Sangbu is a Tibetan postal truck driver of Ngari Postal Branch in Xizang.

Ngari prefecture in Xizang autonomous region is known as the “roof of the world’s roof.” Sangbu, the postal truck driver of Ngari Postal Branch, has been driving on the lonely mail route in this area for 26 years, covering a total of over 4.3 million kilometers. Sangbu joined the Ngari Postal Bureau in January 1998, engaging in mail transportation on the route between Ngari and Lhasa. At that time, there was no highway in Ngari, so the traffic there was extremely inconvenient. A single trip from Shiquanhe town of Ngari prefecture to Lhasa via the counties of Ge’gyai, Gerze and Coqen, spanning almost 2,000 kilometers, used to take four to five days to drive. “Back then, the dirt roads were bumpy with potholes. Often, halfway through the journey, the truck couldn’t proceed any further, forcing the drivers to find another route. We can hardly cover 20 kilometers in an hour,” said Sangbu. What’s worse, the average altitude of Ngari prefecture is more than 4,500 meters, and the lowest temperature in winter is minus 40 degrees Celsius or more.

One day in February 2013, Sangbu drove his mail truck to transport mail to Lhasa, when heavy snow struck the whole Ngari prefecture. As he approached Gerze county, the snowfall intensified, making it impossible for him to see the road ahead clearly. He had to stop and wait, which lasted for three days and three nights. On the early morning of the fourth day, soldiers of the advance company of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who rushed there for disaster relief found Sangbu and his mail truck. A soldier asked curiously, “The camp is only five kilometers ahead. Why didn’t you pull over by the roadside and took shelter at the camp?” Sangbu looked at the mail truck and replied, “If I had left, the mail on the truck would have been left unattended.”

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 broke out, and the transportation of supplies became crucial for epidemic prevention and control. Sangbu promptly signed up to join the emergency response team of the Party members to combat the epidemic. For three months, he drove his truck on the Ngari-Lhasa circular postal route, covering nearly 100,000 kilometers, and transported approximately 75 tonnes (about 3,500 items) of epidemic prevention materials.

Over his 26 years of career, Sangbu has witnessed the evolution of mail transportation in Ngari. He has always held fast to a belief: As long as he is there, the mail will be safe.