Routes Reborn

She makes the trip every day to work, much like the long queue of people that had already formed in the inspection hall behind her at 10 am in May 2025. 　

Nearby, customs officers inspected trucks loaded with containers and new energy vehicles as they slowly moved across the port’s China-Nepal Friendship Bridge toward Nepal. 　

Tamang works as a shop assistant in the border market on the Chinese side. But a decade earlier, getting to work would have been impossible. 　

An 8.1-magnitude earthquake rocked the area in April 2015. Both the bridge and port were severely damaged, cutting Tamang off from her livelihood. It took four years to rebuild the bridge, and another four to repair the port. During that time, Tamang returned to farming with her family, leaving her with no regular income. 　

With the reopening of Zhangmu Port in September 2023, Tamang was once again making a living in the same town where her cross-border story began. 　

The snow-capped Qinghai-Xizang Plateau stretches for more than 4,000 kilometers along China’s borders on the northern slopes of the Himalayas. For centuries, the region has served as an important gateway connecting Central China with South Asia. As early as the Tubo Kingdom (618-842), there was inter-regional trade with Nepal and India on routes through the towns of Gyirong and Zhangmu, crossing the Himalayas. These routes carried not only goods such as tea, salt and grain, but also the spirit of cultural exchange. 　

Today, these routes have evolved into a network of three international ports – Zhangmu, Gyirong and Burang – and one bilateral port, Lektse. In 2024, Xizang’s trade volume with Nepal reached 5.12 billion yuan (US$723m), an increase of 84.8 percent, accounting for more than 30 percent of total China-Nepal trade. 　

However, the area remains treacherous. Flash flooding on July 7 swept away another China-Nepal Friendship Bridge at Gyirong Port, also known as Rasuwa Bridge in Nepal, leaving at least nine dead and dozens missing. The port, which was the primary crossing for tourists, remains temporarily closed, with traffic being directed to Zhangmu. 

As a key point along the China-Nepal Highway, Zhangmu Port is only 120 kilometers from Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. Its advantageous location has made it an important border trade center in Xizang, earning it the nickname “Little Hong Kong of the Snowy Plateau.” This small town of just over 3,000 residents sees about 1,400 people come and go daily. Goods from across China meet those from Nepal and India here, creating a lively cross-border market. 　

Beyond its prosperity, Zhangmu looks like a “city in the sky” to Zhao Zhibin, a deputy captain at Zhangmu’s Nyalam Border Inspection Station. Buildings rise in tiers along winding mountain roads, stretching from the Friendship Bridge at an altitude of 1,700 meters up to the mountainside at 2,400 meters. Each morning, as mist rises, the entire town flickers like a mirage suspended mid-air. 　

Yet before the peaceful liberation of Xizang in 1950, this thriving port presented a starkly different picture. At that time, Zhangmu had only about 20 households. Locals made their living carrying goods on their backs for merchants year-round. They tied the goods tightly with a rope, fastened the load onto their backs, looped the rope over their heads for support and walked barefoot. The narrow, treacherous 30-kilometer trail from Zhangmu to Nyalam County was so dangerous that porters often collapsed and died on the way, earning it the grim nickname “the road to hell.” 　

“My grandmother was a porter back then,” said Gesang, a local youth standing on the China-Nepal Friendship Bridge. “She told me it took two days to make the trip. Now, thanks to the China-Nepal Highway, it takes just one hour by car to reach Nyalam.” 　

The 2015 earthquake dealt a devastating blow to the port. According to Zhao Zhibin, landslides blocked roads, buildings were destroyed, and port operations came to a complete stop. After eight years of reconstruction, Zhangmu Port fully resumed two-way personnel clearance on September 1, 2023. A newly built flood-control embankment now stands like a fortress guarding the valley, while an intelligent customs clearance system has accelerated inspections and cargo release, breathing new life into the revitalized port. 　

Goods from across China, like small home appliances from Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, footwear from Hebei Province, textiles from Yiwu, Zhejiang Province and new energy vehicles from Shandong Province, flow steadily through Zhangmu Port into South Asian markets. According to Nyalam Customs, from January to September 2025, the port handled 315,000 inbound and outbound travelers, with a daily peak of 2,737 people, and processed 66,000 metric tons of cross-border cargo valued at 2.12 billion yuan (US$299m). 　

Along the narrow mountain road from the port to Zhangmu town, shops selling Chinese goods line both sides, forming a vibrant free trade market. Tamang works in one of those Chinese shops. People like Tamang move among the stalls carrying bundles of clothing, daily necessities, snacks and beverages on their heads and shoulders. 　

Inside one of these shops, Tamang deftly arranges Chinese products on the shelves, from instant noodles and egg-yolk snack cakes to sausages. She told reporters that daily sales range from 1,000-2,000 yuan (US$141-282). 　

She earns 900 yuan (US$127) a month now, after getting a raise from 800 yuan (US$113) recently. Her income has greatly improved her family’s livelihood. She also takes advantage of the convenient customs clearance to bring Chinese products to Nepal. “Many Chinese goods are very popular in Nepal,” she said. 　

About 200 meters from the port, a new cross-border trade zone for residents along the border is under construction. This modern facility will offer a more standardized and convenient venue for traders from both sides. 　

At 6 pm, Tamang set off for Nepal with Chinese goods she purchased that day. The setting sun cast a golden glow over the China-Nepal Friendship Bridge as dozens of Nepalese border residents walked alongside her after a day’s work. 

On Gyirong’s increasingly lively streets, Nima Lama, a Nepalese entrepreneur, runs a handicraft store. Inside, intricately carved wooden sculptures, copperware and woolen products attract tourists to stop and browse. “My sister opened her shop here 13 years ago,” she said in fluent Tibetan. “Seeing her business thrive, I came to Gyirong to start my own four years ago.” During the busy summer months, her daily revenue reaches about 3,000 yuan (US$423). In 2025, her shop also moved into the newly established cross-border trade zone for residents at Gyirong Port, further boosting his business. She now regards Gyirong as his second home. “There are more opportunities here than in my hometown. I plan to settle here long-term,” he said. 　

Another Nepalese entrepreneur who has chosen to settle in Gyirong is Mima Cuomu. For more than a decade, her restaurant has served authentic Nepalese cuisine to travelers passing through the border town. In 2019, confident in the port’s growth prospects, she expanded her business by opening a clothing store and a specialty goods shop. Entrepreneurs like her have become vital links connecting the livelihoods and economies of China and Nepal. 　

Meanwhile, in supermarkets across Kathmandu, Chinese-made smartphones, home appliances and daily necessities occupy prominent shelf space. Kathmandu resident Ke Shao remarked, “Chinese products are highly favored by us for their excellent value and quality, bringing great convenience to our daily lives.” 　

According to Lhasa Customs, the number of registered foreign trade enterprises in Xizang had exceeded 1,200 by 2024, a year-on-year increase of 22.8 percent. More than one thousand enterprises from both inside and outside Xizang now conduct trade with South Asian countries through the region’s various ports. 　

Yang Yabo, director of the South Asia Institute at the Xizang Academy of Social Sciences, said: “Geographically proximate countries that engage in cross-border cooperation based on complementary resources can effectively promote mutual development.” 　

From border residents’ mutual trade to cultural and tourism exchanges, and from the flow of goods to cultural integration, these routes across mountains and rivers are quietly reshaping the development trajectories and daily lives of people in both countries, writing a new chapter in China-Nepal friendship.