Rice, Wine, Grapes, and Land in Shangri-La: The Politics of Land and Water Loss in a Catholic Tibetan Village

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes agricultural pathways and the impacts of land requisition from dam construction in a Catholic community in Tibetan Southwest China. Cizhong Village is unique for its Catholic religion and unique agroecology of growing paddy rice and grapes for household winemaking, one of the very few ethnic Tibetan communities to do so. This unique agriculture is due to the community being located at the boundary between two larger culinary/agricultural spheres, rice boiling, and wheat grinding peoples. The situation has changed with a construction of a large dam, which caused another community to be moved on top of the village’s paddy fields. In the context of this issue on food politics, the paper also highlights the ways in which new global forces related to infrastructure (dam building), are disabling unique interfacing forms of self-sufficient food production, leading to emotional responses among rural farming communities.