Totem of the plateau

The Yak Museum of Tibet in Lhasa, founded by Wu Yuchu in 2014. [Photo by Wang Kaihao/China Daily]

"It was the yaks that saved my life," Wu recalls. The winter of 1977 made the yak a mesmerizing totem in the rest of his life.

Wu was a recent college graduate, who volunteered to work in Tibet. He and his colleagues were besieged by a blizzard on a mountain for five days without food.

"Neither the jeep nor the horse could cross the snow. We had 30 or 40 people, and I thought we were doomed."

Then, a rescue team arrived with a herd of yaks carrying food.

"Many of us couldn't help but cry while eating," he says.

He worked in Tibet for 16 years before moving to Beijing.

He believes his relationship with yaks is destiny.

In 2010, three years before Wu was supposed to retire from his position as head of Beijing Publishing Group, an accident changed his life.

"I had a dream in which I saw the word 'yak' and 'museum' both appear on the computer screen," he says.

"Well, I had to do something."

Wu resigned and returned to Tibet alone. He started his project from almost nothing.

Inspired by his passion, several old friends helped him raise funds, and four volunteers joined his work.