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By Liu Jun (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-23 10:05

The documentary records disappearing traditions in Tibet, such as the bull race in spring.

When the documentary was aired, Jianzang apologized for his "short-sightedness".

"You've opened the door to the golden treasury for me - hordes of tourists have come to my hotel holding your book."

Reading Sun's book is enjoyable as she gracefully (in English) and passionately (in Chinese) analyzes what she sees in reality and learns in others' records of Tibet.

Tseten, a village shaman, sits at the core of rural Tibetan life. Farmers from far and wide stream to his home for rituals to drive away evil spirits that are deemed responsible for everything from toothaches to lost dogs.

Sun discovered that inadequate medical services, besides traditional beliefs, also contributed to Tseten's power. The Tangmad township, where she filmed Tseten, has only one doctor serving several thousand people.

Dr Lhamo, who has only two years of medical training, trembles when she hears a knock on the door at night. Most local women won't go to her clinic until the last moment while in labor, because of a belief that giving birth is filthy.

Sun tried to capture the image of a smiling mother and a crying healthy newborn, and succeeded only on her fifth attempt - the other four had all ended in stillbirths.

A fascinating aspect of Tseten's family is that he and his two older brothers share one wife, Yangdron. Sun learned that polyandry still prevails in rural Tibet as it keeps the land and other farm wealth within one family. But she wanted to ask the woman and her husbands what they thought about their married life.

Tseten simply said Yangdron was "OK". So Sun walked out of the family's prayer room and into the kitchen to ask Dondan, who does all the heavy farm work.

"We are very close. She's a wonderful wife," Dondan replied, smiling.

"My jaw dropped, their answers were so different," Sun says, adding that the existence of polyandry shows the government allows Tibetans to maintain social customs that suit their lives.

The story took another turn when Sun discovered that Tseten's father Mila is the brother of Jianzang's mother, Mola.

Mila and Mola were both revered religious figures who were driven out of the monastery and nunnery in the late 1950s before the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) swept across the whole nation. Still, they held on to their faith, trying to pass on their knowledge to any interested children.

Sun says the stories in A Year in Tibet touch upon many aspects of Tibetan life. The challenges confronting Lhakpa and others struggling at the bottom of society; the religious freedom as shown in people's respect for Tseten and other shamans; the social development that has benefited smart men like Jianzang and the difficulties faced by people such as Dr Lhamo.

"I am no politician, I don't praise or criticize. I try to record and present Tibet as it is and let the audiences reach their own conclusions," says Sun.

A Year in Tibet will soon be aired on Phoenix TV. The Chinese book of the same title has just been published by the Beijing October Arts &Literature Publishing House.

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