At the foot of Snow Mountains
Travel notes of Country School in Sichuan Tibetan Area (Aug. 2008, by Jade) 

Rong Mai E Snow Peak, at the altitude of 6168 meters, is the main peak of Que’er Mountain Range, famed for "Mountain eagles can not fly by". It runs through Dege County from northwest to southeast. At its foot, there are small country schools, even can not be found on the map, but gestate so many curious and hopeful dreams in the tinkling sound of reading. 

Proceed in Western Sichuan 
318, 317, these two numbers are familiar to everyone entering Western Sichuan Plateau, because Road 318, Road 317 are the main trunks to this beautiful and mysterious land. 

Drive out of Chengdu, and drive along 318 National Trunk Highway, and travel over Erlang Mountain which is titled as "The Boundary of Han and Tibet", we arrive at Kangding where is regarded by some westerners as where Tibet really begins. We drive to climb over Zheduo Mountain, and proceed to Tagong Grassland via airport road; detour over "The Photographer’s Heaven" Xin Du Qiao, and get direction to Ba Mei. Drive along 317 National Trunk heading for Dao Fu, Lu Huo, Ganzi and get to Dege finally.
August is a cozy and agreeable season to Western Sichuan, the brilliant sunshine, the towery spruce forest, the colorful flowers, the well-rounded wheat composes of the beautiful scenery.   
This is not the first time for me to come Dege, but it is the first time to observe on the education of country schools in Tibetan area. Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is located in the Hengduan Mountain Range, and surrounded by high mountains and deep rivers, these will greet the people who come here once in a while. But they are indeed the nature barrier to native people, especially for the children in remote areas, it is very difficult to reach the schools. For them, it means cross over mountain after mountain, means far-away dreams.

School life along Yalong River
We drove about one whole day from Kangding to Ganzi, which marked about ten centimeters on the map. Once out of Ganzi County, we drove away 317 National Trunk marked on the map clear and thick, and turned to the thin county-level road, and parallel run with one trickled river --- Yalong River, one of the most important rivers on Western Sichuan Plateau. The river is the longest branch of Yangtze River, rooting from Qinghai and stretching 1600 km to enter the Jinsha River.
Only 140 km distance from Ganzi County to Wentuo Countryside of Dege County, took nearly one day, because the road is so rough. Our destination is ChanYinSi Elementary School, located in DangPi Village, WenTuo Countryside. WenTuo is the most remote and most difficult-to-access countryside of Dege County, not mentioned to the small village. This school is run by the temple, but little high-quality teachers would like stay here. Since Brooks (one of NGO) started to organize some teachers from Tibetan school or Teacher-Training Specialty to support ChanYinSi School. The service term is 3 years, and Brooks is in charge of their living subsidy and the transportation fare of going home. Nevertheless, most people liking to travel to Western China want to be volunteers, especially many out-door lovers. But their teaching effect was not good for the language problem, different minority custom, and etc. So Brooks conscribed local Tibetan volunteers to teach here, and provide related training to the volunteers. This time, I just come here with the volunteer teacher to study tour.

                
We arrived much later than appointed time. Upon arrival, all the dressed-up villagers in were waiting by the roads to welcome. The tall and strong KangBa walked up and presented the Hada, "Zha Xi De Le" was greeted everywhere. Lamas from the temple were also in the welcome team, their red suit and the green grass composed of a beautiful scene.
One lams from the temple has been teaching one small Lama class in the school. The other two classes are taught by GenGa, ZhaXiCuo and SeLa. These three teachers are all supporting teachers from Brooks. The school starts 6 courses in total, included math, physical education, Han Language Course, Music Course, Art Course and Tibetan Language Course. There are 53 students, all from Dang Pi Village.
Every morning, the whole students gather on the playground to read scriptures. Generally, in Tibetan area, the monastery acts as the school, and the scriptures involve rich knowledge of science, nature and history. Learning the scripture is a main feature of temple school.
The students come back to the classroom after reading scriptures. The classrooms are decorated with Tibetan style, colorful and beautiful; the blue sky and mist mountains outside. Junior class is learning basic knowledge in the classroom, and senior class is reading and reciting in the yard. Even under the hot sunshine, they are always serious and dedicated.
For the two days living with the students, we together had lessons, enjoyed the short stories and Gordor Dance performed by the students, and discussed the local custom with the young Lama of ChanYin Temple. The most impressive was that we got up every morning, and brushed the teeth with the cold water from Yalong River (there is no tap water, the drinking water is from the river), smelled the faint scent mixed with cooking mist and Tibetan Butter Tea, and the sun rose from the mountain edge and shone over the whole village, two or three students came to the school early. At that moment, we were on the road of pursuing the dreams, and they were in the delight of learning.

Traditional education of Shua Ba Zi
The grassland in summer is green, thick or light. The breeze brings the breath of the mountain and the water, making you in harmony of the nature. Three or five persons sitting together, some lying on the ground, there are the special scene of "Shua Ba Zi" in Tibetan area. Summer is the best season.
"Shua Ba Zi" means playing on the grassland. In Western Sichuan, the most large-scaled "Shua Ba Zi" is the horse racing festival, included horse racing, singing and dancing, costumes performance, making Tibetan Butter Tea racing, and etc. Normally, Shua Ba Zi has many forms, included we were watching the performance in ChanYinSi School, gathering with local villagers. The most miniature "Shua Ba Zi" is the rest on the way, sitting circled on an open land and eating some food. In the mountain area, the meals always are eaten in this form on the road. With the beautiful scenery of blue sky and white cloud, you will feel you refreshed soon.
Actually, when we drove out of Kangding, we always stopped the van and had "Shua Ba Zi" for rest. Remembered that one Tibetan man put the glass bottle mouth in the earth after he drank up the beer, we asked the reason, then, one of our supporting teachers, GenPei told that "the way is to escape the small pest to drown in the beer. From the child, A Ba (father) started to told the sons to try best to avoid killing. And this succeeded generation by generation naturally." We were all shaken deeply. 
Xila, one person accompanied with us, said that there were many customs in this kind in Tibetan tradition. Such as, the Tibetan will pick up four stones after the picnic, representing stone, water, firewood and fire respectively; then, sprinkle the tea and wheat (Qing Ke) on the stones to appreciate them to bring the food. The respect to the lift and the appreciation to the nature make the Tibetans be in harmony.
Once one Tibetan friend said: "What is the education? The activity of Culture Inheritance is the educating." In this way, everywhere is the classroom on the wide land.