China-Tibet/Border Town

Shotlist

Yumai Town, Tibet Autonomous Region, southwest China – Recent (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
1. Aerial shots of car running on road
2. Aerial shot of trees
3. Engraved wall honoring Sangye Chupa, first head of Yumai, and his two daughters
4. Soinam Toinzhub, grandson of Sangye Chupa, reporter looking at engraved wall
5. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Soinam Toinzhub, grandson of Sangye Chupa (ending with shots 6-7):
“This room is an old residence of my grandfather Sangye Chupa, where the scene of the ‘three-person township’ was displayed. At that time, the living conditions were very difficult. My grandfather, along with my mother and aunt, guarded part of the frontiers of our country day and night for nearly half a century.”
6. Various of old pictures
7. Various of young people working in office
8. Aerial shot of road, trees
9. Aerial shot of village
10. Various of family hotel
11. Various of interior of family hotel
12. Various of Lhamo Chozin, owner of family hotel, making bed, cleaning decoration
13. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Lhamo Chozin, owner, family hotel:
“Now lots of tourists come here. I’m satisfied with my income earned from operating the family hotel.”
14. Aerial shot of village
15. Pupils reading poem
16. Various of pupils having class
17. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Tenzin Chogyal, resident:
“It is very convenient for the kids. They can go to school right in the vicinity of home.”
18. Various of kids
19. Aerial shots of village

Storyline

Yumai Township in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, once an isolated frontier village, has taken on a new look with improved transportation and infrastructure.

Yumai in Lhunze County sits at the southern foot of the Himalayas. At the time when Yumai was established in 1959 as an administrative township, Sangye Chupa became the first head of the small town.

Since the 1960s, the sisters, Zhoigar and Yangzom, who are ethnic Tibetan, have followed their father to safeguard part of the border areas in the remote southwest China region.

For years, they were the only residents in the township. They were patrolling the border area and protecting thousands of square kilometers of land with the firm belief that “My hometown is Yumai and my country is China.”

A museum reflecting the township’s history has been built on the old residence of the “three-person township” to commemorate their contribution to Yumai.

“This room is an old residence of my grandfather Sangye Chupa, where the scene of the ‘three-person township’ was displayed. At that time, the living conditions were very difficult. My grandfather, along with my mother and aunt, guarded part of the frontiers of our country day and night for nearly half a century,” said Soinam Toinzhub, grandson of Sangye Chupa.

The family’s story has moved numerous people from across the country and inspired more young people to work in Yumai.

Yumai, once a “three-person township”, saw its total population increase to 32 by 2016, and 240 in 2022. Residents now live in prefabricated buildings, work in the tourism industry and run homestay businesses.

In 2021, the government invested more than 2.5 million yuan (372,800 U.S. dollars) in upgrading 50 family hotels in Yumai.

In the first five months of this year, the average income per household exceeded 20,000 yuan (2,980 U.S. dollars).
“Now lots of tourists come here. I’m satisfied with my income earned from operating the family hotel,” said Lhamo Chozin, owner of a homestay business in Yumai.

In 2019, a primary school was inaugurated in Yumai and enabled 30 kids to have classes in their own community.

“It is very convenient for the kids. They can go to school right in the vicinity of home,” said a local resident named Tenzin Chogyal.