Scholar brings suggestions for Xizang from field study

"Foreign experts and scholars should come to Xizang to see for themselves. Only by truly witnessing it can one understand what the life of the Tibetan people is like and what they aspire to," Baima Cuo, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress and senior researcher with the Xizang Academy of Social Sciences, said in an inclusive interview with China Daily.

Baima Cuo, born in Nagchu in the northern Xizang Plateau, is an anthropologist whose primary research focus is on Tibetan herders.

This year, Baima Cuo has submitted several suggestions, including solving the issue of continuing special education for disabled adolescents in the Xizang Autonomous Region and on lowering the age line for elderly subsidies. These suggesions are all based on information gathered during field investigations and combine professional and feasible opinions from industry regulatory departments.

Baima Cuo underwent thorough anthropological training right from undergraduate to doctoral studies. After obtaining her PhD in 2012 and returning to China from Australia, she delved into extensive and long-term field research in anthropology, aligning with the trajectory of her field. This effort resulted in the publication of a series of impactful academic works. Her scholarly contributions received prestigious accolades, including the 5th China Tibetan Studies Mount Everest Award for Killing a Cow: The Construction of Ethnic Identity in Folk Culture, and the inaugural Xizang Autonomous Region Government Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Philosophy and Social Sciences for her monograph The Gifted World of Herders.

Baima Cuo said her female identity has provided her with a distinctive and nuanced perspective, evident from the extensive fieldwork required for her anthropological research. She highlighted the increasing involvement of Tibetan women in fields such as anthropology and other social sciences.

Da Qiong contributed to this story.

Video editor: Zheng Zhuling