Snowland Footnote 1people’s treasure, the female yak,
Pastoral women’s companion, the female yak,
Source of butter, cheese and milk, the female yak,
May you live forever as the undying glory of the Snowland.
This poetic invocation serves not as a literary composition but as an official announcement of the “Plateau female yak” contest, a carefully curated cultural event organized by Tibetan pastoralists in Pema Rito, Ganglong 岗龙 township, Gande 甘德 county, Golok Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Guoluo zangzu zizhi zhou 果洛藏族自治州), Qinghai province. The deliberate poetic framing underscores the organizers’ commitment to preserving yak pastoralism in the face of competing pressures, including national and global environmental movements that seek to convert pastoral lands into conservation zones and emerging Buddhist ethics that demand a renegotiation of pastoralist–yak relationships. The contest rules establish precise participation criteria: eligible yaks must be fertile females of pure domestic breed that have previously calved. The competition excludes infertile or pregnant yaks, wild female yaks and domestic-wild hybrids. Village leaders from Pema Rito’s four administrative units serve as judges, evaluating the entrants according to their physical attributes, including their colouring, stature, body length and abdominal girth. Participants pay a 300-yuan registration fee and stand to win substantial cash prizes of 2,500 yuan, 2,000 yuan and 1,500 yuan for first, second and third places respectively; honorary certificates are also awarded to winners.
During my fieldwork in April 2020, I came across the announcement of the competition prominently displayed in Tibetan on the glass door of Pema Rito’s sole grocery store. Store owner Nyima revealed that local pastoralists had run the pageant for the past two years.Footnote 2To ensure inclusive participation, particularly for non-literate members of the community, organizers used WeChat groups to distribute audio recordings of the rules.Footnote 3This phenomenon raises several critical questions. What motivates Pema Rito pastoralists to institute this gendered pageant? What cultural work do these pageant rules and entry criteria perform? How does the event function within broader sociocultural and ecological contexts? To analyse these questions, I employ Milton Singer’s conceptualization of cultural performance as a vehicle for value transmission and identity formation,Footnote 4alongside John J. MacAloon’s understanding of public spectacles as platforms for communal agency rather than mere entertainment.Footnote 5I argue that, in Pemo Rito, the yak pageant functions both as a cultural performance and public spectacle, contesting the renunciation of yak slaughter – a practice in which Tibetan pastoralists, encouraged by Buddhist monastics, refrain from butchering yaks or selling them to slaughterhouses. Promoted by Nyingma Buddhist monastics as part of their non-violence principles, this practice aligns with ethical purification and ecological conservation.Footnote 6Building on Judith Butler’s concept of performativity, taken as the reiterative power of discourse to produce the phenomena it regulates, I contend that participation in the yak pageant is a performative act through which pastoralists challenge and reshape the dominant narratives around slaughter renunciation and yak pastoralism.Footnote 7This interplay between imposed religious ethics and pastoralist lifeways illustrates how cultural performances serve as mechanisms of both social resistance and transformation.Footnote 8Thus, I frame Tibetan pastoralists’ engagement with the yak pageant as an expression of performative agency. To develop this concept, I integrate John Langshaw Austin’s theory of performative speech acts, which reveals that speeches enact actions rather than merely describe them,Footnote 9with Michel Callon and John Law’s perspective on agency, which is the capacity of individuals or groups to act autonomously, emerging from interactions rather than isolation.Footnote 10Performative agency, then, encompasses pastoralists’ use of the pageant as a platform through which they can assert their aspirations, decisions and visions for sustaining traditional livelihoods on their own terms. This stands in contrast to monastic prescriptions, which prioritize spiritual and ethical ideals over pastoralists’ economic and practical realities. In this context, the yak pageant becomes a site of resistance where pastoralists renegotiate – and at times reject – the cultural identities, lifeways and ethics imposed by external religious authorities.
This study is part of a broader 17-month ethnographic project (2018–2020) that employs semi-structured and unstructured interviews, participant observation and household surveys. During this time, I conducted over 110 formal and informal interviews with Pema Rito pastoralists, environmentalists and Qinghai government officials, and surveyed 82 households representing approximately 200 families. The article proceeds as follows. First, I examine the renunciation of yak slaughter as a religious-ethical movement led by Nyingma Buddhist monastics that seeks to redefine Tibetan pastoralist lifeways. Next, I analyse the yak pageant through performance studies, arguing that it serves as a cultural performance that counters the discourse and practices of slaughter renunciation. Finally, I present three ethnographic narratives that demonstrate how Pema Rito pastoralists perform the pageant to resist the renunciation of yak slaughter and assert agency over their livelihood choices.
