Over the course of a decade of repeated visits to a nomadic community and little Dolma’s clan near Litang, I would continuously be in awe of the ’nomadic ways’ of doing simply anything. Moving up to a half dozen times a year, her family of eight would follow their yak herds on their never ending journey to follow the grazing path.
Almost never would I leave the community without at least a few injuries sustained from little Dolma’s ‘play’. Fiercely devoted to her little brother and sister (in a clan of 6 children), she was also a little warrior, able and willing to engage in breathtaking runs over the 4200 metre plains to chase me down and pummel me. Dolma was fully capable of fighting with her hands and teeth…a skill she told me that she learned from the Tibetan Mastiffs which guarded her homestead.
She was one of the ’tea makers’ in-waiting in her home, being taught by her mother the practice of making ‘bo ja’, the churned butter tea of extraordinary pungency. One of the mighty characters I wonder about often. Dolma loved the little flowers that grew in Spring near her encampments, picking them carefully before throwing them high into the winds and letting them settle, before repeating.
About JeffFuchs
Having lived for a decade in Yunnan, Fuchs’ work has centred on indigenous mountain cultures, oral histories along with an obsessive interest in tea.
Fuchs is the author of 'The Ancient Tea Horse Road' (Viking-Penguin) and he was the subject of 'The Tea Explorer' documentary based on his exploration of the Tea Horse Road.
His photos and stories have appeared on three continents in publications such as Kyoto Journal, TRVL, and Outpost Magazine, as well as The Spanish Expedition Society, The Earth, Silkroad Foundation, The China Post Newspaper, The Toronto Star, The South China Morning Post, and UNESCO amongst others. Various pieces of his work are part of private collections in Europe, North America, and Asia. Fuchs served as Asian Editor at Large for five years at award-winning Outpost magazine.
Jeff has worked with schools and universities, giving talks on both the importance of oral traditions, tea and mountain cultures.
His recently released book ‘The Ancient Tea Horse Road’ (Penguin-Viking Publishers) details his 8-month groundbreaking journey traveling and chronicling one of the world’s great trade routes, The Tea Horse Road. Fuchs is the first westerner to have completed the entire route stretching almost six thousand kilometers through the Himalayas a dozen cultures.
Fuchs partnered with Wild China to create a journey along the Tea Horse Road which National Geographic Traveler called one of the "50 Trips of a Lifetime".
He is co-founder of Akahiao Nature Institute on the island of Hawai'i along with his wife, Julie Rogers.
