Delamu documents the people living in the Nujiang River Valley, along the Tea Horse Road, an ancient trade route between China's Yunnan province and Tibet.

The title "Delamu" refers to the Tibetan word for "peaceful angel", and the name of one of the mules owned by a villager in the film.

As Tian travels with the caravan, he interviews people who have lived along the road for decades, including a priest who was thought to have disappeared during the Cultural Revolution, a 104-year-old woman, and a mule driver who owns the titular Delamu.

Though quiet and a far cry from either the insulated Springtime in a Small Town or the epic The Blue Kite, Tian's Delamu has nevertheless garnered both praise and some criticism.

[3] Another (admittedly a socialist critic) complained that Delamu despite its beauty, was a "National Geographic style travelogue [that] broke no new ground.