on luxuries," the 33-year-old nomad says. He wears a rough jacket and leather trousers tucked into heavy boots.
Raising the living standards of nomads like Wangchen and of migrants like Wang is the all-consuming priority of the Communist Party. With close to 300 million people still scraping by on less than $2 a day, the task is daunting. Yet an even larger number of Chinese has been lifted out of poverty in the past 30 years. Their lifestyle is modest but it is incalculably better than it was.
Drolma picks through windcheaters and plastic trousers piled high on a Xiahe street stall and hands over 60 yuan for a khaki jacket.
"Of course I can afford to go shopping. We are doing very well these days. We raise yaks." She holds up a yellow box with a picture of Hong Kong film idol Jackie Chan on the front. "I've bought a DVD player. It cost me 700 yuan, but I can manage that."
Her husband drives up on his motorcycle and the couple disappears into a shop selling the gorgeous gold brocades that Tibetans like to adorn their hats. He breaks into a smile and tries on a new jacket.
(Additional reporting by Zhou Xin; Editing by Bill Tarrant)