Tibetan Cowboys
Quinghai, Provence, China 2007
Tibetan cowboys and their yak head toward a festival in Yushou. Maybe the yak would be sold at the festival. I didn’t see any yak judging going on when we were there.
Pushing Yak
You can see the riders more clearly here. They use only one sleeve of their coat. It is an old Tibetan custom. Perhaps it was to have their fighting arm unencumbered by a heavy yak skin sleeve. The coat worn by the cowboy in the background is of maroon brocade lined with what looks like sheepskin. You can see the long sleeve dangling below his horse’s barrel. The sleeve is purely for looks. He also wears a cowboy hat, which many Tibetan men prefer. I’d read that they saw cowboy hats in American movies back in the 1930’s and they have been popular ever since.
Yak are an interesting animal. They have long a long silky coat and a full tail. They run more like a horse than a cow and often you will see them saddled and ridden across the steppe. They come in different colors, black, white and gray. Perhaps they are brown also, but I don’t recall a brown one now.
This was shot before I got my all-purpose lens of 28 to 300mm. My lens was my 105mm and was not long enough to suit me. I cropped these landscape shots a bit to make the figures larger. I always like to see faces, so here is one for you.
Khampa Cowboy
The red tassel in his hair tells us he is of the Khampa tribe. They are a warrior tribe: tall and muscular with their women just as handsome and healthy looking. This man wears his prayer beads and an amulet with an image of a Buddhist monk… maybe the Dalai Lama, but I don’t know. I have read that the Chinese forbid images of the Dalai Lama because they fear a rebellion by united Tibetans. He knows how to wear his cowboy hat…that is a hat with character!