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This video illustrates the method of iron branding camels and other related traditional knowledge among herders in Khoshut County of Bayangol. In recent years, the impact of climate change has led to various transformations in the lives of the Oirat herders. As shown in the video, to adapt to the changing climate, some herders are attempting to change their livestock structure, selling sheep and cattle flocks and buying camels to alter their earlier practices. In the past, Tsedenbal herded 300 sheep and 80 cattle, which were easier for them to manage and profitable through the annual sale of lambs and calves. In recent years, climate change, particularly constant drought, along with sharply decreased meat prices, has made it difficult for herders to maintain livestock with the added expense of supplementary forage. Therefore, Tsedenbal invested ¥10,000 in purchasing young female camels, aiming to reduce expenses and generate profits through the sale of camel wool, milk, and calves in the future. However, the lack of experience in herding camels has led them to frequently seek advice from neighbours and other experienced herders. Along with the new livestock, Tsedenbal also designed and made an iron brand for his new herd. It is the start of the new journey for the family.

This video is about the mineral spring water in Tost village. The mineral spring water in Khar Us has been famous since the historical times, particularly known to the public for its healing properties, treating various diseases including arthritis, infertility, and many more. However, human intervention has continually disrupted the natural state and the sustainability of water. In 1952, Russians came to Khar Us and installed a wooden mineral bath tank. Later, the Chinese replaced it with an iron tank equipped with an electronic heating system. These changes not only altered the natural spring water and the surrounding environment but also caused the healing properties of the mineral spring water to disappear. As a result, countless tourists, rather than patients, began visiting the place from various locations. Local and wider communities seeking treatment from mineral spring water now have nowhere to go. In the last ten years, there were climate changes, lack of rains, and constant drought.

Since 2017, climate change, particularly constant drought, has made it difficult for livestock to survive on grasslands without forage provided by their owners. Consequently, many herders either sell their livestock at low prices or purchase additional forage for their animals during certain seasons. Some, however, have decided to move to agricultural land to survive. This video depicts Tsevegjav who catches his horse herds and transports them with a large truck to the suburbs of Hejing County, a place closer to the city centre where forage is more easily accessible.

This video primarily focuses on vaccinating sheep in Tost village, situated at the foot of Tenger Mountain. In the past, herders and their livestock would move into the deep mountains during the summer. However, nowadays, instead of moving into the mountains during the summer and winter, herders prefer to stay at a lower altitude, such as Tost village, during the summer and in agricultural land during the winter. Consequently, the hot summer has led herders to spend more money on medicines and constantly vaccinate their sheep to protect from various diseases. This practice not only impacts the health of the livestock but also potentially affects the people who consume the meat.

The dairy food market has become the primary source of dairy produce for residents in the town. Following the widespread impact of COVID-19 across the country, the Chinese government has been promoting local economic development initiatives. One outcome of this effort is the construction of a public marketplace, which now serves as a hub for various goods, including Mongolian dairy products. Within this bustling market, the Mongolian community in Hobogsair predominantly trades in grain-based foods such as a variety of bread and dairy products like cow milk, handmade yoghurt, butter, and milk wine. According to interviews featured in the video, bread and handmade butter are among the most sought-after items, reflecting local food consumption preferences. However, there have been observations regarding the diminishing yield of butter from milk, given climate change-induced reductions in grass levels and animal fat content. In addition to the town’s residents, an increasing number of Chinese visitors from outside Hobogsair have emerged as significant consumers in recent years. They purchase these dairy products to enjoy at home or to give as gifts in central China. However, challenges have emerged in the supply chain due to climate-related declines in production and a generational gap. Elderly herders are ageing, while younger generations are gradually moving away from traditional practices, leading to a decrease in the availability of dairy products from local herders.

This video featured the pastoral life in the farmland of the suburb Korla City. Due to climate change, and frequent draught-induced grass shortages, herders are seeking an alternative way to keep their livestock alive. In Bayangol during the winter of 2022, one option for herders is to transport their animals with large trucks from Bayanbulag grassland to the outskirts of Hejing County, Korla City, and even further to Kuche County, a distance of 500 km. Bangzai, a Torghut herder as shown in this video, explained that they lived in the rented farmland during winter for four years, and will return to Bayanbulag grassland at the end of April before the farming season starts. The average cost of transporting 400 sheep from Bayanbulag to Korla would be ¥20,000, and it would double for ewes with their lambs. This cost of grazing with falling meat prices has worsened the existing difficulties and made pastoralism more vulnerable and unsustainable.

