Dawa Wangdui: A Tibetan Serf-Turned Entrepreneur

Abstract

When I drove to Tibet in 1994, what most impressed us was the Tibetan’s outgoing and hospitable nature, but I had never had a bear hug like that from the exuberant Mr. Dawa Wangdui. After serving a sumptuous Tibetan banquet in his beautiful home full of Tibetan cultural artifacts, he danced and sang as he played his long-necked Tibetan lute.

When I drove to Tibet in 1994, what most impressed us was the Tibetan’s outgoing and hospitable nature, but I had never had a bear hug like that from the exuberant Mr. Dawa Wangdui. After serving a sumptuous Tibetan banquet in his beautiful home full of Tibetan cultural artifacts, he danced and sang as he played his long-necked Tibetan lute.

I was keen to hear how Dawa went from laboring for RMB1 a day to making millions as the head of several international firms. “What makes you so optimistic about Tibet?” I asked (Fig. 13.1).

Fig. 13.1

Prof. William Brown interviewing Tibetan entrepreneur Dawa Wangdui in Lhasa, Tibet on July 21, 2019. Photo by Zhu Qingfu

He laughed and said, “It is simple! For a long time, we Tibetans suffered under Tibetan feudalism—the so-called dark system. Like almost all Tibetans, our family was very poor, even though for 300 years we served the Panchen Lama, who was second only to the Dalai Lama. But now I live in good times! We used to talk about the life of the nobility but today’s ordinary Tibetans live better than the nobles of old Tibet!”

While Hollywood and Western media romanticize old Tibet as a Shangri-La, in reality it was truly a dark system for centuries. As Sorrell Neuss wrote in the Guardian,¹

Popular belief is that under the Dalai Lama, Tibetans lived contentedly in a spiritual non-violent culture, uncorrupted by lust or greed: but in reality, society was far more brutal than that vision….

Until 1959, when China cracked down on Tibetan rebels and the Dalai Lama fled to north India, around 98 percent of the population was enslaved in serfdom. Drepung Monastery, on the outskirts of Lhasa, was one of the world’s largest landowners with 185 manors, 25,000 serfs, 300 pastures, and 16,000 herdsmen. High-ranking lamas and secular landowners imposed crippling taxes, forced boys into monastic slavery and pilfered most of the wealth—torturing disobedient serfs by gouging out their eyes or severing their hamstrings.

“Under feudalism,” Dawa said, “the hierarchy was very strict and serfs had no rights at all, but since reform and opening up, the sense of material and spiritual gain, security, and happiness of the Tibetan people is a miracle that has not existed in thousands of years.”

“How did this miracle come about?” I asked.

“The leadership’s good policies,” Dawa said without hesitation.

“But even with good policies, few have had success such as yours. How have you done differently?”

Dawa grinned. “In addition to good policies, I am also a very hardworking person. I did not read books as a child, even in first grade, but I am a very strong and thoughtful person. I worked hard and suffered a lot. But even hard work and persistence are not enough. I’ve succeeded mainly because I was born into a good era created by the state’s good policies. Tibetan Buddhism emphasizes ‘benevolence’ and that we must be grateful and respectful. I am very grateful to our leadership for giving us the environment in which hard work can pay off. In old Tibet, we also worked hard but were still impoverished.”

Dawa’s hard work has certainly paid off, with enough accomplishments and official positions for several lifetimes, including vice chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region Federation of Industry and Commerce, chairman of Tibet Litai Industrial Co., Ltd., former executive member of the 11th All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, a representative of the 10th People’s Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region, an Outstanding Builder of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics of the Tibet Autonomous Region, vice chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region Chamber of Commerce, executive vice chairman of the Tibet Shigatse Prefecture Chamber of Commerce, and executive deputy general manager of Tibet Gangjian Development Corporation.

