Thousands of years ago, Tibetans believe Thpa Gali, their god of livestock, defiled a female yak in order to domesticate the entire species. Furthermore, they believe it was him who taught them how to raise and graze yaks and established the first nomadic way of life. Fast forward to today, and over 80% of Tibetans still work in the same sectors (Britannica, 2021).
Due to limited arable land and movement constraints from China's central government, agriculture, especially herding activity, still accounts for much of the Tibetan economy as we see it today. Furthermore, the Tibetan plateau was often called the "roof of the world", in which oxygen is limited and alternative economic activities are in short supply.
As Tibet undoubtedly is one of the world's harshest environments, it's hard to imagine how men managed to survive for thousands of years living on the plateau.
Crops are hard to grow, livestock are rare to encounter, while choice of economic activities are restricted to some basic, subsistence activities. Some might have wondered how Tibetan people survive under this economic structure. The answer is quite simple: yak. Ironically, never before an animal with such importance has so little recognition.
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According to the Oxford Dictionary, the yak is a large domesticated wild ox with shaggy hair, humped shoulders, and large horns, used in Tibet as a pack animal and for its milk, meat, and hide. It is a heavily built animal with a bulky frame, sturdy legs, rounded, cloven hooves, and extremely dense, long fur that hangs down lower than the belly.They are closely linked to the cultural and ritual activities of Tibet's herding societies. In particular, the yak underpins the economy of much of this region. The survival of Tibetan people under this economic structure is made possible due to this animal.
Almost all of the yak's body parts have uses, including for medicine, daily staples, clothing, and farming. Moreover, in Tibetan culture, the wealth of nomads is judged by the number of animals they own, especially yaks (Wu, 1997). However, prestige and social status are not the only reasons for keeping as many animals as possible.
Possession of a large number of animals provides extra insurance against the death of animals in times of severe cold or drought on the plateau. Not to mention, the yak ensures the endurance of the nomads' way of life in a region with an altitude as high as Tibet by providing them with navigation and alternative entertainment such as yak racing.
Paradoxically, the same animal that provides the Tibetans with their living apparently is constraining them from transitioning their economy into a more diverse structure. This is a phenomenon unique to the Tibetan economy as it isn't the case with the rest of the world. Common economic analyses have identified three large economic structures as the foundation of most countries:
Agriculture, manufacturing and services. Generally, the current economic structure we are facing forces us to adapt to changes in how the modern economy works. As a matter of fact, when the agricultural sector experienced rapid modernization in the 1920s, it created disruption in the form of millions of unemployed farmers. Eventually, this wasn't a big problem as they adapted and entered low-income industrial jobs.