Nature

Love story of the black-necked crane

With this tale of loss, narrated through a series of drawings, Tashi Sange explores people’s relationship with nature in the shifting climate of China’s far western plateau.

With this tale of loss, narrated through a series of drawings, Tashi Sange explores people’s relationship with nature in the shifting climate of China’s far western plateau.


Tashi Sange is a Buddhist khenpo (scholar) at Baiyu Monastery in Golog, Qinghai, and the founder and head of the Nianbaoyuze Environmental Protection Society. He has become a local legend in Qinghai for his efforts to protect – and to paint – the region’s birdlife. In this series of pictures, drawn especially forchinadialogue, he shares a folk tale about one of Tibet’s sacred birds, the black-necked crane.