Rescuing nomadic art from the edge

'Backward energy'

One of the places Meng works is Habahe county, less than 20 kilometers from the Kazakhstan border. It has six or seven border checkpoints and a dozen summer and winter pastures.

In the 1980s, Habahe had a leather factory, and nearly every family knew how to work with hides. When the factory closed, the craft gradually faded.

In 2021, Meng launched a model that combines cultural heritage, natural ecology and community, an approach shaped by her years as a wildlife conservation volunteer.

"This framework gives us what I call 'backward energy'," she explains. "We're always told to move forward — to embrace AI, follow trends, compete for markets. But when you stop and look back, there's so much more to discover. We don't have to rush ahead. Sometimes we can draw strength from the past before moving forward again."

Her team works where the craft already has roots, bringing better tools, training anyone interested, and helping connect their products with the market.

Meng and her colleagues drive from house to house with tools and leather for training. In winter, when snow blocks the roads, she stays with herder families for up to two weeks at a time.

"You can't expect them to sit for eight hours straight," she says. "They have sheep to tend, hay to stack, and children to feed. So we work around their daily lives."

Over 700 people have been trained across the region — herders, retired border patrol guards, and increasingly, women. More than 1,000 households have seen their incomes rise. In Habahe and Ili, each participant earns an extra 30,000 to 40,000 yuan a year.

Alzugul, the homemaker from Shule county, was one of Meng's students.

"She was always patient and encouraging. She never got angry," Alzugul says of Meng.

Now she can make a leather bag from start to finish, from tracing the pattern onto the hide to cutting and stamping it herself.

"Next month I'll make something different," she says.