China's Picturesque Tibet Autonomous Region: News & Images

[TaiShang]

Indian reporter at Xigaze

A fair assessment. Kudos to the reporter!

 

[cirr]

So Nyingchi is likely to follow the footsteps of Xigaze and become Tibet's 4th prefecture-level city when the Lhasa-Nyingchi rail is completed in about 7 years？

 

[TaiShang]

Tibet receives record number of air passengers in 2014
Source: Xinhua; Published: 2015-1-7 11:16:25

Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China saw a record 3.15 million air passengers in 2014, up 14 percent from the previous year, according to regional civil aviation authorities on Wednesday.

Tibet opened nine new air routes last year, bringing its total to 48 and the number of cities linked with Tibet to 33.

The five airports in Tibet handled more than 30,000 flight landing and take-offs as well as cargo throughput of 25,000 tons.

"In the past, it took me more than 40 hours to travel home by train," said Liu Yang, a taxi driver in the regional capital of Lhasa, who hails from Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province.

"Thanks to a new air route in 2014, the trip is now a mere four hours," said Liu.

The booming tourism industry and trade communication activities contributed to the rapid development of Tibet's civil aviation, said He Gang, an assistant researcher with the Tibet Regional Academy of Social Sciences.

Tibet saw more than 15 million tourists in 2014, up 20 percent from the previous year.

A number of trade fairs, entertainment and sports events were held in the region last year, which attracted more tourists and potential investors to the plateau region.

Currently, there are five airports in Tibet, one based in Lhasa, and other four in Shigatze, Chamdo, Nyingchi and Ngari Prefectures.

 

[TaiShang]

Tibet's mineral water to be new regional growth pillar
Source:Xinhua Published: 2015-1-20

China's Tibet Autonomous Region, in southwest China, has identified its fresh water resources as a new sustainable economic growth pillar, which has the potential to support efforts to reduce poverty and boost industrial development in the region.

Positioned on the world's highest plateau, Tibet is often called Asia's Water Tower, and many of the world's greatest rivers flow out of the Tibetan Plateau. Unlike the rest of the country, which is struggling with water shortages and deteriorating water environment, Tibet boasts a pristine environment and has a large repository of freshwater.

Sources at an ongoing annual regional people's congress session said the region had explored 28 mineral water springs and had reported 190 million tonnes of water reserves.

Speaking at the opening of the congress on Sunday, Losang Jamcan, chairman of Tibet's regional government, said Tibet produced 300,000 tonnes of bottled water in 2014, and the sector was an important driver of economic growth.

He pointed out that to fully exploit its potential, Tibet needed brand-driven strategies to prompt further growth in the sector.

Investment, mainly from the central government, has long supported growth in Tibet.

The region aims to maintain 2014's growth rate of 12 percent this year, while striking a balance between economic development and environmental protection. As a result, the mineral water industry has been singled out as a suitable sector to boost the local economy.

Deputy director of Tibet's industry and information technology bureau, Qiu Chuan, said transportation infrastructure projects and strong market demand for high-quality mineral water had upped investors' confidence in Tibet's mineral water industry.

So far, the region has 30 mineral water production lines with a combined production capacity of 2 million tonnes a year.

Leading bottled water producers, including Nongfu Spring and Bright Food Group, have signed 16 cooperative agreements with the regional government on mineral water development, promising investment of 3.6 billion yuan (5.79 million US dollars).

The regional government aims to boost the industry value to 40 billion yuan by 2019.

 

[Gufi]

care should be taken to maintain a balance between making money and protecting the environment there should be a strict check on the amount of water extracted.

 

[TaiShang]

care should be taken to maintain a balance between making money and protecting the environment there should be a strict check on the amount of water extracted.

Yeah, that's the objective there. China will utilize its natural resources in the best way possible.

 

[definitelynotIndian]

China stealing other country's Natural riches....thieves.

Tibet is part of China now although I have always opposed bottled water as it damages environment way too much.

 

[TaiShang]

Tibet is part of China now although I have always opposed bottled water as it damages environment way too much.

China will do whatever best suits its own interests. Bottled water is pretty much a lifestyle. Especially in large cities. Here you can even buy water bottled in Canada, Austria or Italy.

 

[definitelynotIndian]

China will do whatever best suits its own interests. Bottled water is pretty much a lifestyle. Especially in large cities. Here you can even buy water bottled in Canada, Austria or Italy.

people should avoid bottled water as much as they can.

 

[Keel]

Clean, religious, cultural and beautiful Xizang (Tibet)

 

[cirr]

Construction begins on Chengdu-Ya'an section of Sichuan-Tibet railway

English.news.cn 2014-12-06

BEIJING, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Work began on the rail line from Chengdu, capital of southwest Sichuan Province to Ya'an, a city in the province on Saturday.

The 42-km Chengdu-Ya'an section is an important part of the Sichuan-Tibet railway, and will have a journey time of about eight hours from Chengdu to Lhasa, capitals of Sichuan the Tibet .

Transport is a bottleneck for tourism in Tibet and currently, there is no direct railway service between the two cities. After completion, the Sichuan-Tibet railway will connect with the Qinghai-Tibet railway.

Construction begins on Chengdu-Ya'an section of Sichuan-Tibet railway - Xinhua | English.news.cn


Sichuan-Tibet railway

The length of the existing Qinghai-Tibet railway is 1956 KM; even the shortest train ride from departure city of Xining takes 24 hours to reach Lhasa. Although now China has several Lhasa-bound trains from big cities, like Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Chongqing and etc, yet they all takes more than 40 hours. This pace, however, obviously cannot meet the high-speed development of China--this new economic and political power. So, to build a new railway of shorter distance and higher speed is of great importance.

