| Description |
1 online resource (326 pages) : illustrations (chiefly color), maps. |
| Physical Medium |
polychrome |
| Description |
text file |
| Series |
Global Asia ; 10
|
|
Global Asia (Amsterdam, Netherlands) ; 10.
|
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Summary |
Caterpillar fungus, often called the Himalayan Viagra, is a subject of the latest commodity boom which changed the economic fates of Tibetan pastoralists in China. This expensive medicinal resource made a spectacular market career in East Asia after the outbreak of avian influenza and SARS. Growing demand for this 'wonder drug' created for people on the Tibetan plateau where this fungus is endemic attractive income opportunities which they never had before. Tibetan pastoralists engaged in this new 'gold rush' and turned from subsistence-oriented yak and sheep breeders living in a cash-poor environment into local economic elite. This book tells a story of successful pastoralists high on the Tibetan plateau who take advantage of the economic boom in the Chinese market to accomplish their own goals. They emerge as far more sophisticated actors than most outsiders would give credit to before reading this book. |
| 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 |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Language |
In English. |
| Subject |
Tibet Autonomous Region (China) -- Economic conditions.
|
|
Tibet, Plateau of -- Economic conditions.
|
|
Farmers -- Tibet, Plateau of.
|
|
Farmers. |
| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
|
|
Electronic books.
|
| Other Form: |
Print version: Sulek, Emilia Roza. Trading caterpillar fungus in Tibet. Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, [2019] 946298526X (OCoLC)1090278540 |
| ISBN |
9789048536290 (electronic book) |
|
9048536294 (electronic book) |
|
946298526X |
|
9789462985261 |
| Standard No. |
10.1515/9789048536290. |
|
