LHASA — A bamboo-splitting knife resting by his foot, Xin Xiangdong, 51, deftly runs his fingers through soaked bamboo strips, weaving them into shape, sometimes even using his teeth to pull a strand tight.
Seated in his own courtyard, Xin practices a craft that generations in Badeng village, Metog county, have relied on to make a living. The village, home to the Monba ethnic group, lies deep within the towering Himalayas in Xizang autonomous region, long isolated from the outside world.
"Bamboo weaving has always been at the heart of life here," Xin says. "It gave our village its name and has provided our livelihood for as long as anyone can remember." In the Monba language, Badeng means "straight vine bamboo".
Harvested from the lush, humid forests surrounding the village, bamboo taught Xin what it meant to "live off the mountains". Yet, for much of his life, that phrase meant backbreaking toil. "Farming and grazing barely sustained us. To trade for necessities, we had to carry bamboo products on our backs and climb out of the mountains," he recalls.
At 16, Xin made his first journey out of the mountains with handmade bamboo products. The round trip to another township took eight days. When he unloaded the cargo of flour, oil, and barley he obtained through barter, he realized for the first time how arduous it was to "live off the mountains".
"The mountains gave us bamboo, but ferrying the products out was incredibly hard. The paths were narrow trails, and when we encountered rivers, we had to resort to zip lines or makeshift wooden bridges. It was exhausting and dangerous," he says.
When villagers gathered to chat, their favorite topic was a long-held dream: roads that would one day allow trucks to carry their bamboo products out of the mountains, recalls Xin Sheng, the 55-year-old Party secretary of Badeng village.
That dream began to take shape in 2013, when the Metog Highway opened, improving connectivity. Gradually, every village in Metog was linked to the road network.
The once "isolated island" began to draw visitors. Bamboo products became souvenirs sold at villagers' doorsteps. Daily supplies that once had to be hauled in on foot now filled the shelves of the village grocery store. Conversation in Badeng shifted from longing for roads to dreaming of a new life.
In 2021, Badeng village was relocated as a whole further down the hillside to a more accessible location with modern infrastructure. With the road came tourists, drawn by the Himalayan vistas and rich Monba culture, ushering in a new chapter for "living off the mountains".
"Now tourists come for the scenery and the culture, and our bamboo sells better than ever," Xin Xiangdong says."Some villagers run homestays, others have opened small restaurants serving local flavors, and the village even has a well-stocked grocery store. We now have multiple income streams and a better life."
According to data, the total income of Badeng village residents exceeded 8 million yuan ($1.15 million) in 2025, with sales of bamboo products and other local specialties, along with tourism-related income from catering and accommodation, contributing more than 2 million yuan.
"In the past, 'living off the mountains' meant surviving through hard labor. Now, it means thriving on lush mountains and pristine waters through tourism," Xin Xiangdong says.
