New Tales in Old Courtyards

Concerted Effort for a Better Life

A day in the Barkhor Old Corner Restaurant starts at six o’clock in the morning. Kettles steam on stoves and chefs and waiters and waitresses come in one after another. They soon get down to work after brief greetings.

The restaurant is located in Langmomo Courtyard opposite Rongzha Courtyard. First guests, most of which are residents of the neighborhood, usually drop by the restaurant at half past six. Some are businessmen, and some are senior citizens who usually get up early to take a stroll along the Barkhor Street.

The restaurant looks much the same as any of its peers in the city. Nevertheless, several characters on its signage show a difference – it is one of the projects that have been launched since 2013 to increase locals’ income. Every five to 10 adjacent households formed a group and participated in the project as a whole.

Given the location of the Barkhor Street, the community mobilized locals to set up a Tibetan-style restaurant as a means of increasing income. In November 2014, the Barkhor Old Corner Restaurant opened with capital totaling RMB 223,000, part of which was from a government fund for people’s welfare and the rest were raised by the community.

The two-story restaurant covers an area of 220 square meters. The interior decor is in authentic Tibetan style, providing a pleasant environment for dining.

According to Qiangdan, the person in charge, he and head chefs work full-time in the restaurant whereas other positions are taken by 10 out of 99 households in turns every month. All of them not only get paid monthly, but also receive dividends at the year’s end.

Norbu Wangdu, 53 years old, is a representative of the community he lives. According to the rotation schedule, his working days in the restaurant usually amount to more than one month each year. Cooking Tibetan noodle is his main duty. His monthly salary has grown from RMB 2,000 in 2016 to RMB 3,000 in 2017. The days of being off duty are not paid but a year-end bonus is guaranteed.

The restaurant has been doing healthy business thanks to a ceaseless flow of visitors to the Barkhor Street. Qiangdan expressed his confidence for the future: “Local government has given the go-ahead to our plan of setting up a chain restaurant in another old courtyard,” he continued. “The success in management and profit won us good reputation. Increasingly more people are looking forward to taking part in this undertaking.”