Community recalls a humble hero

Everyone who knew Gyumey Dorje seems to have a special story to share about him, their gratitude and respect for the man evident in each tale.

Gyumey, a Khampa Tibetan and a township chief in Dawu county in the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Garze, Sichuan province, was 33 when he died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage in May 2012.

In Lungden township of Dawu, where Gyumey was the township chief, Pontod and his wife still recall how Gyumey honored his promise of helping them move to a new home.

Both in their 70s, Pontod has difficulty walking and his wife Gata is blind with cataracts. They used to live in a worn-out old tent in the valley facing the township government.

When Gyumey was newly elected as the township chief in 2008, he came to visit them.

"It was a cold rainy day, and it was drizzling in our tent," Pontod recalls.

Gyumey pledged to do whatever he could to help them. Pontod was suspicious. He thought Gyumey's promise was just another "visiting show" from an official.

However, to his surprise, Gyumey honored his commitment by gradually raising enough money to build a typical Tibetan dwelling of stones and timber for the elderly couple near the township government, shortly before the Spring Festival in 2009.

"I am childless and Gyumey is like my son. No one has ever cared for me as much as he has," Pontod says.

The Lucun village in Wari township is a remote mountain village with a harsh natural environment. It is only accessible to the outside world through a narrow pathway, which is prone to geological disasters in the rainy season.

In order to build a new road for the villagers, Gyumey went to the local transport bureau many times to apply to register the project and tried his best to raise funds.

"He was still busy doing the project in his final days," says his colleague Wang Yong, Party secretary of Wari township.

According to Wang, Gyumey typically worked almost nonstop 16 hours a day, having meetings with villagers, visiting distant communities, and going to the county town to follow up on a project to equip local schools with solar water heaters.

"He didn't sleep a wink from early morning till very late at night until the day before he died," says Wang. Many of Guymey's friends and colleagues believe he worked himself to death.

Gyumey had been suffering serious hypertension for years. All his family could do was to remind him to take pills and get enough rest, says his father Palden, 66.

However, Gyumey, who was too devoted to work, didn't take it seriously and would continue working simply after taking some pain-killers.

A memorial ceremony for Guymey was held in a square in the county town after he died, and more than 1,000 people attended it to mourn the young man.