Western China - news and development

[JSCh]

China Focus: Tourism booming at World's Third Pole
Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-09 17:28:53|Editor: Xiang Bo


LHASA, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- The year 2018 is essential for Tibet's tourism industry as the regional government is making efforts to boost the all-for-one tourism to enhance the land's charm as a tourist destination at the Third Pole of the world.

Unlike traditional tourism which focuses merely on touring activities for leisure, the all-for-one tourism involves the reconstruction of an industrial chain to engage all possible sectors that a tourist may be interested in, thus making tourism a leading sector to drive along the development of other sectors.

At the ongoing Fourth China Tibet Tourism and Cultural Expo, Qizhala, chairman of Tibet Autonomous Region, stressed the need to implement the "Tourism plus" strategy, as the regional government hopes to encourage the integration of tourism with other sectors such as farming and husbandry, traditional Tibetan games, Tibetan medicines, cultural and art, rural leisure and health care, so as to enrich tourism products and increase the appeal of Tibet as a tourist destination.

Official estimates released at the expo show that Tibet will receive more than 30 million tourists this year, a new record high and triple as many as that in 2012. The number was 25.61 million last year, up 10.6 percent from a year earlier.

Last year, Tibet's tourism revenue was 37.94 billion yuan (about 5.58 billion U.S. dollars), up 17.4 percent from 2016, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the region's gross domestic product. In 1980, when China started the economic reform and opening-up, however, local tourism revenue was negligible.

"Tourism has become the region's most dynamic and most promising industry, and also a forerunner sector strategically important to the economic and social development of Tibet," said Qizhala.

NEW MOVES

To extend the tourism industrial chains to more sectors and attract more tourists from at home and abroad, the regional government has decided to establish an industrial development fund to channel more private investment into the sector and encourage more public-and-private capital cooperation.

A tourism resource trading platform will soon be set up so that tourism resources can be more efficiently mobilized through the market, said Qizhala.

Investment funds and venture capital guidance funds will also be established to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in the tourism-related industry, he said.

Road and railway construction will be sped up to improve the public services for tourists.

Yao Tandong, director of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Institute with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, proposed at the expo the establishment of "Third Pole" national parks to make better use of tourism resources and better protect the environment.

The four candidate national parks are Serling Tso, Tibet's largest lake; Mount Qomolangma; the world's deepest canyon Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon; and Earth Forest, the ruins of the palace of the Gurge Kingdom dating back to the 9th century.

Once the Third Pole National Parks were established, unified planning could be made on the protection of these scenic areas to minimize the damage from tourism on ecology. The behavior of individual travelers will be better regulated while in-depth tours will be arranged to target high-end travelers.

Local residents who live nearby could also be better equipped to engage in tourism services. In 2017, some 125,000 farmers and herders benefited from the tourism industry, earning 12,000 yuan per person on average, by selling souvenirs, snacks, and other specialty products.

WINTER TOURISM

Like most tourist destinations across the world, Tibet sees a strong seasonality in its tourism industry. Tourists tend to swarm in from May to October, while the off-season lasts from November to April as the air often gets thinner, and the weather is cold and dry.

With a package of incentives released in February, including free admission to 115 tourist attractions and lower prices for starred hotels, touring vehicles and airfares, winter tourism has shown positive changes.

The number of tourists to Lhasa and Nyingchi both surged by more than 50 percent from Feb. 1 to April 30. The Potala Palace in Lhasa has seen its visitors more than double in February compared with the same month of last year.

Statistics from the regional tourism authority show that from January to April, more than 2.67 million domestic tourists came to Tibet, up 63.5 percent from the same period last year, while Tibet took in tourism revenue of more than 3.5 billion yuan, up 62.8 percent.

During the same period, the occupancy rates of international hotels, chain hotels and boutique homestays in Lhasa and Nyingchi both exceeded 80 percent, much higher than in normal years.

Known as the "sunlight city" in Chinese, Lhasa has more than 3,000 hours of sunshine annually on average. It is sunny on most winter days, therefore, basking in the winter sunlight in Lhasa has been a selling point of the winter tourism promotion.

Li Xinyu, vice president of Ctrip Group, noted that thanks to the rising awareness of the all-for-one tourism and the winter promotion, Tibetan's tourism has entered a golden period and witnessed explosive growth.

Ctrip data point to a trend of consumption upgrading too, he said at the expo. In 2018, domestic tourists' average stay in Tibet has been extended to 9.6 days from 9 days, and each tourist spends 9,893 yuan on average, about 800 yuan more than the previous year.

 

[JSCh]

New highway put into use in China's impoverished region
New China TV
Published on Sep 16, 2018

A new highway has been put into use in China's Xihaigu, which is on UNESCO's list of the world's most uninhabitable places. It's the country's another poverty alleviation effort in the region.

