As feminism is advocated at present, more and more female Tibetans have been playing roles in political and business circles, taking Tibet into the "age of women".

In the Chusum County of southeastern Tibet Autonomous Region's Lhoka Prefecture, Gontod Village, a beautiful Tibetan village located in the mountains. Though the remote location and lack of transportation become the barriers of the way out, various hand made knit goods produced by woman here have got out of the mountains and decorate many people's life.

Sonam Chodron, a 40-year old Tibetan woman, is the mainstay of the over 200 female weaving workers of the village, which is expanded from the four staff at the beginning.

During the past five years, the weaving factory of the village has been developed from four rooms of a small courtyard to two new workshops to be used, employing 237 women workers and earning over 400,000 yuan (over 65,000 US dollars).

"Why can't women earn money by their hands like men?" It is the belief that drives Sonam Chodron to run the factory by herself, and encourage more and more Tibetan women to follow her, combining their most familiar traditional handicrafts and modern trend.

Now this weaving factory of Gontod Village has become not only the indispensable source of income, but also the place where their spirit belonged. During a dozen working procedures including carding, twisting, weaving and dyeing, the female Tibetans have developed a complete pipeline to improve work efficiency, and have achieved their value in not only home, but also in society.

Now the capelets, Tibetan quilts and carpets they weaved are not the luxuries only the aristocracy could afford any more, but the life necessities of common Tibetan families, and the female weave workers who create these knit goods also don't need to serve for the upper class only, but improve their own livelihood. In the new age of women they also achieve greater social status and equality while inheriting traditional culture, which may lead to an entirely different world compared with their ancestries.

Photo shows that Sonam Chodron produces dyes for dyeing scarf by boiling walnut skins. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]

Photo show the weaving factory of Gontod Village run by a group of Tibetan women in Chusum County of southeastern Tibet Autonomous Region's Lhoka Prefecture [Photo/ China Tibet Online]