Tibetan young man makes a hit in Quake-hit Yushu

A devastating earthquake hit Yushu in Qinghai Province back in 2010.

The area has now taken on a new look, after many local youths have been making efforts towards its re-construction. 

After college graduation six years ago, Gasong Chenglin chose to stay at his hometown Yushu rather than going for the big cities, even though at the time the area was left in ruins after a deadly earthquake.

In the beginning, Gasong joined a construction team to learn designs and decorations for Tibetan housing, when the reconstruction work began in Yushu. 

In 2012, Gasong started his own business to offer renovation and other trade services. 

With the completion of rebuilding in Yushu, Gasong has now shifted his focus to the niche markets of Tibetan jewelry, handicrafts and local agricultural products.

"We set up the local youth entrepreneurial company in July 2014. Without an office, we just worked inside a tent. Since then, the secretary of the Yushu Communist Youth League has learned about us and provided us with a free work place," Gasong said.

So far, over one hundred local college graduates have returned home and joined Gasong's business incubation center, which was established in 2015.

Gasong Chenglin makes a discussion with his team members in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous region, northwest China’s Qinghai province on November 29, 2016. [Photo: Xinhua]

The young man has been expanding his business, riding on the wave of China's Internet Plus action plan. 

The initiative was launched in 2012, aimed at integrating traditional industries with the Internet.

One year later, Gasong and his teammates launched "Holy Yushu," an e-commerce platform that mainly distributes local specialties, such as saffron and Chinese Caterpillar Fungus.

Gasong says even on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, the Internet has enormously changed people's lives.

"When the reconstruction work was done after the earthquake, a new economy emerged. There have been a lot of remarkable changes in Yushu. For example, it's very popular here that people make payments on their mobile phones through Wechat or Alipay," said Gasong.

The local government has helped to build a logistics warehouse as the county was approved as a state-level model to increase e-commerce last year.