Trading Caterpillar Fungus in Tibet : : When Economic Boom Hits Rural Area / / Emilia Roza Sulek.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Amsterdam University Press Complete eBook-Package 2019
• VerfasserIn: Sulek, Emilia Roza,
• Place / Publishing House: Amsterdam : : Amsterdam University Press, , [2019]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Global Asia ; 10
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (328 p.) :; 33

When the demand for, and prices of caterpillar fungus (Ophiocordyceps sinensis, 'the Himalayan Viagra', long a part of traditional Chinese medicine) soared, the pastoralists of Golok on the Tibetan plateau where the fungus is endemic dug up, dried and sold the fungus to traders. In the process, these yak and sheep farmers, used to living on the edge of subsistence, became wealthy beyond their imagination. Trading Caterpillar Fungus in Tibet: When Economic Boom Hits Rural Area tells the story of what they do with the money they earned from gathering and trading caterpillar fungus, and what this money does to them, revealing a sophistication few outsiders would credit them for.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- List of Illustrations, Maps and Tables -- Acknowledgements -- Notes on Transliteration -- List of Abbreviations -- List of Units of Measurement and Currency -- Introduction -- 1. Golok: People and Places -- 2. Digging -- 3. Fungus, Medicine, Commodity -- 4. Market and Traders -- 5. Market Operations -- 6. The Law in Action -- 7. Money -- 8. Pastoral Life and the Market -- 9. Spending the Money -- Conclusions -- Afterword: A Note on Methodology -- Appendix -- Tibetan Word List -- Bibliography -- Index