Chapter 01 · 2007
A school at the edge of the grassland
In Xialaxiu Town, Yushu, Qinghai, a small schoolhouse stands hours from the nearest household — so its eighty children board there, from age four to sixteen. A care home sits next door. The place is cold most of the year; in June, it still snows.
We first arrived as volunteer teachers. When the lessons ended, the friendship didn't: we kept in touch with the educators there, season after season.
Chapter 02 · The winters
Coats, then classrooms
Every spring and autumn, we collected second-hand winter clothing — for four-year-olds, for teenagers, for the elders next door. Friends and family joined; parents packed bags of their own.
Then came the question that changed everything: many asked to sponsor a child's schooling directly. One-to-one sponsorships began, and they continue today.
Chapter 03 · The turning point
What if help didn't stop at giving?
After years of coats and school fees, another thought surfaced: could the community earn more from what it already holds?
We asked the headmaster what local craft existed. He sent photographs of handwoven bracelets — and slings. The moment we saw the wurdoo, we knew: three thousand years of herding skill, sitting in waiting hands.
Chapter 04 · Today
The weave that pays its maker
We asked who might want to weave. The answer surprised us: many women did. Mothers, herders, hands that had braided rope all their lives, ready to braid for the world.
Today the women of Maozha Township weave Wurdoo in their homes, on their own schedule — before the caterpillar-fungus season, between chores, in the long light of the plateau. Every piece ships with its maker's hours inside it.
「手作的价值在于每一条编织的当下，
都记录着手艺人的心情、温度和美感。」
The value of a handmade piece: every knot records its maker's mood, warmth and beauty.