Dawa has prospered, and now uses his experiences to help tackle Tibetan precision poverty alleviation. “I go to the grassroots every year. My company has spent tens of millions on poverty alleviation projects. But the common people, although they see the improvements and enjoy the benefits, don’t understand who has given them such happiness. This is because for a long time Tibet was under the theocratic political system, and the uneducated people had no understanding of it.”

“Can you give me specific examples in which Tibetans’ lives have improved?” I asked.

“The biggest factor has been good policies to care not just for Tibetans but for all ethnic minorities. Such a whole set of policies would have been completely unimaginable in the old society. But if you tell Europeans about Tibet’s earth-shaking changes, they don’t believe it at all, because such changes are unimaginable to others.”

“You were poor in your youth,” I said,” but now you are very successful in business. Can you tell your story?”

Not surprisingly, Dawa said, “It’s very simple!” For Dawa, everything seems simple and straightforward, but as the saying goes, “Still waters run deep.”

“I always wanted to get out of the mountain village and do something,” Dawa said. “At nine years old, I learned carpentry and became a craftsman. I was happy to earn RMB1 a day to help feed my family and raise my brothers and sisters to help them go to college. Now my younger brothers and sisters have worked as civil servants, serving in important positions in the country, and have made great contribution to society. The success of our good policies is inseparable from our own efforts.”

“But how did you go from carpentry to becoming a businessman?”

“I was 14 when the spring breeze of reform and opening up hit Tibet. We were in a commune, working for two or three points a day. When I heard that I could earn RMB1 or RMB2 a day, I set out to make my fortune! It was a dream come true.”

“But how did you go from RMB1 per day to where you are today?” I asked.

“Simple!” he said. “At RMB1 a day, I earned RMB30 a month, and had RMB20 left over after deducting food and drink expenses. At first, I sent all of my money home because they were so poor. But later, I decided to develop myself. So I started a business and worked my way up from RMB10 to RMB100, and then RMB1,000, RMB1 million, RMB10 million!”

“I found that today, even though we were poor, we still could do great things. The old society also had people like me, with ideas and dreams, but there were no policies or opportunities.”

“But even with such good policies, few have done as well as you. Why is that?”

“Happiness comes from struggle,” Dawa said. “And luck is summoned by hard work. In doing business, I suffered a lot. But it is impossible for a person to rely solely on luck without the heart to work hard. If given the opportunity, we must make unremitting efforts. As the oldest of six children, I began finding ways to earn money for our family even at five.”

When Dawa was 12, he learned carpentry from a village woodworker. It was hard and tedious, but he quickly mastered the basics. That same year he helped build a power plant and the Xietongmen Post Office. By age 15, he was in demand as a local master carpenter, Tibetan house architect and Tibetan furniture designer. But he slowly began to realize that his prospects were limited unless he learned more about the world around him. When he saw a friend’s Tibetan-Chinese dictionary, he shyly asked, “Can I learn Chinese with this?”

“It’s possible in theory,” his friend said, “But I doubt you could persist at it for years.”

But Dawa did persist. For five years, he worked hard by day and by night. He made his way through the entire dictionary, writing notes in Tibetan when he could not understand the Chinese characters. “After hours of reading each night with a diesel lamp, my nostrils were full of black smoke,” he recalled.

The first Chinese character that he learned was “you” and his first sentence was “hello.” He explained, “I reasoned that these would be useful anywhere.”

Dawa also helped his younger siblings with their studies, and under his guidance his three younger brothers were all admitted to Tibet classes, and later to key universities, after which all three took up official positions and helped Tibet to prosper.

As reform and opening up began in the late 1970s, Dawa left his village to seek his fortune, but there were few industries then. “I did not want to be a woodworker for the rest of my life, so I considered related industries.” In 1980, when urban Xigaze began transforming the old city, Dawa began designing and constructing Tibetan-style residential houses. His reputation grew, and in 1987 he met the 10th Panchen Lama, who helped establish the Tibet Gangjian Company, based in the Tashilhunpo Monastery, so monasteries could afford to maintain temples themselves and lessen the economic burden on the state. Gangjian is today a highly diverse business group handling trade, tourism (including starred hotels), catering, and ethnic handicrafts such as Tibetan Thangka paintings, furniture and carpets, etc.

