A man from Biratnagar in southeastern Nepal can marry a woman from Beijing in China, just as a man from Kunming in China can marry a woman from Kathmandu in Nepal. Beijing does not appear to have a problem with long-distance cross-border marriages.

However, cross-border marriages between people who live in the China-Nepal border area, live within walking distance of each other, and have strong language and cultural ties are banned. Beijing has not made any statement regarding this policy.

During my recent hike to the village of Olangchung Gola in the Taplejung district in Nepal’s far east, which borders Nepal’s neighbors China and India, I discovered that cross-border marriages, once the norm in Olangchung Gola, are now rare.

In Olangchung Gola, a Himalayan village of 55 households, I met Chumbe Sherpa, an old Nepali man with four wives. His first wife, with whom he eloped in 1962, was Tibetan.

Chumbe Sherpa’s first wife was from Tibet. Birat Anupam’s photo.

However, nowadays a Nepali in the border regions cannot marry a Tibetan. Nepali men will no longer be the grooms of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

“Cross-border marriage was not a problem until 2008,” a Nepali living in Olangchung Gola told The Diplomat. “It was stopped by China after 2012.”

According to Chumbe Sherpa, former vice-chairman of the Old Olangchung Gola Village Development Committee (local government), Tibetan women were previously attracted to Nepal because it was relatively well developed and was a source of food and other materials. Therefore, marriage to a Nepali man was an attractive option.

However, in recent years, China has developed the Tibetan region, and the Tibetan border areas are more developed than those in Nepal. The situation has turned and goods now flow into Nepal from Riu in Dinggye District of TAR. Almost all of the daily essentials used by the residents of Olangchung Gola are in TAR and sports Mandarin characters. Olanchung Gola is closer to Riu market than Phungling market, the district headquarters of Taplejung.

Even meeting relatives on the Chinese side of the China-Nepal border has become more difficult after the epidemic. Chhilamo Lama, whose mother’s house is on the Chinese side, said, “We cannot go to the houses of our relatives on the other side,” and pointed out that she had to “stay in a quarantine-like house with her relatives.” come to meet and greet him.” “This wasn’t the case in the past,” he said.

In Olangchung Gola, I saw people doing cross-border trade with China, about 25 kilometers away.

In addition to local people, security personnel also view the Chinese positively. Madhab Khatri, the Nepal Armed Police Force’s recently appointed Border Patrol chief, said: “Chinese counterparts often ask if we need anything from them.”

“We mostly go to Riu to sell our products and buy theirs. “If we cannot sell all our products in the Riu market, Chinese police will buy our unsold items,” Chhilamo Lama told The Diplomat.

Chheten Sherpa, local leader of Nepali Congress and former local government member, said the Chinese are helpful and keen to have better road connectivity with Nepal. Bulldozers sent by China and oil tankers with Chinese license plates are seen in Olangchung Gola market.

People on both sides of the China-Nepal border share Buddhist cultural heritage and language ties. Yet cross-border marriage no longer exists. Marriages in the border areas, which have been going on for centuries, have been stopped thanks to the Chinese side.

However, Chinese leaders noted the strong ties, including marital ties, between the people of the two countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote in a signed article ahead of his visit to Nepal in 2019. noted“During China’s Tang Dynasty (618-907), Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal was married to King Songtsen Gampo of Tibet; the Chinese monk Huen Tsang visited Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, and left many valuable written accounts of his pilgrimage .”

Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai said, “The Himalayas rising between our two countries have not prevented friendly contacts between our two peoples.” Kathmandu Public Reception During his visit to Nepal in April 1960.

Cross-border movement of people and goods, which was stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic, has recently been restarted. on May 25 Nepal and China reopened 14 traditional border crossings, including Olangchung Gola, in the presence of senior leaders, including Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha and China’s Tibet Autonomous Region Vice President Silang Nima.

When border trade and crossings resume, why are traditional border marriages prevented? Why are marriages between people who have to travel long distances across the Himalayas allowed, while those who live within walking distance of each other are forbidden?

Beijing did not explain its strange policy.