Zeku Horse Racing Festival

Zeku! - essay

Summer brings light and brief warmth to the Qinghai -Tibetan Plateau. Vast blue skies and a blazing sun envelop the endless green plains, stretching north from Lhasa and the Himalayas. Chilled wind and a shortness of breath remind us of our position, two vertical miles above the steaming and hazy heat of lowland China.

We have found our way to the Zeku Horse Racing Festival, the social and sporting occasion of the year for the semi-nomadic Tibetan people of Tongren County. Herdsmen ride for days from their summer grazing pastures to compete in this annual event, where horse-trading, socialising and celebration are mixed with the chance to win big-money prizes.

Crowds of people swarm around us, wind-burnt cheeks matching their vibrantly coloured clothing. Brightly patterned silks border heavy black woollen robes. Tibetan girls joke and cling together, the broad leather belts about their waists inset with silver buckles and glass stones. Gold and silver earrings shine, family riches on display at this important public occasion. Many wear soft woollen headscarves, useful for both warmth and shelter from the sun. Two men stand together, one with an arm casually over his friend’s shoulder. They smoke and watch the crowds go by from beneath sunglasses and cowboy hats. The deck of a lorry provides a prime spot for a huddle of spectators, while most viewers press against an unconvincing wire barrier.

We have become used to standing out in an all-Tibetan crowd, but thankfully today there are more exciting events under way. A building wave of whooping cries announces the next bunch of approaching riders. Eight or nine ponies become visible above the crowds, a small boy in a yellow t-shirt driving his grey mount ahead of the group. The crowd’s high-pitched cries build up to a chorus, and packs of prayer cards are flung in the air, hundreds of coloured paper squares spinning to the ground. The public address system is drowned out by the noise, the race commentator’s voice fading as soldiers in green run alongside the final riders, helping to rein in the excited ponies.

While traditionally horse-racing festivals have served as local military displays, the only army on display today is wearing the dull green of the PLA. They perform marches between races.

We make our way to the starting area, where only a few supporters watch the riders and handlers prepare for each race. It’s an exercise in controlled chaos. An official announces a time check, and the riders, boys in their early teens, are hoisted onto their ponies. The boys ride without saddles, wearing jeans, light sneakers, and shirts that match the ribbons about their mount’s neck and tail. As the start nears the ponies become almost uncontrollable, the handlers turning their heads in tight circles to keep them from bolting. Finally a whistle blows, and the handlers run forward, almost propelling their horse and rider down the track. Clods of earth and more prayer cards fly together in the air, and the sound of galloping hooves fades as the riders stretch away from us.

1000s of km north of Lhasa and Tibet Province, Qinghai is home to several people-groups and environments. It is a desiccated, windswept place, where the lower valleys bustle with Tibetan farmers, Hqai melon-growers and Han shop-keepers. Above, the hills and peaks stretch up to reach the plateau, where the 4000m altitude limits farming activities to grazing rangy Tibetan sheep and yaks.

Zeku was a relatively small town in the 1950’s, when it was selected by the Communist Party to become a civil centre. Positioned in a slight basin, we were told it was initially selected after officials noted the lack of snow near the settlement. What they failed to realise was that this was due to the high winds that frequently gust through the area!

Bert, our host, shifted to Zeku with his wife Shanina and 4 children in 2004. Bert has founded a web design company which employs 3 local people. He is able to do this through the high-speed internet access available in Zeku (a recognised benefit of modernisation)

The idea is to provide professional employment options for local job-seekers. For those Tibetans that attend university, there is little opportunity to return to their home area. Bert hopes to demonstrate that with high-speed internet available in remote communities, viable IT enterprise can occur.

Crowds line the finish of the race track


This fellow invited me to lunch in his house


Chaotic starts! We saw a few fall off!




A view from a peak above Jensa

Zeku is a Tibetan town on the grasslands (about 3600m). It is "the big city" for the 5,000 or so nomads living in the county. We visited during the annual horse racing festival, just before leaving China.