Chinese Story｜Herdsman Photographer on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Witnesses "Return of Snow Leopard"
Put down their whips and pick up their cameras. They are herdsmen who have lived here for generations, and they are also plateau photographers who chase snow leopards. They have established a wildlife rescue mechanism. They are not only experts in wildlife protection, but also "parents and wet nurses" who take good care of sick and injured animals.
From herdsman photographers to professional rescue teams, countless "light chasers" patrol mountains and rivers with their footsteps, freeze life with their lenses, and protect populations with science, writing the vivid story of China's biodiversity conservation.
"You can hear it at home"
In late autumn, the Lancang River flows in the Angsai Grand Canyon, and white-lipped deer, blue-eared pheasants, and blue sheep appear from time to time in the mountain forests. Sang Zhou, a 32-year-old herdsman, sat on a rugged rock and held up his camera to look for traces of wild animals.
Patrolling the mountains day after day, Sang Zhou was accustomed to taking photos of flowers, plants and wild animals with his camera, not only as a record of the mountain patrol, but also as a gift for future generations. But what he wanted to photograph most was the snow leopard, known as the "King of the Snow Mountains."
"The first time I heard about the snow leopard was from my family when I was a child. I only knew that it was very beautiful and mysterious, like a 'big cat'." In Sang Zhou's view, caring for the land and creatures is deep in his heart. "This is not only our home, but also the home of wild animals."
Sang Zhou's encounter with the snow leopard began one early morning in 2018. It was still dark when a gray-haired animal suddenly galloped past the hillside in front of him.
"It's a snow leopard!" Sang Zhou was stunned for a moment, then grabbed his phone and pressed the camera button.
"My mind went blank at the time, and I completely forgot about the possible danger." Unfortunately, the pixels of the mobile phone were not high, and the snow leopard was blurry in the photo, which wasted an excellent opportunity to take a close-up shot.
Later, Sang Zhou "spent a huge amount of money" to buy his first professional camera. How to combine aperture, sensitivity, and shutter speed is something you can only explore by yourself. Every day while patrolling the mountains, he would not go home until his camera ran out of battery.
As he continued to explore, white-lipped deer, golden leopards, vultures, golden eagles, and blue sheep frequently appeared in Sang Zhou's shots, and the most common one was the snow leopard. In order to better "produce" the film, he has already understood the habits of snow leopards: "The main food of snow leopards is blue sheep. If you see a large group of blue sheep, it must be not far away. It is easiest to see snow leopards from January to May every year, and sometimes you can hear its screams at home." He pointed to the "Sanjiangyuan Biodiversity Handbook" that was about to be turned out. He said that the "big cats" that were once only spread among the elderly in the village are now "at your fingertips", and the ecology of his hometown is getting better and better.
Nowadays, the photos of snow leopards and blue sheep taken by Sang Zhou are no longer just private collections, but have entered the ecological propaganda classroom. The herdsmen who used to herd and patrol the mountains have become the folk recorders of wild animals in the Yangtze River. In Sang Zhou's view, the camera is not a tool, but a bridge that allows people from afar to see the vitality of this plateau.
"Love grows flesh and blood"
On March 4, 2025, ecological ranger Azha Zhaba Dorje was patrolling the mountain in the snow as usual and found a six-month-old snow leopard cub halfway up the mountain.
"It was lying on the ground with its limbs stiff and its head tilted back. Only one pair of eyes could move, and its whole body was cold." Ou Xiangdanba, a staff member of the Sanjiangyuan National Park Administration, recalled that in his impression, the snow leopard was very big, but this snow leopard was very small.
Everyone took the cubs back to the county seat urgently and reported to their superiors. The Sanjiangyuan National Park Administration, the Northwest Plateau Biology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Qinghai Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Center have worked closely together to build a lifeline for the endangered cubs.
In the early morning of March 5, an off-road vehicle rushed to Xining carrying an injured snow leopard. When passing through Bayan Har Mountain, the falling snow seems to be blessing the little life.
After 15 hours of traveling thousands of miles, the snow leopard arrived at the Qinghai Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Center at 14:40 that day. Because it is in the Jingzhe solar term, according to convention, it is named "Ling Xiaozhe".
When he was first delivered to the rescue center, "Ling Xiaozhe" was only 74 centimeters long and weighed only 9.7 kilograms, which was far below the normal level for his age. "You can't feel the flesh, it's all bones and skin. Although we have rescued snow leopards many times, this is the first time we have encountered such serious injuries." He Shunfu, director of the rescue center's shelter and rescue department, said. The rescue center teamed up with an expert team from the School of Veterinary Medicine of China Agricultural University to tailor a treatment plan for him.
On March 8, "Ling Xiaozhe" raised his head for the first time and looked out at the world. "At that moment, our anxious hearts finally relaxed." said Zhao Hailong, a veterinarian at the rescue center.
Fortunately, "Ling Xiaozhe" survived and recovered. Unfortunately, it was unable to return to nature because it was too young when it was rescued and did not have the skills to survive in the wild.
Today, the reborn "Ling Xiaozhe" lives peacefully in the Snow Leopard Hall of Xining Wildlife Park, interacting with tourists through the glass from time to time. Her weight has steadily increased from less than 10 kilograms at the beginning to more than 30 kilograms.
A netizen made a recovery video for "Ling Xiaozhe" and wrote the words "Love will make you bleed and bleed" at the beginning of the video. From the ranger's blanket to the sterile cabin in the CT room, from the herdsmen's pasture to the city hospital... this life relay that spans thousands of miles finally ends with tenderness.
"From the pupils of the snow leopard, you can see the entire plateau"
In Sanjiangyuan, local people often say: "From the pupils of the snow leopard, you can see the entire plateau."
In 2023, the documentary film "Snow Leopard and Her Friends" shot by a herdsman photographer was released and won the Best Documentary/Scientific and Educational Film Award at the 36th China Film Golden Rooster Awards.
"Although the shooting environment was very difficult, no one backed down. Our goal is to let the whole world see snow leopard movies." A herdsman who participated in the shooting even said that the most touching scene in the film is the snow leopard nursing its cubs. After discovering the cave of the snow leopard and its cubs in 2019, everyone set up tents and took turns squatting in the distance. The snow leopards "tacitly agreed" to the photographer's existence. They shot like this for 35 days, retaining extremely precious scenes.
This restrained companionship hides a simple philosophy: human beings are not the masters of nature, but neighbors of all things.
In the 190,700-square-kilometer Sanjiangyuan National Park, the Chinese government has established "one household, one post" ecological ranger positions, and 20,800 ecological rangers have transformed from grassland herdsmen into rangers, recorders, and rescuers.
He Shunfu said that since its establishment, the rescue center has taken in and rescued more than 2,500 wild animals, among which "Internet celebrity" animals such as "Ling Xiaozhe" and "Ling Xiaomang" were discovered by ecological management staff during their work.
In October 2021, Sanjiangyuan National Park was officially established. Looking back on the past five years, this team of "light chasers", composed of herdsmen and animal protection experts, has used lenses to preserve the beauty of living creatures and used love to save fragile lives. What they chase is not only the light and shadow in the lens, but also the light of life on the plateau.
