Feature: county celebrity Suolang

　　BEIJING, Oct.8 (Xinhuanet) -- After one year of hard work and finishing the autumn harvest, farmers and herders in Tibet are now busy furnishing their houses. They are doing whatever they can to make their homes warm and cozy for long and cold winter.

　　Now is also the busiest season for Suolang Wangdui, 49, a blacksmith living in Xialuo Village, Qusum County, Shannan Prefecture, southeastern Tibet. Everyday he leaves home before dawn, and returns after dusk.

　　Suolang works on Tibetan-style decorative cornices. (Photo: chinatibetnews.com)

　　"People are lining up at my door, and I‘ve been busy from morning till night these days," said Suolang.

　　Suolang wears a felt hat, his face dark and his back slightly hunched. But this blacksmith is a celebrity known far and wide in Qusum County.

　　How famous is he? There is a saying in the county that goes like this: you may not necessarily know the county magistrate, but you must know Suolang.

　　Photo shows the newly built house of Suolang. (Photo: chinatibetnews.com)

　　What makes Suolang so famous is his superb skill and craftsmanship. In the whole blacksmith business in Qusum County, only one man‘s craftwork can match Suolang‘s. But Suolang enjoys a greater fame, which, according to the townspeople, is attributed to his wide range of knowledge and the way he serves other people.

　　Tibetan-style buckets, farm machines, basins, decorative cornices … all those are Suolang‘s long suits. But the product of which he is most proud is Tibetan-style furnace. He is able to devise different ingenious designs according to different types of furnace fuels, such as firewood and cattle dung. He has three patent designs, and can sell an average of 100 furnaces a year. Sometimes the buyers have to book in advance for his products.

　　On the strength of his excellent skills, Suolang Wangdui has become a rich man in the village. But in his eyes, having money dosen‘t mean having everything. To his fellow villagers he always charges less, earning him a heap of praise.

　　A glimpse of Xialuo Village, Qusum County, Shannan Prefecture, southeastern Tibet. (Photo: chinatibetnews.com)

　　According to Suolang, , blacksmiths were looked down upon in old Tibet. "Nobody would like to share water from the same cup with a blacksmith, let alone make friends with him".

　　But now, Suolang said proudly that he is much respected. People would treat him with the best food they can offer. He has a lot of friends as well.

　　In Suolang‘s living room there are portraits of top Chinese leaders of three generations. Pointing at the portraits, he said, "Those are our benefactors. Without the Communist Party of China, we Tibetans wouldn‘t have been able to lead such a happy life as today!"