Tibetan children enjoy 'golden worm' holiday

Song Ba Jiang Cuo, principal of a local boarding school, and his two sons head for the meadow in search of cordyceps. [Photo provided to China Daily]

From early May to late June all schools in Yushu prefecture, Northwest China’s Qinghai province, give a special “cordyceps vacation” so that teachers and students can join in the picking of cordyceps, a worm-like fungus regarded as a valuable herb by the Chinese. A Tibetan family, including a grandfather, parents and their two sons, share harvest season with us.