Two Migrations from Shuanghu

Dawa recalls that his family came from Gacuo, then part of Shenzha County. In the winter of about 1976, herders began moving north to Shuanghu with household goods carried on yaks. The movement took place in batches and lasted three years. The earlier migration had a practical purpose: expanding pasture. Dawa’s account also remembers the force of the place. Strong winds could drive sheep toward a salt lake, and in winter a hardy local grass, called “Boru” in the report, could be torn up by the wind. These details are one person’s recollections, not a complete history of every family that settled in Shuanghu. They show how the decision to move was lived—in animals, weather and the slow work of building a new home.

In 1982, Dawa travelled to Lhünzhub County to learn greenhouse vegetable cultivation. He remembers seeing Lhasa’s lights at night and hoping that herders might one day have electricity too. Gacuo Township later built three greenhouses using the techniques learned there. The interview says cabbage grown in them could reach five or six jin per head, and that many herders were tasting fresh vegetables for the first time. This is a small but telling episode in a pastoral county’s changing relationship with food: a skill learned beyond the county returned as a local experiment, shaped by the short growing season and the effort of keeping a greenhouse productive.

A new relocation proposal arrived in 2017. Dawa said he supported moving because of the harsh climate and concern for younger generations. His family moved at the end of 2019 from Shuanghu, above 5,000 metres, to Senburi in Gonggar County, Shannan, at roughly 3,600 metres. The family received a government-provided Tibetan-style courtyard home of 150 square metres. The move did not erase their ties to Shuanghu: his wife and some children remained there with livestock connected to a cooperative, while his younger son found work in Shannan. Dawa described the cooperative as the household’s main income source and reported a 2024 cash dividend of 78,000 yuan, alongside yak meat and butter.

When the reporter visited in August 2025, Dawa was living in Senburi and taking three grandchildren to and from school. The source describes schools, a kindergarten, shops, a teahouse and a bank in the settlement. Dawa’s hope was simple: that a grandchild might become the family’s first university graduate. The story is not a verdict on where every herder should live. It follows one family as they weigh pasture, climate, education and work across two migrations. Shuanghu remains part of their livelihood and memory; Senburi is where the youngest generation’s daily routine now unfolds.