China-India tensions hit ‘Silk Road’ border businesses
- Traditional trading routes connecting India with the Silk Road have flourished in past decades, with the tacit approval of both armies
- But the stand-off means these traders are unable to cross the border, putting their livelihoods at risk in the profitable winter season
Unlike previous years, the arrival of winter does not bring much hope to Gyalson, a trader in Demchok, one of the last Indian villages before the border with China in the Ladakh region.
Life can be hard in this mountainous, high-altitude territory, where temperatures can fall up to minus 40 degrees Celsius. But for traders like Gyalson, 47, winter means business. Heavy snowfall and landslides cut the connectivity between villages and the regional capital Leh, around 300km to the west, meaning people are forced to look eastward to China.
Once the mighty Indus river flowing near his village freezes over, Gyalson normally takes his pack animals and crosses into China laden with goods such as dried fruits, wheat flour, spices, raw wool and rice. For months, he has been feeding up his yaks and horses to prepare them for the journey.
“It takes me a day to take goods to the other side, near a place called Dumchelle, where traders gather with their goods. It is a market where we barter with the Chinese,” said Gyalson, who only wanted to be identified by his last name. “We then load the animals again and come back in the night to our village.”