Against this background, Chengdu, as the biggest city in southwest China as well as a traditional harbor city for commodities and people to enter Tibet, comes into people's view. And now, people have three options to reach Lhasa from Chengdu: flight from Chengdu to Lhasa taking 2 hours; overland journey by National Highway of No 318 taking three days at least; Chengdu-Lhasa train via Qinghai-Tibet railway taking 44 hours, and it only departs every other day, difficult to buy train tickets. However, flight is too expensive though short, overland is too long though beautiful, Qinghai-Tibet railway is too difficult though appears fine.

So, to build a direct railway from Chengdu to Lhasa (Sichuan—Tibet Railway), is very necessary and significant.

The proposed Sichuan-Tibet railway will span 1,629 km, 650 km of which will be in Sichuan province. It is said that, trains will be designed to travel at a maximum speed of 200 km per hour and will take only eight hours to reach Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The railway is expected to be completed in 8 years with an investment of about 54 billion RMB ($US 7.9 billion). But so far, there has been no clear report concerning when will the Chinese government start to build the rail. There was report that the rail had been started from September, 2009, but soon the news was denied by the government.

Compared with building Qinghai-Tibet railway, it is more challengeable to build Sichuan-Tibet Railway, because the landforms across Sichuan and Tibet are more complicated and dangerous than that in northern Tibet where mainly vast flat grasslands are located. The construction of Sichuan-Tibet railway will not only confront the similar problems of permafrost, altitude sickness, environment protection, animal immigration, but also problems of mudslides, underground rivers, earthquakes, terrestrial heat and etc, many more tunnels and bridges have to be used.

No matter how difficult it is, based on China's rich railway construction experience and stable GDP growth, the proposed Sichuan-Tibet railway will start building in near future. On the other hand, construction of the Sichuan-Tibet railway will help propel economic and tourism development along the line too. Eighty-two counties and districts along the line in Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet boast snow-capped mountains, grasslands, and Tibetan and Buddhist cultures.

The Hengduan Mountains near the line have an abundance of natural resources, including water, vegetation and minerals. The Yulong Copper Mine near the mountain in Tibet has a proven reserve of 6.5 million tons of copper, first among the country's copper mines.

The railway is also designed to open up China's gateway to south Asia for bilateral economic and trade cooperation via land. Presently, Yadong (or Yatung) and Zhangmu connect Tibet with India and Nepal. The Sichuan-Tibet Railway will also open land passages from Central, East and South China to south Asia.

Sichuan-Tibet railway - - Chengdu to Lhasa

 

[Tresbon]

There stands a catholic church in Mangkang County, Tibet autonomous region, where Catholicism and Buddhism coexist peacefully. Sometimes people with different religion come from same family.

 

[Tractor]

Eight hours means tunnels and tunnels and so the passengers will miss so beautiful sceneries.

 

[cirr]

China Begins Railway Construction Towards Disputed Indian Border

21.01.2015

The plan was previously announced as part of China’s current Five Year Plan, but the main Chinese media officials did not announce the implementation of the project. On December 19, the China Railway Corporation informed a local Tibetan newspaper that the construction was started “recently.”

Tibet People’s Daily said the railway from Lhasa to Nyingtri would boost local economic and social development and that “it has important significance in the unification of nationalities.”.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh is part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). Experts say this project is doomed to raise Indian security concerns.

A Professor of political science at Indiana University, Sumit Ganguly has concerns about the intentions of the new railway construction.

“While the Chinese claim as much as they want that this is being built purely for economic and commercial purposes, the trains don’t care about whether or not military personnel ride them or civilians ride them,” he says. “They very easily could be utilized to transport troops, particularly since Arunachal Pradesh, at least in the eyes of Chinese, is a disputed territory.”

According to China’s strategic railway map, the future railway lines will run through the entire south-western border areas of Tibet. Last August, the western most city of TAR, Shigatse, was connected by the railway. The new construction will make Shigatse a hub for railway lines that will stretch to the borders of India, Nepal, and Bhutan and connect with Xinjiang (via Mt. Kailash region).

The Co-chair of the Institute of Chinese Studies in New Delhi, Manoranjam Mohanty, says the military strategy of the new railway is an “obvious” one. He says India has also made plans to build more military bases in Arunachal and other border areas.

“Particularly in Arunachal, infrastructure building has been rather slow. It is going on at the Indian side, but it is rather slow,” he tells VOA Tibetan Service.

India and China fought over the territory in 1962, leading to a humiliating defeat for India. But Mohanty says India today is far stronger than in 1962. Both sides are wary of starting another war.

Professor Ganguly believes India’s infrastructure capability in the region is no match with China. India currently has no railway lines connected to the Arunachal Pradesh.

“India’s record of building roads – even in that area – is rather poor, and the border road organizations are run poorly,” Ganguly says.

Chinese officials predict engineering difficulties during the Lhasa-Nyingtri railway construction. The construction will proceed through the Brahmaputra valley, which is known for deep faults, active tectonic plates, and “7.5 earthquake capacity” according to China Tibet, a Chinese newspaper, in January 2014.

The Lhasa-Nyingtri railway line will start from Shelrong, an existing railway station on the Lhasa-Shegatse railway line, located at 51 kilometers from Lhasa City. The 401 kilometer railway will go through seven counties in TAR before it reaches Nyingtri. This segment of the railway will link Tibetan areas in Sichuan and Yunnan that border with Burma.

China Begins Railway Construction Towards Disputed Indian Border

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Is Tibet always clean like this? I'm happy for these people