Profile: Peka, the Tibetan Cinderella

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By Xinhua writers Chu Yi, Li Linhai

XINING, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- In front of a black tent, a herdswoman holding a wooden handle incessantly stirs yak milk in a shiny barrel, until the oil in the milk gradually coagulates and floats up.

She then pours the coagulated oil into a plate that would turn into ghee -- the herders' favorite food -- after cooling down.

As the residue of yak milk is thoroughly boiled another popular nomadic food called Qula in the Tibetan language, which is a cheese-like product, would slowly coagulate in the pot.

The herdswoman separates Qula and continues boiling and fermenting the remaining liquid to get Chukha Ngadak, a sour and sweet calcium-rich dairy product with a history of more than 4,000 years. It embodies Peka's childhood memory.

"Those were tough days, but candies made by grandma using Chukha Ngadak would immediately sweeten my life," said Peka.

CANDIES, TELEVISION

Peka's parents divorced when she was five. Her father remarried and mother moved away, leaving her with two younger sisters and a grandmother in a pasturing area in Yunta Village, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Qinghai Province.

"We were too young and grandma too old for grazing, so she took us to the township when I was nine. But we couldn't afford a fixed place to live," said the 32-year-old Tibetan girl. "We then started living with relatives and friends. As they often drove us away for various reasons, we also moved places frequently," she said.

A poor soul with neither parents nor home, Peka often faced bullying during her childhood.

"When I used to go the foot of the mountain to fetch water, children around would deliberately knock over my bucket. So even though grandma's legs hurt, she would still hobble halfway down the mountain to help me with those naughty kids," Peka said.

The Tibetan girl's childhood dream was all about television.

"During those days, only wealthy families could afford a television. Grandma liked to watch TV, but when we would go to a relative's house to watch it, people there always insulted us and asked us to leave," said Peka. "That's when I vowed that one day I will also own a big house with a TV in every room."

But unfortunately, Peka's grandmother's wait for television remained unattainable.

"Grandma passed away when I was 17. I lost the only person I could rely on. Everything seemed worthless without grandma. I just wanted her back," she said.

SCHOOL, BUSINESS

Peka, however, was not defeated by the pain of losing the most important person in her life. "I had to be the strongest pillar of support for my sisters."

She began to learn Chinese by herself and with the help of a charity foundation, she was enrolled in a Tibetan medical school at the age of 19.

"I had always been eager to go to school. When picking up cow dung in the past, I would hear students studying at a school. I often cried and wished to be one of them," said Peka. "So once I got the chance, I worked very hard from dawn till dusk."

After graduation, Peka realized becoming a doctor was not what she wanted, as her grandma's Chukha Ngadak candy would often occupy her mind. "Grandma's candies are the best memory of my life, which is also a part of the Tibetan culture. I wanted to introduce the candies to more people."

In 2015, Peka used all her savings to set up the Yushu Munv Trading Co., Ltd. It was not a smooth start initially.

"I went door to door selling candies, but few people were willing to pay for them," she said. "I made little money in the first year."

The Tibetan girl embraced her life-changing opportunity in 2017 when she was recognized as the prefecture-level inheritor of the Tibetan candy and went to Tsinghua University for training.

"By exchanging views with experts and industry insiders home and abroad, I gained a more systematic and brand-new understanding of the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, and befriended many big names who referred me to the Mulan Academy in Peking University, a leading institute focusing on female leadership, to attain further education," Peka said.

Peka met female entrepreneur Ren Jianxin at a training class. After learning that Chukha Ngadak was commonly used by Tibetan women to protect their skin, Ren helped Peka find a research and development company in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai and invested 600,000 yuan (about 89,580 U.S. dollars) to develop a kind of edible facial mask.

DREAMS

Peka has expanded her business from candy to facial masks, handmade soaps and Tibetan tea, with her company's order volume reaching 900,000 yuan last year and generating income for at least 289 Tibetan households. Despite such a flourishing business, Peka insists that she is not a businesswoman.

"I have never been a businesswoman, but an inheritor passing down the Tibetan culture and grandma's recipe," she said. "My employees are the best helpers, who are Tibetan housewives with genuine expertise in Chukha Ngadak. They helped me a lot during those dark days in my childhood and I hope to give them back."

Thirteen of the 15 workers in Peka's company are women from poverty-stricken families, with an average age of about 40. In 2019, they received dividends ranging from 3,000 yuan to 9,000 yuan.

Kadron, a single mother of two, suffering from long-term chronic diseases, is in charge of the production of Tibetan tea in Peka's company. "I couldn't be more grateful. I used to know nothing but I've learned and earned here."

"Now, my dream is to have a small pasture so that we can produce our own raw materials. I want to help more women who have long been 'trapped' at home to discover the true meaning of life. We have to work together to develop the best Tibetan products, which is also a kind of inheritance of the Tibetan culture," said Peka.

"Life is gradually getting better if that only grandma were still here with me," she desiderated. Enditem

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