China’s Nomads Trade Up for an Easier Ride on the Range

High up in the mountains of the Qinghai Province in China, the nomads who populate the region have switched from horses to motorcycles for transportation. The shift has a practical basis, with nomads moving tents and herding yaks and sheep back and forth between winter and summer pastures. Since the late 1980s, the herders no longer had to sell their animals at set prices to the government and could save money for the motorcycles. The low-cost Chinese-made motorcycles save labor costs associated with herding, thus freeing children to attend school. But the isolated mountain dwellers commiserate about the increasing price of gasoline. Motorcycles and their accoutrements – colorful robes, cowboy hats and tape decks that play traditional music – have become a new symbol of nomadic identity. – YaleGlobal