Rich tapestry of tenacity

Carpet to culture

They drink butter tea or coffee in the morning, eat Chinese or Western food for lunch and drink Chinese green tea in the afternoon.

Their four children have graduated from university. Wei has seven brothers and sisters. They all live in Lhasa, speak Tibetan and are married to Tibetans.

At first, they only communicated in Tibetan, but in recent years, Tsetan has learned Mandarin. Wei also learned to make Nepali food, and she and her husband share Nepali tastes.

On the surface, the trading company is a business, but from another perspective it's a cultural-preservation undertaking.

Turkish, Tibetan and Persian carpets are considered the world's best. Tibetan rugs are widely sold in the United States and Europe.

Tibetan rug-making dates to the Shangshung Kingdom 3,000 years ago and was promoted by Tashi Tobgyal, the grandson of Langdarma, the 40th king of the Tubo Kingdom in the region's Gyalze county in AD 623, Tsetan says.

"Half a century ago, the craft declined in Tibet, but it was revived in Nepal between the 1960s and 2000s. It declined again afterward, and now, it's very developed in Nepal," he says.

The pair plans to open a Tibetanrug museum in Lhasa in the next few years.

"It's an invaluable asset inherited from Tibetan ancestors," Tsetan says. "It'd be a great pity if it vanishes one day. It can never be replicated."