In winter, camels are the main tool for Darcy's travels.
The home of Daxi, a post-90s herdsman, is on the Hulunbuir Grassland in the northernmost part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It is bordered by Mongolia to the west and Russia to the north, and belongs to the border of China, Mongolia and Russia. The nearest city to Darcy's house is Hailar, more than 60 kilometers away, and he is almost in the pastoral area except for having to go to the city to run errands.
On the personal pasture of about 1200 acres, there are 3 yurts, two of which are the rooms of Darcy's parents and Darcy's husband and wife, and the other is used as a living room and kitchen, where they have three meals a day and receive relatives and friends. Darcy's profile on the Kuaishou platform is: "My family's grassland is very large, and the places that come out of the grassland are far away. ”
Darcy said that the "far away" here has two meanings, one is to have a sense of peace of mind when grazing on the grassland, and the other is the world outside the grassland in reality. Unlike the nine-to-five in the city, life on the prairie is relatively simple. Working at sunrise, resting at sunset, feeding lambs, making good food to receive guests, and handling the day's farm work in an orderly manner makes Darcy feel comfortable and free.
Unlike most post-90s young people who choose to go to the north, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen to see the world after graduation, in 2014, Darcy resolutely returned to his hometown after graduating from hohhot Nationalities College. On February 14, 2020, Darcy released the first short video through Kuaishou, beginning to record his herder life. Now, he has more than 2.7 million followers and has seen billions of videos. Short videos have also become a special way for this post-90s herdsman to connect to the "far away" world.
After Darcy's short video became popular, some fans asked him: "Do you think that life is very hard now?" Darcy said that he grew up in a pastoral area, his grandparents and parents are nomadic, he has long been accustomed to living in yurts all year round, surrounded by cattle, sheep and camels, "the outside city needs builders, but the inheritance of nomadic culture also needs manpower."
In the Hulunbuir Grassland in winter, the temperature can reach more than minus 40 degrees Celsius when it is the coldest. Last winter, in a video by Darcy, he recorded himself feeding cattle and sheep in the winter, and the raging snowstorm not only blocked the door of the yurt, but also dressed the cattle and sheep with thick "snow velvet" coats.
Many fans have sent private messages to Darcy, asking him to build a yard for cattle and sheep, and not to freeze cute animals. Recently, Darcy was preparing a yard for cattle and sheep to spend the winter. At the same time, he and his family repaired the yurt in advance, and the outer cloth of the original yurt was covered with a layer of felt. In this way, the following winter will be warmer.
In addition to cattle and sheep, the two dogs and camels are also close friends of Darcy. In the video of himself cooking outdoors and picking leek flowers shared by Darcy, the two dogs are always leisurely by Darcy's side. They are not only his pets, but also the "warriors" who guard the cattle and sheep. In the middle of the night in the grassland, it is very common for wild animals such as foxes and wolves to steal cattle and sheep, so almost every herder's family will keep a dog to reduce the loss of cattle and sheep.
In nomadic life, there is also a camel culture. In the past, nomads used camels to pull carts and put yurts on them as a means of transportation; today, the government divides individual grasslands, and herders no longer have to migrate widely, only moving in the front and back yards of personal pastures, but for Darcy, when the snow is raging, riding a motorcycle to see the free-range camel herd is not feasible, and camels are still an indispensable means of travel in winter.
Darcy's ancestors have been herders for generations, and every grassland and river in his hometown is a "parent", and herders rely on nature to live and protect nature, which has become the responsibility of every herder.
Not long ago, Darcy posted a video on the Kuaishou platform about using snow to boil dietary water, when a netizen pointed out in the comments that there were a few weeds in the snow blocks, Darcy replied: "All plants from nature are clean. At that moment, the trust and tenderness between the herders and nature were vividly displayed in this Mongolian strong man.
The government has drilled wells for every household in the area where Darcy's family is located, but the water is still very alkaline and cannot be used as drinking water, but can only be used to feed cattle and sheep. Therefore, the use of summer river water, winter snow water and ice water as water sources has long been a way for herders to obtain water.
Darcy said: "Usually, our water source mainly comes from the Hui River, where the water is flowing and very clean. "In a snowstorm, if water is needed, Darcy will go outside to collect snow, and then take it back to the yurt to defrost it with a stove, and a large piece of snow is a bucket of water to meet the amount of water used for a day.
Darcy's home is close to the road, and there are more vehicles going back and forth, so there will be some waste occasionally.
Every week, Darcy would take a day out and take his dog with him to pick up plastic bottles on the prairie.
Go out in the morning, go home in the evening, and drink a bag of milk tea at noon to fill your hunger. He feels that it is his responsibility to protect the grasslands and surrounding flora and fauna and water sources, "nothing special, just a garbage bag thing, friends who come to travel or travel, everyone can do it."
Darcy's father is the representative inheritor of two intangible cultural heritage projects in Hulunbuir City, "Mongolian Camel Racing" and "Mongolian Camel Making Technique".
In addition to learning the culture and living customs of the nomadic people, Darcy often learned to make cattle and horse harnesses with his father, while Darcy's wife Tao Tao learned to make Mongolian robes, hats and boots with female elders.
In Darcy's view, the purpose of his video is simple, to record his year-round life as a herder: learning intangible cultural heritage techniques, herding, grass farming, feeding cattle and sheep, and filming his and his friends' Wedding Scene in Buryatia... He said: "Every paragraph is a real life, something that has been handed down from generation to generation. ”
Now Darcy has become an "Internet celebrity" in the eyes of outsiders, and he and his wife Tao Tao have also begun to live stream goods.
He understands that the Internet has mixed reviews of his behavior.
But he insists that he is just a member of thousands of ordinary herders, and becoming an Internet celebrity is not the original intention, but since he has this identity, it is also natural to spread the culture, scenery and cuisine of his hometown.
He said that there is no difference between live streaming and traditional market stores, they are based on people's needs, and if someone wants to buy it, someone will sell it. The difference between them is online and offline; the same is that only by ensuring the quality of the supply can we gain the trust of more people and achieve longer-term development of business activities.
"The Inner Mongolian specialties we recommend are absolutely the same for everyone to see and receive."
Herders have a reverence for nature and will exchange them for nature's occasional gifts.
Darcy's simplicity and sincerity have also received the kindness of many fans. His Chinese character reading ability is not very good, but he will still click on the comments of fans to read one by one, and there are always things that deeply move him.
"For example, when I was live streaming, due to the slow reading speed, others asked questions, I could not answer quickly, at this time, some fans spontaneously answered questions for me." In those moments, Darcy was confident in passing on the nomadic culture.
Herder Darcy's daily life on the steppe.