Traditional Tibetan silver jewellery beautiful but rare

(5 Feb 2012)
Shang Si Zhai Valley, Sichuan province - 16 October, 2011
1. Close up of silver jewelry on wrist of woman
2. Woman's hand washing potatoes
3. Man Ta and Zhuo Ma washing potatoes
4. Zhuo Ma, tilt down to detail of adorned hands and arms cleaning potatoes
5. Silver accessory piece on woman's back, tilt up
6. Close up of jewelry adornments on table
7. Man Ta counting silver discs on belt
8. Detail of silver belt
9. SOUNDBITE (Tibetan) Man Ta, Tibetan woman :
"Why do we wear such beautiful clothing and apparels? Because we are very proud of our culture. We think that our clothing and jewelry are the best, the most beautiful. So we wear this in order to tell people, 'I am a Tibetan', that we are proud of our culture. That we have a very traditional culture, that has given us so beautiful clothing and jewelry. So proud that we are."
10. Close up of silver filament being hammered
11. Mid of silversmith Dorje Zhu working with hammer on silver filament
12. Close up of Dorje Zhu's face
13. Pull focus from silversmith to detail of flower
14. SOUNDBITE (Tibetan) Dorje Zhu, Silversmith :
"There used to be a silversmith master before, but now he passed away. He used to be my teacher. I learned the skills from him. And I went to Qinghai to stay there for a while and learn from the people who make the silver. So in Jiuzhaigou, right now, I am the only one that is able to craftsman the silver in the traditional way."
15. Close up of silver filament
16. Close up of hands cutting silver
17. Close up of hammer working on silver filament
18. Work station, tilt up to mid of silversmith working
19. Various of his hands shaping the ring
20. Wide of mountainous landscape
21. Wide of Tibetan traditional house
22. Tibetans in courtyard, pull out to wide of valley
23. SOUNDBITE (Tibetan) Dorje Zhu, Silversmith :
"I learned this, which is a specific skill in Tibet - very special. After learning it, there were some outsiders that came bringing the machines to make the same work that we do manually. They can make nicer products than the ones made by hand. Also, handwork is slow, while the machines can work much faster. So in the recent years I felt uncomfortable in my heart, so I stopped doing it for a while."
24. Flowers, pan to mid of silversmith working
25. Various of his hands working on ring
26. Wide of silversmith throwing object into bucket
27. Various of silversmith washing silver ring
Jiuzhaigou National Park, Sichuan province - 18 October, 2011
28. Close up of waterfall
29. Waterfall, pan to tourists
30. Wide of tourists walking by waterfall
Songpan county, Sichuan province - 19 October, 2011
31. Various of crowds of tourists at national park entrance
32. Mountains, tilt down to souvenir stand
33. Close up of souvenirs
34. Tourists checking silver-like souvenirs
35. Souvenir seller's hands holding necklaces, tilt up to mid of vendor, UPSOUND (Mandarin) Unidentified street vendor:
"It's Tibetan silver. We dig it ourselves from high altitudes."
Reporter's Question:
"How much does it cost ?"
UPSOUND (Mandarin) Unidentified street vendor:
"Three of them are 20 yuan (3.15 US dollars). If you buy them in the shops, you will get only one for 20 yuan."
36. Various of street vendor offering souvenir necklaces to tourists
37. Pull focus from tree to Tibetan-style jewellery
38. Wide of souvenir market
39. Close up of Tibetan silver-like bracelets
40. Mid of tourist looking at souvenirs
41. Money exchanging over souvenirs
42. Wide of restaurant, pan to fine Tibetan jewellery display
43. Various of Tibetan-style necklace, with stones and silver decoration

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