Slaughter Renunciation
Before examining the specifics of the yak pageant in Pema Rito, it is essential to situate this cultural performance within the wider context of the movement to renounce the slaughter of yaks, which has become widespread in Tibetan pastoralist areas. This movement, which the yak pageant seeks to challenge, has gained momentum over the past two decades, particularly within the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Nyingma monastics have actively promoted vegetarianism, the abandonment of yak slaughter and resistance to selling yaks to slaughterhouses in Tibetan pastoralist areas of China, marking a significant shift in cultural, ethical and religious practices.Footnote 11Yaks are of immense cultural and economic importance to Tibetan pastoralists. Not only are they integral to people’s livelihoods, they are also deeply embedded in the social and cultural fabric of pastoralist communities.Footnote 12Despite this, there has been a growing consciousness about animal welfare and the environmental impacts associated with yak herding and meat consumption.Footnote 13This shift is partly influenced by global discourses on animal rights and sustainability, which have permeated local belief systems.Footnote 14The advocacy of slaughter renunciation is deeply rooted in Buddhist principles of compassion and non-violence towards all sentient beings. Many adherents of the Nyingma tradition now promote a vegetarian lifestyle as a means to minimize harm to yaks and other domestic animals, viewing this practice as a direct expression of Buddhist ethical values. This transformation represents a profound intersection of religious belief, cultural identity and ethical reformation within the contemporary Tibetan context.Footnote 15It illustrates how traditional practices are being re-evaluated in light of broader ethical and environmental concerns.Footnote 16However, the transition towards slaughter renunciation and vegetarianism is not without its challenges. For many pastoralists, the introduction of these practices represents a significant disruption to their traditional way of life, which has historically been intertwined with yak rearing for utilitarian purposes, including milk, meat and labour.Footnote 17The tension between maintaining traditional livelihoods and adopting new religious ethics highlights the complex contestations that occur at the intersection of traditional livelihood strategies and modern ethical norms. Exploring these dynamics is crucial for understanding the broader implications of the yak pageant as a form of cultural performance that both reflects and challenges contemporary ethical and ecological transformations within Tibetan pastoralist communities.
During my interactions with Tibetan Buddhist monks and pastoralists who had adopted slaughter renunciation practices, they often justified their behaviour with narratives and discourses related to wildlife conservation. For instance, Dorje, a Pema Rito pastoralist who practises slaughter renunciation, stated that he believed that wildlife conservation and slaughter renunciation are essentially the same thing. He explained his reasoning: “If wildlife is worthy of protection, then how about yaks, dogs and the other animals that pastoralists live with? Is a yak’s life not as worthy as a human life and the lives of wild animals? Don’t all lives have the same values?”Footnote 18This rhetorical question alludes to a growing recognition of the intrinsic value of all animal lives and challenges traditional practices that prioritize certain species over others. This was a common sentiment among the slaughter renunciation practitioners I encountered in Pema Rito. They frequently compared and contrasted wildlife conservation to the protection of domestic yaks. Several pastoralists who used to hunt wildlife such as blue sheep in the past expressed regret for their actions. They now refrained from hunting wildlife, and their family members strictly adhered to slaughter renunciation practices.
When I talked to a local Buddhist monk about his thoughts on slaughter renunciation, he acknowledged that the movement had brought about livelihood difficulties for pastoralists. Nevertheless, he stated that it was a process of social and cultural development that Tibetan pastoralists must undergo: “If Tibetan culture is to prosper in the contemporary world, we not only need to develop our economy but also develop our culture. That means changing some of the backward practices to align with modern society and modern ecological values.”Footnote 19This perspective points to a broader shift towards interpreting traditional practices in light of contemporary global ethical and environmental standards, suggesting a redefinition of “culture” that encompasses a more humanitarian treatment of animals. The monk clarified that by “culture,” he meant elements such as the “languages, religion, education, clothes and other aspects” that characterize Tibetans. The term “backward practices” (rjes lus རྗེས་ལུས།) specifically referred to the act of killing both wild and domestic animals in any context. In this sense, slaughter renunciation could be understood through the lens of contemporary narratives of ecological conservation and social development.
Fear of accumulating sin (sdig pa སྡིག་པ།) was the Pema Rito pastoralists’ primary motivation for joining the slaughter renunciation movement. Many sought to stop the butchering of yaks and, if possible, transition to vegetarianism to avoid taking life. This was especially true for former hunters like Tsedra, whose family had abstained from slaughtering animals for nearly a decade. His choice was a deeply personal one: “I was a hunter, [and had] killed over a thousand animals. After rifles were banned [in 1995], the monastery’s teachings on sin haunted me. I dreamed about the animals that I killed. When my wife and I fell ill, I believed it was retribution. Since quitting slaughter, we’ve been healthy. Life is harder now, but I’m atoning for my past.”Footnote 20
It is important to clarify that the slaughter renunciation movement did not stem from wildlife conservation efforts. Rather, slaughter renunciation and wildlife conservation coexisted in Tibetan areas, where both the state and monastic communities promoted the protection of wildlife. Tibetan monastic communities and practitioners of slaughter renunciation have extended their environmental ethics to include domestic animals. In this way, wildlife conservation and slaughter renunciation mutually reinforce one another, as concepts of ethics, compassion, care and equality are applied to all life forms, both wild and domesticated. Encouraged by monastic elites, pastoralists in Pema Rito took oaths, either voluntarily or under social pressure, to refrain from butchering yaks or selling them to slaughterhouses. They were, however, permitted to keep yaks, provided they only sold them to other pastoralists who had also pledged not to resell the animals to slaughterhouses. In other words, slaughter renunciation practitioners could only sell yaks to those committed to raising them solely for dairy production.
