Tradition continues amid new age of convenience

With his wife running a convenience store and his younger daughter studying at the Xinjiang Medical University, Habudelashen Nusupbek, a herder in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, still lives and cherishes the nomadic life that his ancestors practiced for centuries.

He and his son migrate with their livestock to the pastureland, which offers a warm climate and fresh grass as they follow the seasons.

The only difference is that his family has access to schools, electricity and modern healthcare. Today, life on the pasture has changed a lot. Vehicles, satellite televisions and smartphones have become daily objects. Kerosene lamps and candles have been replaced by solar-powered devices. For many nomadic families in Xinjiang, the country's modernization drive has brought benefits to their daily lives.

Living in the south of Yumin county, Tacheng prefecture, Xinjiang, Habudelashen stopped taking his wife Baht Turlksi to other pastures several years ago. The winter pasture in the majestic Barluk Mountains is about 130 kilometers from the county, which is an important grazing place for some 110,000 head of livestock in Yumin county from October to March.

In recent years, the local government has allocated funds to build a road to the pasture, cutting the journey time to the county seat to just two hours. This has made it easier for herders to visit each other and buy daily necessities in the towns.

Baht opened a small shop and it has expanded from a single shelf to a 40-square-meter store selling beer, beverages and daily necessities.

During last year's winter Dongzai festival for meat stocking, between late November and early December, Baht and her husband invited family members, neighbors and friends to gather together.

For Baht's youngest daughter Kursunak, who is studying at Xinjiang Medical University in Urumqi, capital of the autonomous region, it is an important family event that she couldn't miss and she joins the party via her smartphone.

To let her daughter feel at home, Baht sends home-cooked beef and other food to the school.

"She could have various food options at school, but she still might miss the taste of home," Baht says. "We have done this every year, eating meat and gathering together. These moments define what family means for us."

In recent years, the central and local governments have launched projects to build permanent settlements for herders.

As a result, more and more elderly herders have retired from grazing and settled down to a modern way of life with their grandchildren.

With better prospects for higher education, many herders' children, like Kursunak, now embrace a wider choice of future careers.