====================

For those who never heard of Xihaigu, it is in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, south west China.

 

[JSCh]

Ningxia celebrates 60th anniversary of its founding
Updated: Sep 21,2018 9:33 AM Xinhua

People stage a performance during a grand gathering held to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of Ningxia Hui autonomous region at Helan Mountain Stadium in Yinchuan, capital of Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Sept 20, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

Greater support pledged for Ningxia
By HU DONGMEI,CUI JIA | China Daily | Updated: 2018-09-21 03:28

A ceremony is held to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region in the regional capital Yinchuan on Thursday. PHOTOS BY WANG ZHUANGFEI / CHINA DAILY

The central government will better support the development of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region and make sure that relatively less-developed ethnic areas achieve a moderately prosperous society in all respects together with other regions by 2020, a senior official said on Thursday.

However, people who deliberately instigate ethnic tensions or division will be punished in accordance with the law, regardless of their religion or ethnic group, said Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

"We firmly oppose the attempts to divide and contain China by using the excuses of ethnic, religious and human rights issues," he said.

Wang made the remarks while delivering a speech at a ceremony celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region in the regional capital of Yinchuan. He led a 62-member central delegation attending a series of events marking the anniversary, which began on Wednesday.

Ningxia was founded on Oct 25, 1958, and has a population of 6.82 million. More than 36 percent of its people are from the Hui ethnic group and a majority of them are Muslim.

The CPC Central Committee, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the State Council, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee and the Central Military Commission jointly sent a congratulatory letter to Ningxia to mark its 60th anniversary.

Performers engage in ethnic dances at the ceremony.

The letter said the founding of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region was a milestone in the history of China's ethnic relations, and the region has achieved historic changes in the past six decades. The region's GDP reached 345 billion yuan ($50.2 billion) in 2017, more than 1,000 times what it was in 1958, according to official data.

Achieving faster economic growth and maintaining ethnic unity are in line with the fundamental interests of people in Ningxia, and is also the common wish of the CPC Central Committee and people all across the country, the letter said.

Wang said that people from all ethnic groups are equal, and relatively less-developed ethnic areas should not be viewed as burdensome.

Although lifting people out of poverty in ethnic areas is indeed one of the key challenges in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the challenge can be overcome by letting people enjoy more fruits of reforms so people from ethnic groups or ethnic areas won't fall behind others in stepping into a moderately prosperous society, he said.

Wang also made it clear that treating Han culture as the sole Chinese culture and excluding the culture of any ethnic group from Chinese culture are both wrong. People need to respect differences and embrace diversity, he said.

"People need to deal with different problems in accordance with their nature instead of randomly labeling them as ethnic issues," he said.

Contact the writers at cuijia@chinadaily.com.cn

 

[JSCh]

Xinhua Special: Data, dunes, determination in Ningxia
New China TV
Published on Sep 19, 2018

How can man and nature live in harmony? #XinhuaSpecial heads to Ningxia, a tiny region in the middle of China that is surrounded by deserts, to explore some of the very creative ways that it has struck a balance between its people and the land.

 

[JSCh]

Beidou navigation system serves Tibet
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-01 20:52:39|Editor: mmm


LHASA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Beidou, a domestically engineered satellite navigation system of China, started to serve its second largest provincial region of Tibet on Monday.

A Beidou-supported information platform made a debut in Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region. It is expected to provide services in disaster alert and relief, emergency rescue, transportation, agriculture, forestry, water conservancy, as well as targeted poverty reduction and smart travel.

"We will accelerate the development of Beidou navigation industry and its application in Tibet," said Qin Zhenhua, chairman of the Tibet Xingchuan Beidou Satellite Navigation Platform Co., Ltd.

Tibet occupies about one eighth of China's land area with 3.17 million people. Beidou meets the urgent need from the sparsely populated region.

Named after the Chinese term for the Big Dipper constellation, Beidou is a rival to the U.S. GPS system, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo as a global satellite navigation system.

China launched its first Beidou satellite in 2000.

Beidou, with 38 satellites, will provide danger alerts and navigation services for global users after the successful launch of two satellites on September 19.

Beidou was listed on a global satellite search and rescue implementation plan in February by COSPAS-SARSAT, an international satellite system for search and rescue.

 

[JSCh]

Social media helps village teacher spread knowledge to children
Cui Zhaoqian
2018-10-02 13:05 GMT+8

A Chinese volunteer teacher working at a village school in northwest China's Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region recently made the headline as the “happiest woman on earth”. This was because after she requested on social media to receive books for her students. The response is overwhelmingly heartwarming.

When the new school year starts in autumn, teacher Shen Jianli, who goes by the name @Jiaowojianlibao on China's Twitter-like platform Weibo, discovered many books in the school's library are romantic fictions full of explicit phrases which pose negative effects on students' mental health.

