This is the memory that turns a ragtag army of husky Tibetan men into weeping storytellers. But like the animals they're trying to protect, the Wild Yaks face extinction. Threatened not only by well-armed poachers and forbidding terrain, they've also become something of a rogue guerrilla force pitted against a rival group set up by the government to do the same job. The rest of Qinghai is known for its harsh labor camps, sparse human population and research centers for China's first atomic and hydrogen bombs. Nearly every inch is covered by sweeping grassland, much of it dry and brown.
Nothing grows for hundreds of miles except telephone poles.
The skies are so tempestuous that a hot summer afternoon could suffer the wrath of snow and hail. In 1992, Suonandajie first targeted the illegal gold diggers who had poured into the region by the tens of thousands. The gold rush that began in the 1980s was like a plague of locusts on these vistas that had been left undisturbed for many millenniums. The Tibetan antelope, or chiru, is an endangered species seen only near the treacherous peaks of western China. This goat-like creature produces the finest wool in the world.