Baishuitai 白水台. Here is how we wrote about it in our Diary that day (Sept 3 – 2007): … It is a stunning, largely uphill ride, through dense forests and undulating meadows crossed by rushing rivers. On our way we pass the occasional nomads’ tent and several small minority and Tibetan villages.
The Yi
The first is a rickety, wooden Yi settlement that is virtually deserted. According to our driver, a taciturn Tibetan, the Yi are probably out gathering mushrooms. Curiously, the subject of the Yi is the very first to loosen his tongue: he claims that the Tibetans dislike the Yi because they practise slash and burn agriculture and are responsible for the cutting down of the forests…. Moreover, in general, they are not to be trusted (his words, not ours). His outburst leaves us a bit baffled because, as far as we know, not all Tibetans are equally ecologically-minded. What to think e.g. of the extended use many Tibetans make of rare furs?
The Yi
Fortunately, our driver is much more positive about the Hui village we pass later. The Hui people living there have adopted the Tibetan language and way of dressing, to the point where they have become almost indistinguishable from the Tibetan majority. Apparently, their ancestors fled to the area when the Muslim Kingdom of Dali was overthrown by the Qing troops, around 1850 or 60.
The bar was pretty cool; just a few wooden tables with simple but stylish decoration. We ordered a bottle of dry red wine and savoured the moment as the dark burgundy liquid filled our glasses. We toasted and rejoiced that we had chosen well.
Note: after the fire in the old town of Zhongdian it is very possible that this place doesn’t exist anymore.
Adam
But the best was yet to come. The cheese, beautifully presented and excellently cut, looked as if it had arrived straight from Castilla la Mancha. The fried cheese sticks were scrumptious too.
With a little bit of imagination we could almost feel as if we had been transported to one of those lazy, boozy days kicking back in Spain. But actually we were at 3,200 meters above sea level, not too far from the Tibetan border in the Yunnanese town of Zhongdian. The wine and the cheese where both local products; the latter 100% yak….
About the wine and cheese
The wine was a Tibetan red from the Yunnan Shangeli wine company, while the cheese was the result of an amazing project to produce quality yak cheese in one of China’s remotest areas. The Mei Xiang Cheese Factory http://www.meixiangcheese.com/index.asp
is located in Langdu Village in the Diqin Tibetan Autonomous Region of Yunnan. The area where the yaks graze is a pristine alpine spot 4,500 meters above sea level. So far, the Meixiang Factory has developed two types of cheese: the first, Yage, is a Mediterranean Halloumi type cheese with a soft and mild flavour. The second cheese, which is called Geza Gold, is a creamy full flavoured cheese.
The cheese making project
The cheese making project is a result of the collaboration between local Tibetan herdsmen, families from Langdu village and an assortment of outside help such as CERS (China Exploration & Research Society), a Hong Kong based organisationhttp://www.cers.org.hk/ that claims to be committed to “…helping China’s remote regions and implementing projects to conserve nature and culture, in a sensitive and equitable manner…”,
or Ventures in Development http://www.venturesindev.org/index.asp another organisation which aims to build viable projects in remote areas of China. These organisations have provided technical assistance in the guise of professional American cheese experts from the university of Wisconsin who have gone to Langdu to apply their expertise to the production of yak cheese, especially in the areas of quality control and sanitation. The organisations have also tried to find markets for the cheese products.
When I spoke to the lady running the shop and bar in Zhongdian (Shangrila) she told me that while there was a market for the yak cheese in China’s big cities such as Shanghai and Hong Kong, two problems needed to be overcome. Firstly, transportation: Langdu is a remote village and infrastructure still leaves a lot to be desired. Secondly, production: the production capacity at Langdu is still very limited and unable to cope with substantial increases in demand. Until those problems are resolved, Zhongdian’s cheese business is likely to remain small-scale.
Though I wish their seemingly harmless and environmentally-friendly enterprise well, I can see a contradiction here. How do you preserve Langdu’s unspoilt wilderness, while at the same time building the transport infrastructure and production capacity to make the yak cheese business viable? Are the two compatible? A question that those involved in the project will need to work out.
For now though, any visitor to Zhongdian should definitely drop into the Shangri-La wine and cheese shop and sample what’s on offer. Apart from the delicious cheese platter with crackers, there are fried yak cheese sticks, yak cheese burgers, yak cheese club sandwiches and a variety of yak cheese salads. The Address is Zhongdian Old Town, Cang Fang Jie, #22. It is just down the hill from the main square. Wine is by the glass or bottle.
One of the more pleasant Surprises of last year’s visit to Zhongdian in the South Western province of Yunnan was sitting in a Tibetan run wine bar nipppling delicious cheese and washing it down with a pretty decent red wine. Both products were locally made. The cheese, unlike most Tibetan cheeses, was neither sour or tooth shatteringly rock hard. Actually it would go down well at any French or Spanish table. The cheese was produced in a remote mountanious area by a cooperative with the aid of western expertise.
