Trade along the Tibet-Nepal border has collapsed since Saturday's earthquake.[Special coverage]
Zham and Gyirong, the two passes connecting Tibet and Nepal, were the hardest hit parts of China. The Tibet Autonomous Region government has evacuated thousands from the border towns due to the risk of landslides.
Xu Yang, an official from the Zham border post, told Xinhua on Thursday that trade in Zham has ground to a complete halt. Just 120 km from Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, about 90 percent of trade between China and Nepal passes through Zham. China exports daily necessities, digital products, clothes and shoes to Nepal and imports handicrafts and Buddhist items.
Jia Dusheng, 53, originally from northwest China's Gansu Province, made his way to a resettlement site in Lhatse County, some 300 km away from Zham. He has run a grocery store in Zham for over ten years.
"People from Nepal were my main customers," Jia said. "I will definitely go back when it is safe. I can't just abandon everything I've accumulated over the past decade. Goods worth more than 300,000 yuan (48,000 U.S. dollars) are still locked in my warehouse there."
Border trade at Zham Pass was good. Imports and exports valued at 1.6 billion U.S. dollars passed through the town in 2014. Over 150 vehicles were typically registered at the pass every day before the earthquake. Streets in Zham were always filled with colorful trucks from Nepal, some of which had to wait all night for customs clearance.
Li Derong from central China runs a farm in Nepal. He takes vegetables and fruit to Zham to sell. "I took two or three tonnes of produce from Nepal to Zham every week and sold it very quickly," Li said.
Many people like Li, from all across China, have moved to the border town to do business in recent years. Li said Chinese and Nepalese business people got along very well. Cheerful slogans proclaiming friendship were commonly seen on trucks from Nepal.
"It's the selling season for my mangoes. Grapes will ripen in July. I can't sell them without Zham Pass," Li said.
Gyirong Pass is still cut off by landslides. Landslides have flattened the immigration office and customs on the Nepalese side. Chen Yi who works in the frontier station there told Xinhua that Internet and power are still unavailable.
Ma Wanmin opened a noodle bar near Gyirong Pass just a week before the earthquake. Business was very good.
"I will reopen my restaurant as soon as the road is clear," said Ma at a camp in Gyirong Town. "I believe business will pick up again very soon."
The earthquake and aftershocks have killed 25 in Tibet, with 4 still missing and 800 injured. More than 5,000 have been killed in Nepal.
This year is the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between China and Nepal.
Lhasa customs estimated Tibet's trade with Nepal exceeded 10 billion yuan from January to November in 2014, over 90 percent of Tibet's foreign trade. Nepal has been the largest trade partner of Tibet since 2006.
