Tibetan salt is an important carrier of cross-Himalayan economic interaction. There is a long history of salt and grain exchange between northern Tibetan herders and tribal residents of various countries in the Himalayas. It is said that during the period of the Zhangzhung tribal alliance, the Zhangzhung people began to trade gold, ore, salt, grain and livestock products with tribes and neighboring countries and regions in the south, especially salt and grain.

Salt and grain exchange is the main economic activity of northern Tibetan herders. For a long time, from collection, transportation to exchange, a Himalayan regional resource exchange system with local economic characteristics has been formed in history.

The cross-Himalayan salt and grain exchange traditionally engaged in by northern Tibetan herders is a typical case of the exchange system formed between two different ecological zones due to resource complementarity. Due to geographical barriers and natural resource limitations, people living in marginal areas often cannot live self-sufficiently, but maintain close resource exchange trade with surrounding areas. Both grain and salt are vital to residents living in plateau areas and are daily necessities for survival. On the one hand, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is high in terrain, with a cold climate, thin air, drought and little rain, and frequent natural disasters. It does not have the conditions for agricultural production, so it is vulnerable to food self-sufficiency. However, it has a large number of natural salt lakes and rich rock salt reserves. In addition, the herders in northern Tibet have a large number of livestock, so meat, dairy products, fur and other items are relatively abundant; on the other hand, the southern area of the Himalayas is mostly valleys below 4,000 meters above sea level. Thanks to irrigation, local residents can grow barley, wheat and potatoes, so there is a surplus of food, but a shortage of salt. It is the need for salt that has made the residents of the border area of Nepal highly dependent on the herders in northern Tibet.

The salt and grain exchange based on the cross-Himalayan region of the herders in northern Tibet is closely related to the basic life, economic exchanges and cultural interactions of the residents in the border areas of South Asian countries. This article intends to comb through the historical trajectory of cross-Himalayan salt-grain exchange of herders in northern Tibet from a regional perspective, based on historical documents in Chinese, Tibetan, English, Nepali and other languages, and combined with field data from field surveys in Tibeto-Burman communities in Kathmandu, Nepal from 2016 to 2024 and in Ngari Prefecture, Tibet from 2021 to 2023. It is believed that the salt-grain exchange presents the characteristics of periodicity of exchange time, morality of exchange relationship, and sacredness of exchange process, and has historical significance in meeting the needs of Himalayan residents for complementary survival resources, promoting the economic and trade development of the Himalayan region, and laying the foundation for the construction of a community of shared future for the surrounding areas.