In my survey of 82 Pema Rito pastoralist households, over 90 per cent of respondents were engaged with the slaughter renunciation movement. More than 56 per cent had adopted a vegetarian diet within the past 15 years, meaning that they abstained from meat but still consumed dairy products and eggs. Traditionally, Tibetan pastoralists have depended on yak meat and dairy for subsistence. However, as more individuals and communities embrace slaughter renunciation and vegetarianism, pastoralism struggles to provide them with adequate nutrition, particularly in remote mountainous areas far from urban centres where vegetables and other foods are available. As a result, pastoralists primarily sustain themselves on traditional diets of milk, cheese, butter, tsampaFootnote 21and wheat bread, occasionally travelling to towns to purchase vegetables and other necessities. Those who practise slaughter renunciation but are not vegetarian themselves buy beef from urban meat stores rather than slaughter their own yaks.
My ethnographic research in Pema Rito reveals that slaughter renunciation is intrinsically linked to the complex interconnectedness of social, economic and cultural realities that define the lives of Tibetan pastoralists. Scholars such as Holly Gayley point out that Nyingma Buddhists have reinterpreted traditional Buddhist ethics to promote animal welfare, using what Gayley describes as “reverse orientalism” to contest both local customs and external economic pressures.Footnote 22This adaptation signifies a broader ethical shift within Tibetan society, reflecting a redefinition of Tibetan Buddhism in the contemporary era. Gaerrang challenges the conventional binary understanding of development by proposing the concept of an “entangled cultural knot.”Footnote 23This metaphor captures the complex interplay of conflicting interests among religious leaders, state policies and the pastoralists themselves, illustrating that yak slaughter renunciation transcends mere religious or ethical commitment and is instead a multifaceted response to broader developmental challenges encompassing economic and environmental dimensions. Other scholarly work probes the symbolic significance of animals in Tibetan culture, underscoring how contemporary Tibetan cultural expressions use animal symbols to shape individual and community identities.Footnote 24These perspectives illuminate how the slaughter renunciation also functions as a differential form of cultural performance, wherein Tibetan identity and livelihood are articulated through the ethical treatment of animals, thereby aligning with broader global discourses on animal rights and environmentalism.Footnote 25Research also highlights the practical tensions that arise between traditional economic practices and emerging ethical norms under the influence of the Buddhist monastic advocacy for slaughter renunciation.Footnote 26These narratives point to the complex discourse surrounding vegetarianism and animal slaughter within Tibetan religious communities, which is marked by significant internal debate and a diversity of views.Footnote 27
Many Tibetan scholars regard slaughter renunciation as counterproductive to pastoralist economic development and a potential cause of malnutrition, particularly among those families who adopt both slaughter renunciation and vegetarianism. As a result, they reject such practices. Tibetan feminist writer Raza Jamyang Jyi addresses this issue in her Tibetan-language article, “Forced vegetarianism and Tibetan people’s health.” She argues that vegetarianism is indirectly imposed on Tibetan pastoralists and farmers by monastic elites who promote vegetarianism through religious and moral teachings while simultaneously stigmatizing meat consumption.Footnote 28While she acknowledges that vegetarianism can be a commendable personal choice provided individuals have the economic means to access diverse, nutrient-rich plant-based foods, she points out that in rural Tibetan communities, where financial resources are limited, and vegetables and other vegetarian foods are scarce, meat remains a vital source of protein and calcium. Raza Jamyang Jyi specifically highlights the adverse health effects of a vegetarian diet on nursing mothers, who are dependent on dairy products, rumen noodles and bread made from highland barley and wheat. This restricted diet can result in malnutrition for both mothers and infants. She concludes that vegetarianism should be a voluntary decision based on access to adequate nutrition, rather than an expectation enforced through religious and ethical pressure.Footnote 29Despite these criticisms, however, the influence of monastic elites remains strong among pastoralist communities like Pema Rito. Most Pema Rito pastoralists are devout Buddhists who continue to follow the teachings of their monastic gurus, even when the tenets of slaughter renunciation and vegetarianism pose significant challenges to their livelihoods.
Although existing scholarship offers comprehensive analyses of the rationale and impacts of yak slaughter renunciation among Tibetan pastoralists, it often overlooks the subtle forms of resistance emerging from within these communities. I contend that the yak pageant constitutes a strategic form of cultural resistance against the imposition of slaughter renunciation. This resistance operates through what I term pastoralists’ “performative agency.” That is, the pageant is used as a culturally sanctioned platform for dissent that circumvents directly opposing monastic authority. Three key factors shape this dynamic. First, pastoralists deliberately avoid overt challenges to religious figures owing to the latter’s esteemed social status. Second, while acknowledging the ethical principles underlying animal welfare advocacy, pastoralists experience profound livelihood insecurities that slaughter renunciation fails to address, creating feelings of marginalization. Third, within this constrained environment, the pageant emerges as an ideal medium for asserting agency while maintaining social harmony with the monastic community. Far from being merely a traditional celebration, this cultural performance functions as both an affirmation of pastoralist identity and a nuanced critique of externally imposed changes. Through this lens, we can discern the complex interplay of surface compliance and deeper currents of contestation, revealing how Tibetan pastoralists navigate, negotiate and subtly resist transformations to their way of life.
The Yak Pageant
Nowadays, there are all kinds of events that people celebrate. People celebrate when they buy cars, when they come back from pilgrimages and when they graduate from schools, but people do not celebrate yaks. As pastoralists, we should celebrate yaks and learn about yak cultures because yaks provide everything for us!Footnote 30
On 12 April 2020, a week after first encountering the poster announcing the pageant, I arrived early in the morning at the venue, which was situated on a vast expanse of grazing land owned by one of the organizers. It was here that I met Tsewang, a pastoralist who graciously explained the pageant’s rules and significance. During our discussion, Tsewang articulated the quote above, highlighting the profound importance of the pageant in celebrating yak pastoralism among Tibetan pastoralists. His words demonstrated the often-overlooked values associated with yaks and pastoralist culture. He hoped to amplify the visibility and appreciation of yaks and their cultural and economic significance through the pageant. Amid dominant narratives of Buddhist ethics, environmentalism and state-driven conservation and development practices, Pema Rito pastoralists champion an alternative vision for their future, positioning yak pastoralism at the core of their cultural and economic landscape and advocating for the recognition and continuation of yak pastoralism.
The pageant’s participants, mainly Pema Rito pastoralists along with a few from adjacent townships and counties such as Ragya 拉加 township of Machin 玛沁 county, gathered gradually. By noon, the assembly included approximately 80 large female yaks and around 150 spectators and participants. Following the arrival of all the participants, judging commenced. Village leaders from the four administrative villages of Ganglong township served as judges, meticulously following the pageant’s stipulated rules. The process, while straightforward, lasted over eight hours, concluding with the announcement of the winners.
During the judging phase, the yaks were tethered along a straight rope in an open field and methodically inspected. The judges first scored the yaks on their colouring, using a scale of 1 to 100. This process lasted about two hours. The judges then measured the yaks’ height, length and girth. Yak owners, assisted by robust young men, led the animals to a type of cattle chute, where they were restrained and carefully measured with a tape measure. This stage of the pageant took over four hours. All of the data were recorded by two individuals stationed at a nearby table. The organizers then tallied the scores and prepared the cash prizes and honorary certificates. Meanwhile, the pastoralists savoured a meal of yak meat and noodles in a yak-hair tent adjacent to the pageant site. As daylight waned, the participants reconvened at the open field, where Pantuk, one of the organizers, promptly announced the winners via loudspeaker. The top prize was awarded to a yak from Ragya, a result that surprised no one. Throughout the pageant, I diligently photographed the proceedings. A jovial young man from Pema Rito approached me, remarking, “I know you’re here to study this. You probably think yaks from Ragya are the best, and that we Pema Rito pastoralists don’t have good yaks. But come back next year. I promise you that the first winner will be a Pema Rito yak. We will raise the best and finest yaks in Golok!”Footnote 31
While the yak pageant in Pema Rito remains a distinctly local initiative, organized by and for local pastoralists, there are similar celebrations of yak culture across the Tibetan regions. In other areas, festivals feature yak races, yak fashion shows and milking competitions. These events are often supported by local governments as tourist attractions. Framed as cultural spectacles, they aim to promote regional identity while generating economic benefits through tourism. However, the Pema Rito pageant emerged from grassroots pastoralist efforts and reflects a more intimate, community-driven celebration of yak pastoralism. Unlike state-sponsored festivals, which often cater to external audiences, the Pema Rito gathering prioritizes local values, reinforcing pastoralists’ agency in defining their cultural and economic future. Its very existence speaks to a broader pastoralist cultural revival, one where yaks remain central, whether as symbols of tradition, objects of performance or as contested figures in debates over modernity and sustainability.
The yak pageant is only open to fertile female yaks of pure domestic breeds. Phantuk, one of the organizers, explained the reasoning behind excluding hybrid yaks: “Hybrids are not ‘pure’ yaks. Hybrids of domestic and wild yaks are larger than regular domestic yaks, which would be a disadvantage for pure yaks.”Footnote 32He further justified the exclusion of pregnant yaks by noting that, “Pregnant yaks have larger than normal bellies, which would give them an unfair advantage in the measurements.”Footnote 33Regarding infertile female yaks, Phantuk remarked, “They are basically male yaks! They are stronger and bigger than other regular female yaks, but they don’t give birth. Their only use is to be sold and used as male yaks!”Footnote 34This deliberate focus on fertile female yaks highlights the pageant’s gendered dimensions, transforming the event into a space where gender is not merely performed but is fundamentally tied to reproductive capacity.Footnote 35The privileging of fertile females reflects their crucial role in sustaining yak populations, which is vital for maintaining pastoralist livelihoods. During the peak calving seasons in autumn and winter, conversations among Pema Rito pastoralists frequently revolve around the sex ratios of newborn yaks across different households. Families with numerous female calves are considered fortunate, as these represent future economic prosperity through the sale of yaks and dairy products (butter, milk and cheese). Conversely, families with predominantly male calves often worry about their ability to maintain their pastoral lifestyle and even sometimes contemplate relocation to urban areas. The pageant’s exclusive emphasis on fertile female yaks reveals the pastoralists’ profound commitment to preserving yak pastoralism. By showcasing these animals, participants seek to revitalize the community traditions connected to breeding and maintaining high-quality livestock, while underscoring the importance of traditional knowledge in yak pastoralism. This cultural practice serves a dual purpose: it celebrates the reproductive potential of female yaks and reinforces pastoralists’ dedication to sustaining their traditional way of life through careful and knowledgeable livestock management.
