In December of 2014, I sat down with some of the people from the Yushu-based Rewa Clothing Company, a clothing company that makes mid-priced* Tibetan-inspired clothing on the Tibetan Plateau. Though far from the only socially conscious business (several Tibetan-owned travel agencies, donate percentages of their profits to local groups), or the only locally-operated clothing business on the Tibetan Plateau ("Tsampa Eaters" རྩམ་པ་ཟ་མཁན། comes to mind), Rewa's innovative approach to business has generated significant social profile. Intrigued by this new model and curious about the owners' motivations, I scheduled a time to sit down with them and talk. One wintry afternoon, 'Jigs seng, and the founder (who I only know as Eric), and I, sat around a small table drinking coffee in one of Xining's ever-growing number of cafes. In today's post, I reflect on our chat, complementing my own observations with direct quotes from the conversation.** Their thoughts reveal much about young Tibetans' ideas about business and culture in twenty-first century Qinghai.
Firstly, let's start with a brief explanation of the name. Rewa means 'hope.' It comes from the Tibetan རེ་བ། Re ba. Their name Romanizes the term based on pronunciation in their native dialect (Khams). When asked about the name and its logo (in which a Tibetan antelopes head is drawn about the Tibetan རེ་བ། and the English "rewa"), 'Jigs seng told me: Rewa "stands for hope... So then, the second part. Rewa. r-e-w-a, it's, uh, translated from "rewa" Tibetan rewa. And the Tibetan antelope. It's very thoughtful, actually. He [Eric] did a really good job. When people see the picture, it's the Tibetan antelope. Automatically people will say [the word] "Tibet" first. You know? And everyone will know Tibet means antelope. Then "Tibet" comes first. And then second of all, it's, in Chinese as well, it's called zanglingyang 藏羚羊. Zang [the Chinese word for Tibet] always comes first. And people will say it, you know? It's pretty obvious that people can see it comes from Tibet. And third, the Tibetan antelope is a very popular animal. you know. 'Cause It was one of the auspicious animals in China during the Olympics. It was nominated for and selected as one of the best animals in China. Whatever they called it. And so, and then, when it comes to why the animal was looking back instead of forward, it's because we wanted to deliver the message to say 'We all need help, hope,' and, and, it's a calling to human wisdom to the peace of the world. That's the initial idea why it was designed like this." Clearly, the symbolism behind the name, the logo, and their goals in relation to the Tibetan community has been carefully thought-out. Most importantly, the Rewa clothing company is particularly concerned with positively influencing Tibetan culture in the twenty-first century: "So far we've done a lot of charity work. At the very beginning when we were very small, when we were not really developed enough economically, we, we helped random families who are definitely really poor. We supplied clothing to them. We supplied financial help to them as well. And then last year, we moved to another stage of doing charity work. We helped the Rwa rgya school. We manufactured over 1300 schoolbags, and we gave all those to all the students and teachers in Rwa rgya school. And we also had an extra 600 bags given to the elites in Tibet. That includes monks, scholars, teachers, and other people who have made a difference in terms of economic, economics, and other areas. So we gave al those bags to those people. And then second of all, there's an orphanage school in Golok, it has 200 students there, so we supplied winter clothing to them, and it over course had the Rewa logo on it… "Then, um, … we also worked with one of the schools there to produce a book, edit a book, it's all new Tibetan vocabulary translated from English or Chinese. New things like "cup" or "car" or "motorcycle." Because We see the problem in society. We mix Tibetan with Chinese or English. And that's a very sad situation to see, because we do have the potential to make it better. To speak pure Tibetan. But as time goes by, the teenagers lose their ability potential to speak pure Tibetan. It's because they lose the terms. They don't have a common term for specific things. So that's why we worked with the school and published a book that includes all the vocabulary for new stuff, or old stuff that we don't normally use (any more) in Tibetan to help the people speak pure Tibetan. "Then next year, we're planning to launch a project that, we will take several elder, who are abandoned by their families and who are desperately poor, but who are… genuine