New homes built to keep ancient village intact
After he moved into a new settlement at the end of 2019, 70-year-old Sonam Tsering is pleased with his new home equipped with new appliances.
A traditional village protection project took place in Sonam Tsering’s village of Tsogo, Tsogo township in Kongpo’gyada county of the Tibet autonomous region, contributing to cultural preservation and improved livelihoods.
Surrounded by snow-capped mountains and forests, Tsogo village is 6.2 miles away from Baksum Tso Lake, one of the region’s most famous tourist sites. It is regarded as a well preserved traditional Tibetan village.
To ensure protection, the county government of Kongpo’gyada, which is under the administration of Nyingchi city, invested more than 93 million yuan ($13 million) in building a resettlement close by. Sonam Tsering moved to his new home with another 106 households.
With an average altitude of 11,480 feet, featuring a spectacular natural landscape and unique Tibetan cultural resources, the village was deemed a historical and cultural village by the Tibet autonomous region’s government in 2013. In 2015, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development recognized it as a traditional Chinese village.
Thanks to the relocation project, all 63 traditional houses — with a history of between
200 and 600 years — are now under official protection.
Tsogo literally means “head of the lake” in Tibetan language. The air in this village is so fresh that the snow-capped mountains are seen clearly from miles away.
Tenzin Dondrub, Party secretary of the Tsogo township, said the relocation project aimed to preserve the village and improve livelihoods. The local government will encourage villagers to be involved in tourism as a way of income generation.
He said relocating the residents to the new settlement would better protect the village, which features many ancient Tibetan architectural elements, and it will attract tourists as the villagers’ new houses now have running water, heating and indoor toilets.
Tenzin Dondrub said the old houses were built hundreds years ago and most of them were vulnerable to strong winds and rain. The situation was a potential threat to people’ lives and property.
Moving out of the traditional houses has halted the risk of damaging the ancient buildings by excessive human activities, he said.
As an effective measure to enhance preservation, a cul
tural relics protection team was set up in the village in early 2019.
Norbu Tsering, an official of the village, said he was happy with the relocation plan and the measures to protect the traditional houses.
“In the past, we used to put livestock on the first floor of the house and it was not tidy and clean as in the new settlement. Now we keep all the livestock out of the villagers’ houses,” said Norbu Tsering.
“The old houses reflect the traditional architectural culture of Tibetan residences in the Nyingchi region; there is a high value for historical and cultural studies,” he added.
Norbu Tsering is working on establishing a tourism company and plans to attract more tourists to the village.
Tibet currently has more than 30 traditional villages. Enriched with geographic and traditional elements, each village reflects a particular historical and cultural background.
“In the future, we will make sure that traditional village architecture gets proper protection and we can be proud of the cultural heritage when outsiders visit our village,” said Norbu Tsering.