Fungus gold rush on Tibetan plateau

Yushu is only slowly recovering from the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck on 15 April. The government has identified caterpillar fungus collection as one of three core activities to rebuild the local economy Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk Most of the harvesting is done on spectacular hillsides like these Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk At high-altitude, the work is gruelling. Collectors spend twelve hours a day scouring the slopes for the slim, small stem-like protuberances that that stuck out of the earth Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk The earth remains damaged near the epicentre of the earthquake at Longbaozhen, one of the fungus harvesting areas Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk With increasing numbers of people joining the lucrative harvest, locals say some areas have been picked almost empty. This has resulted in violent conflicts over territory – occasionally fatal Photograph: Guardian Photograph: guardian.co.uk The long, slim fungus - known locally as Yartsa Gunbu (summer grass winter worm) - consumes its host, the ghost moth caterpillar, from inside out during the latter’s hibernation on the mountain grasslands Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk Tibetan Buddhist monks outside a refugee tent in Yushu market joke as they sell caterpillar fungus. The fungus, Cordyceps sinensis , is prescribed as a cure for cancer and ailments of the liver and kidney in traditional medicine Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk Along with the export of migrant workers and Tibetan mastiff breeding, it is a mainstay of family incomes Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk Local women, employed to clean the dirt off of the fungi, can earn 100 yuan per day - a better income than most Chinese factory labourers Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk A boy harvester show a freshly picked cordyceps. Depending on the size and quality, the fungi are sold here for 25 to 35 yuan each, or about 40,000 yuan per kilogram Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk At the end of the retail chain in the big cities of Asia, rich consumers pay up to 360,000 yuan per kilogram for the best fungus – which is more than is paid for gold Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk