Located on the time-honored Barkhor Street in Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, the Tibetan-style Accordion Bakery is the "sweet" business of Tibetan man Pasang Tsering and his Han ethnic wife Man Xinwei from Guizhou Province.
Pasang Tsering was a choreographer when he met an accordionist Man Xinwei in 2006. After falling in love, Man quit her job in Beijing and came to marry him in Tibet. "Then we decided to do something 'sweet,'" said Pasang Tsering, with a smile.
He went to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, to learn baking. With the 300,000 yuan (about 47,040 U.S. dollars) he received from the army after his service ended, Pasang Tsering and his wife started their first bakery in a harvest season in 2009.
"I met my wife because of her accordion, so we named our bakery after that musical instrument," he said.
After the first years of struggling and trying, the bakery has gradually developed its own style, a mixture of Tibetan tradition and western cuisine. Highland barley, a traditional Tibetan food source, is the main ingredient of the desserts and dishes made in the bakery.
"Traditionally Tibetans didn't have bread," he said. "We eat tsamba, which is made of barley flour." He had eight mu (about 0.53 hectare) of land in his hometown, where they could harvest some 3,000 kilograms of highland barley.
He is not sure what will become of Accordion. In his own words, he likes uncertainty.
"It is better for a person to have more stories," he said. "Accordion is a very important story for me -- a story about love and dreams."
"This bakery gives travelers a glimpse of what a modern Tibetan's life can be like," said Pasang Tsering.
Hoping more people learn more about Tibetan culture, the couple has decorated all three of their bakeries with a collection of Tibetan artifacts.
Getting together because of music, the couple set up stages in their bakeries to eulogize Tibetan culture and their life story. Shows take place five days a week. Performers include their musician friends as well as those working at the bakeries.
