or beautiful you are."

in the first month in tibet, zhang lixin only developed more than 30 customers, and after deducting travel expenses and labor costs, he lost more than 10,000 yuan.

as a last resort, zhang lixin originally planned to go to nepal, which borders tibet, to develop his career. but before the plan was implemented, his body gave him a warning. as october arrived, the weather in tibet turned colder and the air became thinner. zhang lixin developed severe altitude sickness and had nosebleeds every morning.

altitude sickness needs to be relieved by oxygen inhalation. (photo/visual china)

"because some people worry that their bodies cannot adapt to the plateau climate, they are also a little worried about exchanging their lives for money." li ze works in a public institution in a county in southern tibet. his initial motivation for working in tibet was very pure. he was completely attracted by the "six-hour work, free food and accommodation, and a starting monthly salary of 8,000 yuan." the same salary can only be obtained by working very hard in the mainland.

facing the snow-capped mountains and grasslands, with a stable and considerable income, li ze did feel that his working life was full of relaxation. but tibet is not an isolated paradise after all, and its unique geographical environment is enough to "dissuade" many people who are more accustomed to living on the plains.

in addition to his ideal life, li ze's body also began to show discomfort with the plateau, and the back of his hands turned black and purple due to lack of oxygen. li ze heard from his old colleagues that some mainland colleagues who could not adapt to the plateau environment eventually chose to resign and return to the mainland.

the plateau itself is a threshold. it blocks some people from arriving and also tests those who stay.

03

the freedom on the plateau is not for everyone

after eight years in tibet, aning finally chose to leave and go to the more remote hotan in xinjiang.

there, she met her current husband. together, they purchased raw materials of hetian jade, processed them in her husband's hometown of nanyang, and sold them to the united states, britain, singapore, etc. although her life has been stable, she still misses the freedom and ease in tibet: the singing and dancing nyingchi peach blossom festival in 2013, the century-old peach trees in the yarlung zangbo river gorge, the golden mountain in zhibai village...

the sun-shine golden mountain of nanga parbat, also known as the burning paradise. (photo/photo provided by the interviewee)

“everyone who comes to tibet will think about the meaning of their life.”

aning still remembers that winter day eight years ago when she leaned against the window of the inn, basking in the warm sunshine of lhasa, watching cats and dogs leisurely shuttle between the guest rooms, and hearing dialects from all over the world.

in the romantic feeling full of jianghu feelings, she remembered the famous poem of hungarian poet petofi sandor: "life is precious, but love is more precious. if it is for freedom, both can be abandoned."

most people go to tibet to experience the pure natural scenery up close. when li ze first went to tibet, he was a tourist, and everything in his memory was beautiful: the sky was surprisingly blue, the clouds were surprisingly white, and walking on the grassland in july and august, following the herds of yaks and goats, was leisurely and comfortable.

sheep flocks beside the lake in yamdrok lake, shannan, tibet. (photo/ic photo)

it was not until he officially went to tibet to work that li ze realized that the state of mind for short-term tourism and long-term work and life in tibet is completely different. "people from the mainland have to learn to endure loneliness in tibet," he said.

except for lhasa, most of the urban areas in tibet are not highly commercialized, and there are no decent places for shopping. most of the time, li ze's entertainment activities are reading, watching movies, and working.

"i used to think that in big cities, there was only work but no life. i didn't expect it to be the same now."

li ze's work is at the grassroots level, involving trivial neighborhood matters, and he also has to work night shifts when he is busy. more importantly, workplace friction has not disappeared due to regional differences. language barriers and cultural differences have increased the difficulty of dealing with people to a certain extent. over time, he also had the idea of ​​returning to the mainland, but he began to worry about whether he could still keep up with the outside world.

to leave or to stay, to return to one's hometown to engage in internal commerce or to continue to live in isolation on the plateau, is undoubtedly a difficult choice for these strangers to make.

(photo/pexels)

zhang lixin plans to work until he is 55 and then return to his hometown in sichuan.

in his opinion, tibet seems to be more suitable for starting a business rather than long-term residence. people are more pursuing economic opportunities here, which is largely in line with reality - among zhang lixin's friends who have stayed in tibet for more than ten years, only 1% to 5% choose to buy houses there.

of course, zhang lixin still regards tibet as his own private land. none of this affects the fact that tibet is a warm and friendly land for entrepreneurs.

compared with the mainland market which has already become a red ocean, some industries in tibet are still in their infancy. here, young people can not only find some opportunities to make money and start a career, but also find a less stressful working state under the blue sky and white clouds - this may be the new sense of healing from the plateau in this era.