In his analysis of the Balinese cockfight, anthropologist Clifford Geertz describes the event he observed as a symbolic vehicle for expressing social structure, tensions and conflicts within Balinese society. Geertz characterizes it as “a Balinese reading of Balinese experience, a story they tell themselves about themselves.”Footnote 36Through this lens, the Balinese cockfight emerges as more than mere entertainment; it is a cultural performance that provides the Balinese with a framework with which to interpret and articulate their social reality. This ritualized form of cockfight mirrors the Balinese social world, encapsulating crucial aspects of social status, prestige and power dynamics among Balinese people. Similar to Geertz’s analysis of the Balinese cockfight, I argue that the yak pageant in Pema Rito serves as a symbolic cultural performance through which Pema Rito pastoralists narrate their own stories. The event is a medium through which they express their aspirations and desires to sustain traditional pastoral livelihoods and envision futures on their own terms. Such public displays of spectacle and performance are potent means of conveying meanings and inducing social effects.Footnote 37These events not only provide insights into the dynamics of cultural practices and social interactions but also serve to define and redefine the community’s collective identity through public enactments that narrate and thus validate their lived experiences.Footnote 38The performances become arenas for negotiating cultural identities, employing narrative strategies to assert agency and regulate the dynamics of power and tradition within their changing world,Footnote 39while offering a strategic platform for indigenous peoples to claim their rights and cultural heritage.Footnote 40
In examining pageants featuring non-human participants, scholars have demonstrated how these events performatively construct human–animal relationships, revealing the mutually constitutive nature of identities and ecologies through such interactions.Footnote 41These theoretical perspectives provide crucial insight into understanding the yak pageant as a dynamic performative space where human–yak relationships are simultaneously displayed and reconfigured within contemporary ethical and environmental discourses. Building on David M. Guss’ framework, which identifies the three essential components of performance as authors, artists and audiences,Footnote 42the yak pageant can be conceptualized as a cultural stage where the pageant organizers, as authors, articulate their social visions through carefully crafted performances that mediate interactions between themselves, the yaks as artists, and the pastoralists and other participants as audience members.Footnote 43This tripartite structure facilitates both the transformation of social realities and the disruption of established power structures.Footnote 44Within this performative framework, the organizing pastoralists assume the role of authors, while the participating yaks serve as artists, and fellow pastoralists, monks, government officials, environmentalists and the general public are the audience. The yaks function as living artistic mediums through which pastoralist aspirations find expression, while the author-pastoralists engage directly with audience members, verbally and visually explicating the pageant’s underlying logic and their visions for pastoralism’s future. This process constitutes an exercise of performative agency, enabling the public articulation of pastoralist perspectives and objectives through the spectacular medium of the yak pageant. The event ultimately serves both as a cultural mirror and social commentary, reflecting and refracting the values, tensions and aspirations of Pema Rito pastoralists. It represents a dynamic cultural interface where tradition and modernity intersect,Footnote 45where narratives of identity and resistance are performed and sustained,Footnote 46and where community members collectively imagine their future amid mounting socio-political and environmental pressures.Footnote 47As such, the yak pageant transcends its apparent function as a cultural celebration to become a strategic assertion of collective agency and cultural resilience within the broader ethical and ecological discourses that increasingly shape Tibetan pastoralist communities in contemporary China.
Performative Agency
The Pema Rito pastoralists do not categorically reject yak slaughter renunciation and, indeed, they acknowledge its ethical and moral value; their acceptance, however, remains nuanced. As one pastoralist explained, “It’s the right thing to do to protect animal lives.”Footnote 48They maintain deep respect for the monastic elites who promote the movement, viewing them as benevolent figures who “care for us and provide religious services.”Footnote 49Consequently, many pastoralists adopt slaughter renunciation for both principled and pragmatic reasons. However, this compliance should not be mistaken for passive submission. Pema Rito pastoralists actively negotiate these imposed ethical frameworks through cultural expressions such as the “Plateau female yak contest.” The pageant serves as a sophisticated medium for articulating discontent with external ethical prescriptions that frequently disregard local realities and needs. By orchestrating and participating in such events, the pastoralists affirm their conviction that pastoralism constitutes the most sustainable livelihood model for their community. This strategic engagement exemplifies a mode of resistance that simultaneously reinforces community autonomy and demonstrates the continued viability of traditional practices. Through these public performances, Pema Rito pastoralists skilfully insert their perspectives into broader ethical and environmental discourses. The yak pageant thus emerges not merely as cultural preservation but as a potent form of social advocacy and a testament to community resilience.
They only see what is flying in the sky!
