Warm sunshine filled a Tibetan-style villa in Gyagan Village, Damxung County. Rohm, a woman aged over 50, sat in the spacious yard, waiting for her daughter-in-law to drive the yaks back from the meadow while twisting the wool, reported by the News and Newspaper Summary of the Voice of China. “My daughter-in-law grazes yaks and my son does tourism business in Namtso. The government helped us build this house. In the past, we had no fixed abode, but now, we enjoy a good and prosperous life,” said Rohm.

Damxung County features a harsh climate. Previously, herders mostly lived in tents with poor living conditions. Later, the government implemented the settlement project for nomads, helping them build Tibetan-style villas, forming unique Tibetan villages on the plateau. Tseten Drolkar, Director of the Settlement Office of Damxung County, said: “We respect the people's wishes. If they are willing, we provide a subsidy ranging from 35,000 to 160,000 Yuan to improve their living conditions in combination with the building of new countryside.”

A herder called Dawa Dorje also built a two- storied Tibetan-style villa in Choden Village. He also runs a Tsampa Mill and a small shop in his yard. “Every household in our village has got the subsidy of the settlement project. With the house standard rising year by year, the houses built become better and better. After settling in good houses, we have a better life in all aspects. We can buy what we need on the market at any time. We also grow vegetables well in the sheds we put up. The vegetables are enough for ourselves and we can also sell the surplus on the market,” he said.

Jamyang, the first secretary of the Party Branch of Choden Village, said: “The settlement project for nomads has not only changed their lifestyle of migrating to wherever water and grass are available but also increased their sources of income. After settling down, they learn skills, engage in sidelines to increase incomes, form construction teams, go in for tourism, run herders’ hotels and shops, and rent houses. With more sources of income, they have earned much more money. Several households in our village have run sand field and yak wool and cashmere processing cooperatives. There are more and more ways to increase incomes."

The settlement project for nomads focusing on “settled housing, stalls, storage shed and solar drinking water wells for both people and animals " has solved the settlement problem for 65,000 Tibetan households, totaling some 420,000 people, in the past decade. According to Dronyong, Chief of the Accounting and Finance Section of the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Department of Tibet Autonomous Region, after settling down, the herders changed their life of keeping stock in light of weather. If the weather helped, they would have a harvest, but if the weather were bad, they would have a poor harvest. Their moderately concentrated settlement made it possible to build collective health care centers, schools and traffic facilities. Herders now can enjoy the fruits of our country’s reform and opening up and normal medical treatment, cultural life and children’s education.