Nature History Magazine retweets the teacher's post expressing gratitude. /Weibo Photo

Lacking accesses to obtain good books in this remote school, teacher Shen tried to tag a youth educational magazine on Weibo, pleading for a few copies on a whim. To her surprise, the magazine, Nature History, not only donated 101 newly-published copies but helped retweet her original post to get more attention.

Another teacher sends books collected from her students to the remote school. /Weibo Photo

As an active science account with more than nine million followers, the post has turned the teacher's small request into public view as commercial publishers, charities and book lovers across the country started sending fairy tales, classic novels, science magazines and encyclopedias to the school.

Shen ships the parcels containing books from all over the country. /Weibo Photo

Love influx as books continue to pour into the local post office, Shen was busy shipping the parcels by her little electric motorcycle back and forth. “Being a carrier because of today's delivery. Thank you for making me the happiest woman in the world”, the teacher expressed her gratitude in a post.

The teacher has received 2,000 books from donators nationwide. “My students are thrilled to have these books,” said Shen, who likes taking photos of her students and since got the comment “‘Sparkles' can be seen through their curious, happy eyes,” Weibo users posted.

Shen's students are reading books from social media donators. /Weibo Photo

This is the second year Shen devoted herself to the teaching program. She chose to be a village teacher right after graduation without hesitation.

When the media asked why she would like to move to the countryside at such a young age, she answered frankly, “Just out of love for the country. It is the teachers who spread me knowledge which empowers me the right to choose, and I want to be a person like them, to help rural kids get more opportunities.”

She likes taking pictures of her students. /Weibo Photo

China's education system has made much progress over the past few decades, but a lack of qualified teachers in vast rural areas is still an issue to be solved.

In late August, the Ministry of Education announced a plan to expand the teaching staff in resource-scarce areas, including attracting more college graduates and employing retired experienced teachers to teach or provide training to village schools.

 

[JSCh]

World's highest! Chinese engineers build highway tunnel in Tibet
New China TV
Published on Aug 1, 2018

Chinese engineers have built the world's highest highway tunnel, which is located at an average attitude of 4,750 meters above sea level. The tunnel forms a key part of a highway in Tibet, linking Lhasa to Nyingchi.

 

[JSCh]

Big data system keeping track of visitor information helps Tibet’s tourism
By Cao Siqi Source:Global Times Published: 2018/10/3 11:08:01

Number of foreign tourists to Tibet increases fast

As China enters the era of big data, a key university in Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region is using this technical method to monitor the flow of tourists.

Analysts said the move will not only boost the tourism industry, but also help safeguard regional stability and promote national unity.

Tibet University, the largest university in the region with an internationally renowned department of Tibetan studies, has established a big data center based on tourism information.​

This big data screen made its debut at this year’s Tourism and Culture Expo that kicked off in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, in early September. The screen shows the distribution of Tibet's natural resources including lakes, lands and rare wild species. Photo: Courtesy of Wang Sheng

​

Tibet University installs a real-time monitoring electronic screen which can display the number of tourists in a given period and the specific number at any tourist attraction. Photo: Courtesy of Nyima Tashi

The center was jointly built by the university's information and technology school and Beijing-based Wiseweb Technology Company, one of China's leading companies that provide big data smart software and services. It was officially launched in early September.

Nyima Tashi, dean of the school, told the Global Times that the center aims to provide data support for the regional government to boost the local tourism industry and further accelerate the region's openness to the world.

Tashi said the school installed a real-time monitoring electronic screen which could display the number of tourists in a given period and the specific number at any tourist attraction.

Moreover, it can show the background information of local tourist attractions and exhibit any trends of changing tourist preferences.

"In near future, the screen could also show more information about tourists, such as the origin of domestic and overseas tourists and their preferences of scenic spots, as long as the information does not invade personal privacy," Tashi noted.

The big data screen made its debut at this year's tourism and culture expo that kicked off in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, in early September.

Wang Sheng, deputy manager of Wiseweb, told the Global Times that the data aims to provide a reference for the regional government to monitor tourism market dynamics.

For example, the screen could display important events held in Tibet, ticket information, and the number of tourists in different scenic spots, he said.

"The real time monitoring could give a warning to the government on negative social events," Wang noted.

According to Wang, some data is captured from open sources on the internet while other data is purchased from tourist companies. For the next step, the company will obtain more data from different levels of government. "Possibly, the screen will show more information about overseas tourists," said Wang.

The big data center impressed foreign visitors. Han Woo-duck, director of South Korea Central Daily China Institute, said in an article published on its website on September 18 that what marveled him most during his four-day visit to Tibet was not the Potala Palace or the Jokhang Monastery, but the big data center at Tibet University.