While the Pema Rito pastoralists do not openly reject the concept of yak slaughter renunciation, they express their dissatisfaction with the contemporary approaches to ethics and conservation imposed upon them through metaphorical language and symbolic performances. For example, Tarbo, a man in his late fifties, highlighted this during a discussion about the female yak contest: “Nowadays, those environmentalists, they only see what is flying in the sky! They don’t care about the two-legged ones. But the yak pageant is really good! The organizers have us, the two-legged ones, in mind when they hold the event. This contest will help our young people realize that pastoralism is good for us and for our future generations.”Footnote 50
Tarbo’s remarks highlight a common sentiment among the pastoralists: external conservation efforts often overlook the needs and realities of local communities. Tarbo’s use of the metaphors “what is flying in the sky” to represent wildlife and domestic yaks, and “two-legged ones” to denote local pastoralists, serves as a critique of conservation initiatives that prioritize ecology and animal well-being over the human communities that inhabit these landscapes. His endorsement of yak pastoralism as a sustainable livelihood illustrates the local resistance to external visions of landscape management and livelihood practices. This reflects broader tensions observed in regions where environmental conservation and pastoralist livelihoods are perceived as being at odds with local socio-economic realities.Footnote 51The backdrop to these local sentiments is the extensive involvement of the state, environmental NGOs and local monasteries in ecological conservation, propelled by Chinese state’s drive to achieve “ecological civilization” (shengtai wenming jianshe 生态文明建设). Introduced under Xi Jinping’s 习近平 leadership since 2012, this policy marks a significant shift towards prioritizing ecological preservation alongside economic development.Footnote 52This initiative represents a departure from earlier policies that often tilted towards economic development, sometimes at the expense of environmental health.Footnote 53Ecological civilization aims to balance these scales by promoting sustainable development practices that do not compromise ecological health.Footnote 54Ecological civilization is not just a governmental strategy but is tied to the broader agenda of maintaining political legitimacy, both domestically and globally.Footnote 55The Chinese government, recognizing the public’s growing concern for environmental quality as a crucial aspect of personal well-being, has shifted its approach to include rigorous environmental standards as a core component of its legitimacy.Footnote 56This move is also part of the state’s effort to address global environmental challenges such as climate change.Footnote 57On the ground, not just in Tibetan pastoralist areas but also in regions like Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, such state-led environmentalism is contested and negotiated. Communities draw on their traditional ecological knowledge to navigate state environmental policies, finding ways to defend their livelihoods while participating in ecological conservation efforts.Footnote 58Within this complex framework, Tibetan pastoralist areas like Pema Rito become contested spaces where state-led, NGO-supported and monastery-endorsed ecological conservation projects intersect with local pastoralist livelihoods. This intersection generates tensions over the use of resources and local and externally imposed visions of futures. For example, in 2018, the local county government planned to establish a wetland park in Pema Rito as part of its vision for social development. Officials aimed to commodify the environment and wildlife by transforming the landscape into a tourist attraction for sightseeing and wildlife observation. For the government, this project represented an opportunity to protect the ecosystem while generating economic revenue. However, monks from the local Sharwo Monastery expressed concerns that increased tourism would lead to more plastic waste and greater disturbance to the wildlife. They argued that tourism was not a viable conservation strategy. Similarly, pastoralists I spoke with feared they would not gain any benefit from the project’s income, believing that the profits would primarily go to the local government and the monastery. For them, pastoralism remained the only sustainable livelihood. Ultimately, the wetland park plan failed to materialize because the local government could not secure funding. In this context, cultural performances such as the yak pageant emerge as acts of resistance, allowing pastoralists to assert their agency and articulate alternative visions of livelihoods and futures for themselves.
Performative agency offers a valuable framework for examining how Pema Rito pastoralists negotiate both ecological conservation initiatives and monastics’ advocacy of yak slaughter renunciation. While these efforts aim to harmonize environmental protection with ethical living, their practical implementation frequently overlooks the complex realities of local communities, effectively marginalizing pastoralists from decisions that directly affect them. Through their participation in the yak pageant, pastoralists engage in symbolic resistance against the homogenizing narratives of ethics concerning the pastoral way of life. This performative agency both preserves the pastoralists’ cultural identity and advocates for more inclusive approaches to pastoralism and conservation, approaches that properly account for local socio-economic conditions. The pageant thus functions as both a platform for visibility and a space where alternative livelihood visions can be articulated. As demonstrated by community members like Tarbo, the yak pageant as a cultural performance enables pastoralists to actively shape conservation and ethical discourses rather than passively accept external prescriptions. It ensures that the perspectives of the community’s members are not merely acknowledged but become central to developing culturally grounded policies and practices. Ultimately, these performances transform pastoralists from subjects of policy into active agents of change, allowing them to assert their right to participate in decisions affecting their lives and livelihoods.