Buddhists. But they don't have any financial help to get to Lhasa to make their pilgrimage dreams come true. So we're, I think we're working on it right now, that we'll support maybe ten elders from Tibet to help their dream come true. The value of this is because [sic] most Tibetan elders are uneducated. All they know is Buddhism. They're loyal to Buddhism, and committed to it. And coming to Lhasa is one of their biggest dreams is to go to Lhasa before they pass away… you know in tibetan we say "dge ba" charity, it's a work of compassion. And if we can work with some elders and help their dreams come true. It means a lot for them and for us as well." Most recently, the clothing company also joined with Rewa children's home, an orphanage and school in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture) to commission a song and music video in Bde skyid tshe ring's new album, supplied the young rapper in his most famous song of the new album. The two groups also combined to host a special, privately-funded New Year's gala. With emcees speaking three different languages, two speakers emphasizing the importance of learning Tibetan language and culture, and a variety of famous singers including their normal endorsers, Nor b+ha ནོར་བྷ།, Lha lung mtsho ལྷ་ལུང་མཚོ།, and Skal bzang yon tan སྐལ་བཟང་ཡོན་ཏན། among others. Finally, the group is interested in encouraging humanitarianism and innovation through endowing a special award for Tibetans, described by the owners as a Tibetan Nobel prize. But Rewa would not have the financial clout to intervene in Tibetan cultural issues without a novel business approach--and most importantly an aggressive marketing campaign--that sets them apart from their competitors. Rewa is one of the first Tibetan brands to actively seek out celebrity endorsers. In doing so, they locked down two of the most recognizable faces on the Tibetan Plateau: Mgo log native and singer Shir bstan (Ch: Xiedan 谢丹) and Yushu rapper/singer/amateur filmmaker Bde skyid tshe ring (on youtube his name is often written as Dekyi Tsering, Ch: 德吉才让). These two famous performers appear in Rewa's advertisements, and even participate in some of their other projects. For this, they get (at the very least) the newest iPhones, and a seemingly endless supply of the newest Rewa clothing. Rewa's clothes combine a very modern design style with images and emblems of the Tibetan tradition. They are designed locally, but made at factories throughout "Inner China," and set at an intentionally high price point to generate the perception of being a luxury purchase. Interestingly, until this year, Rewa only made men's clothing. The reasoning behind this was that, contrary to Western culture, in Tibetan culture, men are the big spenders and generally control a majority of a family's funds. With 2015 have procured an American importer to sell Rewa clothing in the United States and added a children's line, and complemented this by sponsoring a music video on Dekyi Tsering's new (2014) album in which he sings with several children, all of whom sport clothing with the Rewa logo featured prominently on it. Talking with these two young, charismatic entrepreneurs, I wondered whether or not their example might point towards a new trend on the Tibetan Plateau, in which educated, socially-conscious entrepreneurs seek to give back to communities in a variety of ways. All in all, the young men of Rewa Clothing company might be onto a new model. At the very least, their work is making waves on the Tibetan Plateau. Their inventive advertising model has quickly been adopted by other Tibetan-owned companies, and they are also pioneering new forms of engagement between Tibetan-owned companies and local communities from which they come. With increased restrictions on Non-Government Organizations and their operations, socially conscious for-profit companies may be the next wave of social development in Tibetan areas of China, and the owners of Rewa hope to lead the way. *Mid-priced means that they are below the price of most name-brand imports, but much more expensive than the cheaper clothes available in shopping streets. **it's worth pointing out that I have taken liberties with the transcription, eliding over certain pauses for the sake of readability. I've also written some of the answers in an order different to their asking in the conversation.
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About TimAs you can see elsewhere on this webpage, I conduct research on ethnic minorities in western China. This blog offers semi-academic musings on the minutiae of daily life out here--the sort of information otherwise destined for footnotes. Categories |