Jotuu, aged 88 years old, was born in Tsagaan Us in the Tabilhat pasture in Khar Us. She has six daughters and two sons. Tsagaan Us was known for its population of impoverished people who had gathered from all over Khar Us. When I was young, there was no concept of owning individual pasturelands. Herders often grazed their livestock together on fertile pastures, rather than possessing separate tracts. One reason for this communal approach was that herders were impoverished, and each household typically owned only a few cows for milk and a few steers for transporting goods during migration. Although I never met any wealthy herders in Tsagaan Us during my youth, I heard there were some affluent individuals in Modot and Sanjai. I managed to herd goats for several years when the communal movement began in the region. Subsequently, I was transferred to agricultural land, where I mostly engaged in physical cultivation until I moved back to pastureland four years later. With the privatisation policy, we were allocated 84 sheep, 30 goats, a mare, and a calf at a lower price. Now, Jotuu has settled in Tabilhat village, a government-led settlement compound, while her children have migrated to another village with subsidies from the local government. According to Jotuu's experience, this is a new trend for herders. Given that climate change has visibly led to severe degradation of pasturelands, herders have no choice but to settle and pursue other profitable ventures.

Dobdon, born in 1946 in Haptagai Shar, Hobogsair, is a herder and has been an assistant to Shalwan Gegen for many years. In the 1980s, when Mongolian cultural elements experience a rejuvenation, he actively advocated for the people of Geherun Sum to restore Oboo worship and held the position of Khund, assistant of Jangi, the head of the Sum. Dobdon’s grandfather hailed from an affluent family that had a thousand-head herd of horses. However, when he fled to Russia with his herds in 1945, most of them returned to their home pastures in Hobogsair, where the Nationalist Party and Kazakh bandits took over and eventually disappeared. As his family history contradicts Communist ideology, not only was his grandfather tortured by the government during the Cultural Revolutionary period, but Dobdon was also forced to join the construction group. Later, he became a farmer, until the privatisation policy came to Hobogsair, and a herder since then. The cultural revival succeeded the long and harsh movements that were mentioned earlier and emerged in many ways in which folk culture and religion were more evident than others. Concurrently, after years away, 14th Shaliwan Gegen returned to Hobogsair and strongly supported the Mongolian cultural renaissance in Xinjiang. He appointed three people from each banner as the banner Güzdei to be responsible for Oboo worship, and Dobdon was one of them. The first Oboo ritual they renewed was the Khüren Öndör Oboo in 1984, worshipped for the first time in 59 years. Since 2016, we have become quite cautious about Oboo worship again, as the government implemented strict policies on religion, only allowing the spreading of Oboo ritual information within designated Sum scales and bringing Lamas to chant scriptures in the early morning before people gather, sending them back to their monastery secretly. Additionally, COVID-19 disrupted the Oboo worship for three years. We used to conduct an annual household and demographic census at Oboo worship and publicly announce members and their donations at the Oboo ritual. Today, people are getting better off, young generations, gathered with their friends or within a family, willingly donate large amounts of money for Oboo worship every year. However, the demographic and the public donation traditions have weakened today, leading people to become alienated from their Sum and its people. Another new trend emerging at Oboo worship is that elders are disappearing. Oboo worship used to be filled with elders and discussions between them. Unfortunately, some passed away, while others settled in Hobogsair County Centre and are hardly go to their Oboo. In 1984, when the privatisation policy was implemented in Hobogsair, my family, consisting of my wife, four children, and myself, received an allocation of 60 sheep, a camel, and a cow from the commune. Over the years, we have expanded our livestock to several hundred sheep, twenty camels, thirty horses and over fifty cows. Limited pasturelands and climate change have not only necessitated capping our current numbers but also compelled us to spend most of our income on acquiring forage or renting farmland from other farmers for winter. However, the profound impact of the COVID-19 lockdown, exacerbated an already critical situation, further influencing the livestock market prices by restricting product flow, and impeding social mobility, particularly animal merchants across the country. Consequently, 2022 has proved to be the most challenging year for herders in our community. Apart from the stringent lockdown policies enforced by central and local governments, herders are facing an additional hurdle posed by persistent climate change. Whereas in the past herders rarely took their livestock to farmland during the winter season, today, on the contrary, only a few remain at their pasture due to the constant drought and shortage of grass. Traditionally, herders in Hobogsair engaged in seasonal migration and grazing of livestock across various pastures. The Gobi, Argalitu Mountain, Delun Mountain, and Salburi Mountain served as winter pasture, while Sair Mountain was the summer pasture. Herders temporarily stayed in Habtagai Shar during the spring and autumn seasons, from June to July and September to early November. Large animals, particularly camels and horses, would stay in Habtagai Shar until the weather turned cold, plants succumbed to frost or were covered by snow. They would then naturely migrate to the southern part of Delun, Argalitu, down to the south of Hobogsair as far as they could reach, returning in the spring. Regrettably, this system has evolved or accelerated from the traditional timeframe, with herders now initiating the move to the summer pasture as early as May. With this altered timeframe, control over large animals, including horses and cows, becomes more challenging for herders, leading to their migration from summer pasture to autumn pasture almost two months earlier than in the old times. Subsequently, herders, faced with the shortage of grass, resort to relocating to rented farmland from September after the harvest. At the age of 76, I have never experienced such a severe drought in my life. The summer season in Hobogsair, once characterised by sufficient rain and moderate temperatures, has become hotter and drier nowadays. Unfortunately, we have experienced Zud in thesummer season in the past three summers. Although the winter of 2021, nearly devoid of snow, resulted with plump and sturdy animals, the lack of snow led to the overconsumption of grass on pasturelands and caused significant degradation on already drought-stricken areas. Consequently, herders endured an arduous and prolonged spring season, investing financially in forage and physically feeding their animals throughout spring. To escape the challenges and to continue securing forage, herders migrated to the summer pasture in the Sair Mountain as early as May instead of the usual date on the 20th of June, bypassing the spring pasture, depriving it of sufficient time for recovery through warm weather and rainfall. Therefore, animals grazed on grasses before they are fully ripened, produce insufficient fat for the following year. This is a vicious circle that has been occurring in recent years.