We have no livelihoods and cultures without yaks
Yaks are important to Tibetans, they are part of our culture. We have no livelihoods and cultures without yaks. Yaks and Tibetans depend on each other, we need to take care of them. As people living in this world, we sometimes have to butcher them and eat them, such is the way of life for anyone anywhere.Footnote 59
This perspective was articulated by Lhago, a participant in the yak pageant, when asked about his views on the renunciation of yak slaughter. His response highlights the complex interdependence between cultural practices and subsistence needs, providing a nuanced critique of the slaughter renunciation movement. Although not a follower of the movement, Lhago expressed his willingness to endure any potential stigma coming from proponents of renunciation, provided that his family’s well-being and nutritional needs were met through yak pastoralism. Norbu, a pastoralist in his sixties, supported the pageant as a vital way to cultivate appreciation for yak pastoralism among younger generations. He was particularly worried about the growing disinterest among young pastoralists in continuing traditional practices, such as yak herding and slaughter, which are often viewed as shameful or sinful. This shift in attitudes has sparked a migration trend among young pastoralists as they move away to urban areas. Norbu detailed:
The primary problem we face is the migration of pastoralists, especially the youth, to urban areas. They no longer wish to herd and butcher yaks as they consider it sinful. However, for us pastoralists, butchering yaks for sustenance is an inherent way of life … Nowadays, if we butcher yaks, some people will point fingers and accuse us of accumulating sins. Consequently, the younger generation refrains from this practice, viewing it as a disgrace. They even consider the pastoralist lifestyle as shameful, prompting them to leave our community and settle in towns.Footnote 60
Norbu also recognized the yak pageant as an important response to prevailing narratives of sin and shame imposed on pastoralists, viewing it as a way to restore the dignity and honour of both pastoralism and its practitioners. Although Norbu did not explicitly address the issue of slaughter renunciation, his comments implied that criticism of the movement may invite public shaming from other community members.
To contextualize Norbu’s remarks about pastoralist migration to urban areas, it is essential to consider China’s rural resettlement policies over the past few decades. During the 1990s and 2000s, pastoralist resettlement was promoted not only as a strategy for biodiversity conservation but also as a means to stimulate economic development in pastoral regions. Local governments frequently restricted grazing in ecologically sensitive areas, encouraged pastoralists to align herd sizes with rangeland carrying capacities and facilitated the resettlement of pastoralists to urban areas.Footnote 61In exchange, pastoralists received compensation for their economic losses and were provided with urban housing.Footnote 62Many young pastoralists were drawn to the perceived comfort and opportunities of urban life, driving a trend towards urban migration even in the absence of formal resettlement programmes.Footnote 63In Pema Rito, while the local government did not actively promote urban resettlement due to limited housing projects, many pastoralists chose to migrate independently to urban centres in pursuit of improved healthcare and education. Today, young pastoralists in particular often express a desire to settle permanently in urban areas.
During our conversation, Dondrup, a pastoralist in his seventies, openly criticized the slaughter renunciation movement. Like Norbu, he supported the yak pageant and viewed the renunciation of yak slaughter as impractical, suggesting that its advocates lacked an understanding of the social and environmental realities of Tibetan pastoralism:
If we abandon yak herding and migrate to towns, what will we do there? We cannot become farmers, as this plateau is unsuitable for farming. Nor can we all relocate to urban towns and become business owners or government officials! Scholars have no grasp of pastoralist life. They just sit in their offices in cities and monasteries and lecture about how we pastoralists should live, but they do not understand a thing about us.Footnote 64
In Pema Rito, the yak pageant has evolved into a significant cultural institution amid the evolving ethical paradigms shaped by the slaughter renunciation discourse. The statements of Lhago, Norbu and Dondrup reveal complex intra-community negotiations as pastoralists reconcile traditional livelihood practices with emerging moral frameworks. Lhago’s position illustrates the critical need to mediate between ethical principles and the material requirements of a centuries-old pastoral economy. Norbu’s apprehensions about the declining participation of the younger generation in pastoralism highlight the deeper challenges of generational continuity and cultural transmission. In this context, the pageant serves a dual purpose: it not only celebrates pastoral identity but also acts as an educational tool to instil pride in yak pastoralism among younger community members, thereby countering emerging narratives of moral transgression. Dondrup’s critique of slaughter renunciation as fundamentally impractical highlights a persistent dissonance between monastic Buddhist ethics and the socio-economic imperatives of pastoral existence. This perspective underscores the necessity of grounding ethical discourses in the lived realities of affected communities. Collectively, these viewpoints demonstrate how the yak pageant operates as both a communicative medium and discursive platform, enabling community members to articulate alternative visions of pastoral life. Through this performative tradition, participants engage in both direct and subtle resistance to slaughter renunciation, asserting their epistemic authority while demanding inclusion in broader conversations about their cultural and livelihood futures.
The lush fertile land relies on the black-headed people
Despite the centrality of yaks to their livelihoods, Pema Rito pastoralists refrain from selling yaks to slaughterhouses. Instead, they actively seek buyers from among their fellow pastoralists within and beyond Pema Rito, who agree not to sell the animals on to slaughterhouses. These intra-community transactions constitute a critical economic lifeline. My survey data reveal that the average annual household income in Pema Rito in 2019 was 41,819 yuan, of which 40 per cent (16,841 yuan) came from harvesting and selling caterpillar fungus, while 45 per cent (18,540 yuan) was generated through yak sales. Government subsidies and poverty alleviation grants contributed 8 per cent (3,250 yuan), and dairy products (butter, milk and dried cheese) accounted for 4 per cent (1,804 yuan). The remaining 3 per cent (1,384 yuan) was derived from wage labour, which included forest patrols, small businesses (for example, grocery stores and motorbike repair shops), and other sources. The revenue from yak sales enables pastoralists to meet essential expenses, including food, transportation, their children’s education, healthcare and religious donations. Additionally, yak milk serves as a dietary staple, consumed as tea or processed into butter, yogurt and cheese for both household use and sale in Gande County.