The Panchen Lama prized young Dawa’s carpentry skills and sent him to Beijing to learn more advanced wood processing, furniture design and management knowledge. “The 10th Panchen Lama had high hopes and expectations for young Tibetans,” Dawa explained.

After the 10th Panchen Lama died in 1989, many of the company’s talented staff then left, and the company business stagnated, but Dawa stuck it out, and under his encouragement the Gangjian Company gradually prospered. Dawa also sought to capitalize upon tourism and catering service, and encouraged production of Tibetan handicrafts, such as Thankgka paintings, sewing and silversmithing. After he became the company’s executive deputy general manager, Dawa began traveling across China to learn from more experienced companies like his. When he learned that Tibet development lagged behind the rest of China, he expanded the import and export trade of his company’s Shenzhen branch, which earned over RMB10 million annually in profits from trade on Tibetan products. Although other foreign trade companies were losing business, Gangjian Company thrived as Dawa continued to hone his management and business skills.

Many people with such success under their belt might have been content to rest on their laurels and enjoy life, but Dawa often thought hard late at night, “What else can I do?” He then recalled an architect telling him that steel construction was the way of the future, because earthquake-resistant buildings could be built more cheaply and quickly with recyclable steel. Dawa wanted to start a steel structure company, but he could not find people with the right skills. He sought talent outside Tibet, but no one was willing to work in the high altitudes of Tibet. In 2004, Dawa finally established Tibet Litai Industrial Co., Ltd., the first private steel structure company in Tibet, “It was like holding my newborn child!” he said.

The firm struggled at first, but Dawa encouraged his workers, “Nothing is impossible if you are willing to work hard.” He sent his best employees to receive advanced training. In 2009, he built Tibet’s longest pipe truss project at the Century Court of Lhasa Hotel, even though large cranes could not reach the construction site. That same year, upon hearing the government urgently needed help to resolve local electricity shortage, Dawa and his team braved extreme cold and altitude to help build a power station—and in record time. In 2012, Dawa’s company worked even through the harsh winter to help Lhasa ease traffic congestion by building nine large pedestrian bridges in the city.

Dawa has come a long way from RMB1 a day to millions, but not surprisingly, he said, “It’s simple! I just changed from carpenter to steelworker, but the road ahead is still very long. I just try to give my best back to society.”

Dawa has donated millions to local alleviate poverty, especially in his hometown. One of his biggest priorities has been education—perhaps because his own education was curtailed so early. The man who did not read books even in first grade—yet later spent five years devouring a Chinese-Tibetan dictionary—has subsidized dozens of poor students, many of whom have gone on to college for further study.

Dawa also likes to promote Tibetan culture. To promote Tibetan culture and sell ethnic arts and handicrafts, he established the Tibet Thangka Culture and Art Development Co., Ltd. in Beijing in 2009. His dream is to spread Tibetan folk culture not only throughout China but also to other countries.

Dawa showed us old black and white photos of Tibet, and many of the priceless Tibetan cultural artifacts he has collected. As he played his dramyin (扎木聂), the beautiful long-necked Tibetan lute, I said, “I play the guitar and the sitar. I’d love to play your Tibetan dramyin.”

“It’s simple!” he said. But after a few minutes of failing to produce even his simplest melodies and rhythms, I found it was not nearly as simple as he claimed. In fact, nothing about Dawa’s life is as simple as he makes it out to be—except the fact, perhaps, that he has a simple faith and optimism in the future. As he said, many times, “Today, even the average Tibetan lives better than the noblemen of the old Tibet. With good policies, hard work and persistence, success is simple! And for that, I’m grateful to our government.”