CRI reporters' trip to Tibet: Day seven

11:19, August 26, 2009

The workers of the 'Tibet Gang-Gyen Carpet factory' in Shigatse. The factory makes rugs displaying traditional Tibetan designs.(Photo: CRI Online)

Living out of a suitcase is becoming second nature now and it was time again this morning to zip up the luggage and roll it out of the hotel.

Today we had a busy whistle-stop tour of many different places in Shigatse and further afield in the county of Jiang zi.

Perhaps the highlight came first with our trip to the 'Tibet Gang-Gyen Carpet factory' in Shigatse. The factory makes rugs displaying traditional Tibetan designs and exports to the US, Europe as well as to big cities throughout China.

This factory was established in 1988 and was the initiative of Tibet's 10th Panchen Lama. I guess he wanted to do something to benefit poor, rural woman because this factory has created job opportunities for over 150 of them.

The ladies and I had a great time sharing some laughs trying to communicate about the skills required for weaving, spinning and rug making. They particularly enjoyed looking over the photos we were taking. One worker explained that it takes about twenty hours to create an average sized rug and for this each of them receives around 400 yuan.

In my view this factory is a real good news story. Not only do they preserve traditional Tibetan handicrafts, they also create job opportunities for Tibetan woman and contribute a percentage of their profits to monks at the nearby 'Ta Shi Lhun Po' monastery.

Before long it was back on the road, this time to visit a Tibetan incense factory. I'm not sure how they create incense in other places but here they use over fifty different traditional Tibetan medicines to create over forty different types of incense.

I watched as they placed a selection of Tibetan medicine into a machine that spun the mixture until it coiled around a barrel in one continuous strip. The strips were then removed as a perforated lined sheet and placed on a board. The product was then taken to another room, with an overpowering smell, to dry. Once the incense dries it is separated along the perforations and bundled for sale.

According to the factory manager incense can prevent the common cold and sore throats, prevent fatigue, increase the body's immune system and increase energy levels. The smell of incense can also ward off mosquitoes and purify the air. Of course I bought a bundle immediately.
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