The survey data highlight the paradox between ethical ideals and the economic realities of the yak slaughter renunciation movement. While proponents argue that pastoralists can transition from meat-based livelihoods to dairy production, the practical challenges associated with this shift reveal significant gaps. Producing market-standard dairy products requires not only an improved infrastructure but also reliable market access, both of which are often lacking in remote pastoralist regions like Pema Rito. Although dairy cooperatives have increased in number in Tibetan communities in recent years, they frequently fail to generate meaningful profits. In Pema Rito, for instance, dairy projects contribute only 4 per cent of household income, a figure that is inadequate to cover family expenses. Thus, the tension lies in the movement’s inability to reconcile its moral vision with the structural and economic constraints that define pastoralist life.
A traditional Tibetan proverb states that “Black-headed people rely on black-haired animals, and black-haired animals rely on lush, fertile land” (mgo nag brten sa spu nag, spu nag brten sa spang thang མགོ་ནག་བརྟེན་ས་སྤུ་ནག སྤུ་ནག་བརྟེན་ས་སྤང་ཐང་།). This proverb encapsulates the profound interdependence between the “black-headed people” (Tibetan pastoralists), “black-haired animals” (yaks) and the land they inhabit, highlighting the role yaks play in the social and economic fabric of pastoralist life. The Pema Rito pastoralists also contend that the grassland’s vitality equally depends on their active stewardship. They do not believe that nature reserves, national parks and external conservation initiatives are the best ways to achieve a sustainable ecological balance. Riga, a septuagenarian pastoralist, elaborated on this during one of our conversations, offering a modified version of the proverb:
People often say that “black-headed people rely on the black-haired animals, the black-haired animals rely on the lush fertile land.” This is true, but they forget that the lush fertile land also relies on the black-headed people. Pastoralist communities have inhabited this land for thousands of years. Our ancestors protected this land, and it is because of us, the pastoralists, that many wildlife species still roam freely here … Thus, the accurate proverb should be: “black-headed people rely on the black-haired animals, the black-haired animals rely on the lush fertile land, and the lush fertile land relies on the black-headed people.” Cause and effect form a continuous cycle; it does not end at just one point.Footnote 65
Riga’s statement reflects a worldview in which pastoralism is synonymous with environmental stewardship. It asserts that traditional practices have sustained ecological balance long before modern conservation frameworks emerged. This challenges the assumptions that ethical living, social progress and ecological preservation necessitate the abandonment of pastoralist lifeways, or that modernization alone signifies environmental responsibility. His triadic reformulation of the proverb underscores a holistic vision of sustainability, where environmental health, animal welfare and human communities are inextricably linked. By adding “the lush fertile land relies on the black-headed people” (spang thang brten sa mgo nag སྤང་ཐང་བརྟེན་ས་མགོ་ནག), Riga emphasizes the pastoralists’ indispensable role within local socio-ecological systems. This framing articulates a worldview that honours cyclical reciprocity and positions humans as being embedded within – rather than separate from – the natural world. His adaptation also serves as a counter-narrative to externally imposed conservation policies and religious ethics, asserting pastoralists’ agency in maintaining ecological equilibrium and providing ecosystem services. Through this revised proverb, Pema Rito pastoralists engage in performative agency, affirming their right to steward their ancestral land and contesting their marginalization in ecological discourses. The yak pageant, as a cultural performance, thus transcends mere tradition preservation; it is an active renegotiation of narratives governing livelihood practices and human–environment relationships. By asserting their expertise and rights to a pastoral livelihood, pastoralists reclaim their place as essential custodians of Pema Rito’s ecological and economic future.
Conclusion
The yak, which is central to the Tibetan pastoral way of life, serves not only as the cornerstone of livelihoods but also as a potent cultural symbol, embodying pastoralists’ profound connection to the land, heritage and identity. The adoption of yak slaughter renunciation practices, as advocated by the Nyingma monastic community, signifies a pivotal ethical transformation in pastoralist–yak relations within these communities. Within this context, the yak pageant functions as a performative act of resistance. It challenges the unilateral imposition of monastic ethics while also contesting oversimplified global animal rights discourses and externally derived religious ethics that overlook local livelihood realities. Far from merely representing a cultural tradition, the yak pageant constitutes a strategic performance that is deeply embedded within contemporary environmental and ethical debates. Through this annual event, Pema Rito pastoralists orchestrate a multifaceted dialogue with diverse stakeholders, including monks, local government officials, environmental advocates and fellow pastoralists, thereby asserting their agency in shaping these critical discussions. This performative engagement reflects both the pragmatic exigencies of pastoralist livelihoods and their enduring commitment to safeguarding their cultural identity, pastoral livelihoods and future aspirations on their own terms.
Acknowledgements
I am thankful to my pastoralist interlocutors in Pema Rito for their support throughout the research process. The fieldwork for this study received support from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (2019–2020).
Competing interests
None.
Tsering BUM is an associate professor of anthropology at the Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu, China. His research explores the intersection of ecological conservation, community development and rural social governance in western China.
