People
It is believed that Wolong has been settled since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). During this period, it is estimated, approximately 100
people inhabited the area. Up to 1658 (Qing Dynasty 1616-1911 AD), the population was around 300. The earliest demographic record
shows that 393 households with a total population of 1,656 (827 males and 829 females) were living here in 1935.
------County Annals of Wenchuan
First, let's take a look at the temporal dynamics of the rural population in Wolong.
Note that the drop in 1949 may be due to different census methods or areas covered before and after that year,
when People's Republic of China was founded.
Since timber logging began in the 1960s, more and more people have moved in as non-farmers. They are loggers,
governmental officials, reserve staff, school teachers, restaurant managers, and their family members.
They are counted as urban population. Available data about them are limited, because there is no information
about their family members. The number of registered staff in the reserve was around 350 in 1979,
345 in 1987, and 419 in 1997.
However, our research focuses on the rural population and their activities,
such as fuelwood collection, agriculture, and tourism. Currently, there are two townships in the reserve.
Wolong Township has three villages with nine groups. Gengda Township
has seventeen groups in three villages. A small community is administratively called a group. A village is
a larger community but smaller than a township. Each rural resident is registered
with a specific group in a village.
Most of rural residents are registered as minorities, for example, Tibetan, and Qiang. The most recent
national census in 2000 shows that the percentage of minorities in the total population of Wolong Nature Reserve is 67.3%, while Han comprise 32.7%.
Farmers grow corn, potatoes, and carriots, as well as cabbage, which is a cash vegetable.
Much of the cropland is on steep slopes as shown in the photo below.
See below a picture of corn/cabbage cropland surrounding households in Laoyashan (meaning Mt. Crow),
a group in Gengda Village in Gengda Township.
Note that the building with red roof in the center of the photo is a small elementary school with
only the first 3 grades taught in the same room and by the same teacher. All students are from the households living on that slope.
The picture below shows all the students in Grade 2 sitting in the left-most side of the class in 2003.
Here is a closer look at people fertilizing their cabbage.
Besides agriculture, people also work on the construction of roads, houses, and hotels, mostly inside the reserve.
Many people are looking for jobs outside the reserve, especially after they converted a large portion of their cropland to
forests and bamboos through the Grain-To-Green Program (GTGP).
When tourism is prospering, people find jobs in hotels, restaurants, and souvenior shops.
Local residents use fuelwood to heat their houses in cold weather, cook food, and cook pig fodder,
as well as smoke-dry the pork to produce bacon.
It is estimated that a household consumes from 8 m3 to 30 m3 of fuelwood per year, depending on household size, cropland
acreage, presence of a senior family member, and other demographic and socioeconomic factors. Fuelwood is usually collected
by 10 to 20 people from several households working together.
You may see fuelwood piles near a house, on the roads, or next to forests.
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