In this video, Sumyan shared three main themes. Jangar Oboo Worship: The Beis banner in Khar Us comprises three Sums: Ikh Khüü, Dund Khü, and Bag Khüü, representing the oldest, middle, and youngest sons respectively. Each Sum possesses its own worshipping Oboo - a stone cairn. Additionally, the Jangar Oboo, constructed in 1988 during an international conference, is also located in the region. However, as each Sum maintains its own worshipping Oboo, the Jangar Oboo has been largely neglected since its construction unless specifically used for a summer festival to gather local herders. Horse Sports and Culture: The Torghuts in Khar Us continue to embrace their equestrian culture due to the mountainous terrain where cars and motorcycles cannot easily travel, yet many aspects of this culture are disappearing. Historically, as children, we would seek out herders with horses and ask them to let us ride at Naadam festivals. There were once many fine horses, such as Bartiin Sharag, Dorjin Kheer, and Batin Halin. In contrast, today, herders often struggle to find young riders, sometimes advertising weeks in advance and offering payments between ¥300 and ¥500. Occasionally, they must seek out Kazakh children from other places to ride their horses. Climate Change and Its Impact: Recent years have also seen transformations due to climate change, with increasingly dry and hot conditions affecting the herders’ lives. Traditionally, herders in Khar Us would seasonally move to the mountains during winter and summer, but this practice has shifted due to drier weather and scarce pasture grass. In 2021, only five of the 37 households in Tost village continued their seasonal migration to the Tenger Mountain. Additionally, the growth in wild animal populations, spurred by hunting bans, has led to significant losses for herders. For example, in 2021, Arhajaan, a Kazakh herder of Tost village with over a hundred horses, lost 16 horses and saw another 36 attacked by wolves.

In recent years, climate change, particularly five years of constant drought, has induced significant pastoral transformation. Herders in Bayanbulag have had to move to agricultural regions to rent land for grazing their livestock during the winter months to ensure their survival. In this video, Chimiddorj explains in detail his experiences with farmland. Over the past several years, Chimiddorj has transported his livestock by large trucks from the Bayanbulag grassland to the outskirts of Hejing County, Korla City, and even as far as to Kuche County in 2022, 500km distance. Chimiddorj rented farmland in Kuche exclusively for the winter and plans to return to Bayanbulag grassland at the end of April before the farming season starts. The winter pasture in Khöh Us, where at least thirteen households and their livestock (10,400) used to live, now has only four families remaining, with around 1,600 sheep in total. The rest of the herders are scattered across the farmlands of Hejing, Korla, and Kuche. The average cost of transporting 400 sheep from Bayanbulag to Kuche is ¥20,000, and it doubles with lambs, in addition to the rent fee of 3000mu lands for ¥80,000. The rising cost of grazing, combined with falling meat prices, has exacerbated existing difficulties, making pastoralism more vulnerable and unsustainable.