Yushu

Karma Donrub's (Kar+ma don 'grub) life begins on the boundless Tibetan grassland in 1983 in Yushu (Yul shul) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai (Mtsho sgnon) Province. Living in a black yak hair tent, Karma Dondrub begins tending his family's yak calves as soon as he can walk, in a grassland so barren that he is startled upon first seeing a tree at the age of eight. Charlatan livestock-stealing monks, anthrax, death, birth, happiness, and encounters with modern education create a powerful, unparalleled account of Tibetan nomad childhood in the late twentieth century - a way of life that will soon be forever gone.

The Yul shul (Yushu) Rgyas bzang Tribe historically possessed a rich hunting tradition. Wildlife was hunted for food and other animal products. By 2007, hunting culture had diminished due to improvements in living conditions, wildlife protection laws, greater state control of wildlife product skin market and gun ownership, animal diseases, and the absence of such wildlife as wild yaks in local areas.