While burying her grandmother's ashes at their family's ancestral pasture, Kunga Chogyi encountered a snow leopard -- an endangered species that Tibetan people regard as auspicious. She named it Drolma.

　　"I was so excited. I felt it was a sign of my grandmother's encouragement. That's when I made up my mind to carry forward this heritage."

　　INNOVATION TAKES FLIGHT

　　Initially, her work was limited to daily necessities like tents and herding slings. Sales were sluggish, and she was considering giving up when an unexpected trip to Sichuan Province in southwest China changed everything.

　　Living near the township government, she mastered Mandarin better than her peers at home. While accompanying a relative to Sichuan for medical treatment, she visited the Leshan Giant Buddha, a renowned scenic area in the province. There, she saw an elderly woman weaving and selling bracelets as cultural products.

　　"Seeing those patterns, I thought, I can do that too."

　　Kunga Chogyi began innovating, creating bowl covers, bracelets, jewelry boxes and earphone cases. She incorporated gemstones like turquoise, coral and dzi beads into her weaves, making them increasingly exquisite.

　　Her turning point came when she saved a tourist from north China's Tianjin Municipality who had fainted from altitude sickness at a gemstone market in Yushu, using her Tibetan medical knowledge in doing so. The grateful tourist became her friend and partner, helping her open an online store.

　　At its peak, the store processed orders worth 40,000 to 50,000 yuan per hour. Kunga Chogyi slept only four hours a day and hired two employees.

　　However, when the business cooled and her father passed away, the pressure of supporting her family as the eldest of three siblings became overwhelming.