LHASA, July 10 (Xinhua) — Tashi Lhamo never expected that her life as a farmer and herdswoman would captivate millions. Yet today, the 34-year-old Tibetan, who hails from a remote village in southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region, has become a social media sensation with nearly 4 million followers.
Known to her fans as “Xizang Lhamo,” Tashi Lhamo rose to fame not through makeup tutorials or dance trends, but by livestreaming her daily life in Gyuho Village, which perches at an altitude of 3,800 meters. From tending her some 400 sheep to milking yaks and planting highland barley, her livestreams offer viewers an authentic glimpse into rural life on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as “the roof of the world.”
Tashi Lhamo’s foray into livestreaming began unexpectedly in 2018, when a video clip of her milking a yak, filmed by her younger brother, went viral with tens of millions of views. “I couldn’t believe the view count and kept checking the number. I thought my phone was broken,” she recalled.
Encouraged by the attention, she began regularly posting snippets of her life on Chinese video-sharing platforms such as Douyin and soon discovered a national audience eager to know about her way of life. One clip of her herding sheep with a whip would later garner over 44 million views.
When curious viewers mistook the yak dung drying on her house wall for tea, she turned it into an educational opportunity, starting a livestream to share how yak dung has long been used as fuel on the plateau.
Sometimes she also helped her audience clear up stereotypes and misunderstandings, telling them: “We don’t ride horses to school in Xizang. We have trains and planes as well as vegetables and fruits growing in greenhouses here. Xizang is developing very fast!”
Later, Tashi Lhamo also started to use her digital influence to support her community. She pays fellow villagers and people from nearby villages above-market prices for local specialties such as yak butter, tsampa, and dried beef, and sells these products via livestreaming platforms.
The sales of yak butter through her livestreams have surpassed 800,000 yuan (about 111,417 U.S. dollars) this year.
“Sometimes we had barely finished unloading when all our yak butter sold out in her livestreams,” a Gyuho villager named Tashi told Xinhua.
The booming e-commerce business now helps Tashi Lhamo earn an annual income of over 1 million yuan.
But behind Tashi Lhamo’s social media success is a story of resilience. Raised in a family of eight that relied on government subsistence, she grew up in poverty and had to work on construction sites to support her family.
Her story reflects more than personal fortune, but is a microcosm of Xizang’s broader socio-economic progress. The autonomous region’s economy has consistently ranked among the fastest-growing in China, with its GDP reaching 276.49 billion yuan in 2024, representing a 6.3 percent increase year on year.
Thanks to large-scale telecom network upgrades and supportive policies, e-commerce is gaining momentum across Xizang. Official data showed that from January to April this year, Xizang’s online retail sales reached 10.84 billion yuan, a 36.7 percent year-on-year increase. Of that total, livestreaming accounted for 3.36 billion yuan, a 41.8 percent increase.
Despite her fame, Tashi Lhamo remains grounded in Gyuho Village. She has turned down lucrative offers from more than 80 multi-channel network institutions to commercialize her fame. She still lives in her village house and follows the same daily routine of herding sheep and tending crops.
“I’m always a farmer and herdswoman. Getting famous was pure luck,” she said, insisting on keeping her livestream business close to home. “I’ll focus on promoting goods from the villagers.” ■