Han said the university's staff led him to the center, and the changing data on the screen, shown as pie charts and bar graphs, could demonstrate the changes of tourists in real time.

"It means that the Tibet University, located in the deep heart of China, is building up a big data center. It marks a clear comparison with South Korea, where there is not any real time information about the number of tourists in scenic spots, or the major gathering spots of overseas tourists," Han said in the article.

Tibet received a record 25.6 million domestic and foreign tourists in 2017, up 10.6 percent compared with the previous year, the Xinhua News Agency reported in January, citing regional authorities.

Tourism has become one of the pillar industries in the region. Tourism revenue during 2017 reached 37.9 billion yuan ($5.9 billion), with a year-on year increase of 14.7 percent. Statistics showed that for the past five years, total tourism revenue in the region topped 130 billion yuan, said Xinhua.

Due to special ethnic traditions and environmental protection concerns, overseas tourists must get a permit from the regional tourist bureau before entering into Tibet.

From January to April, Tibet received nearly 40,000 foreign tourists, up 50.5 percent compared with the previous year, the regional tourism development committee announced in May.

"A big data system incorporating tourism information will help the local government to manage the industry in more orderly way and avoid accidents," Xiong Kunxin, a professor of ethnic studies at Minzu University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Friday.

In addition to sharing the beautiful scenery and cultural heritage with the outside world, developing tourism in Tibet is also an important move to safeguard regional stability, promote national unity, and guard against separatist forces, said Xiong.

 

[JSCh]

New railway set to fuel Tibet’s economy, trade with India and Nepal: experts
By Li Xuanmin Source:Global Times Published: 2018/10/11 22:28:40

The last T-shaped girder is installed on the Lhasa-Ya'an highway bridge at the Chengdu-Ya'an section of the Sichuan-Tibet railway in Southwest China's Sichuan Province in April. Photo: IC

The construction of the Sichuan-Tibet railway, dubbed the world's most challenging railway, will have a big influence in boosting Tibet's integration into South Asia and the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative (BRI), as well as facilitating its trade connectivity with China's developed regions, industry observers said on Thursday.

The comments came after Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the full launch of the planning and construction of the 1,700-kilometer Sichuan-Tibet railway at a meeting held on Wednesday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The meeting emphasized that the railway, which will run from Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, to Lhasa, capital of Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, will promote ethnic solidarity, safeguard national unity and consolidate the stability of the frontier, as well as bolstering Tibet's economic and social development, the report said.

The 250-billion-yuan ($36.16 billon) railway, which will have a designated speed of between 160 and 200 kilometers per hour, is expected to be completed by 2026, media reports said.

The line will go through the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, one of the world's most geologically active areas, which also has sharp changes in terrain. This means the construction of the railway line will have to overcome substantial risks.

Long Xingchun, an associate professor at China West Normal University, told the Global Times on Thursday that the railway could fuel Tibet's economic growth because it will connect Tibet with Sichuan, whose transportation network is also linked with other southwestern regions as well as more developed central and eastern regions such as the Yangtze River Economic Zone and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Upon completion, the travel time by train from Chengdu to Lhasa will reportedly be cut from 48 hours to about 13 hours.

"The shortened travel time will enable faster movement of goods and people between Tibet and wealthy regions of China, injecting new vigor into Tibet's economy," said Sun Zhang, a rail expert and professor at Shanghai Tongji University.

The project will also provide the second rail line into Tibet after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

But Long noted that the new railway will offer more significant benefits than the first rail line.

Unlike Northwest China's Qinghai Province, which is relatively undeveloped, Sichuan is Tibet's most affluent neighbor, and is the center of China's southwest regions with a dynamic and vibrant economic structure. "So its economic radiation effect to Tibet will be much stronger," Sun told the Global Times.

It is also necessary to construct the railway so that goods can move quickly along the route without being affected by weather conditions, Long said.

"Every year, the Sichuan-Tibet highway is closed for up to six months due to natural disasters, blocking Tibet's trade connectivity with inland China," Long added.

In the long term, the railway could also potentially boost Tibet's tourism revenue as well as driving investment in its real economy, which will help bridge the gap between the country's western regions and those in the east, Sun noted.

Opening up more

Experts also pointed out that the railway can help Tibet play the role of an "intermediary" between Southwest China and South Asian countries such as Nepal and India. "The region could then utilize resources from home and abroad to drive its economy," Long said.

At the same time, more Chinese tourists will be eager to travel by train to South Asia and goods from northern India and Nepal can be shipped to China more quickly, helping the two nations to tap the Chinese market.

The prospect of connecting with South Asia is promising, as the railway line from Lhasa to Tibet's Xigaze, as part of an extension of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, was put into use in 2014. Meanwhile, the China-Nepal railway, which will link Nepal's capital Kathmandu with Xigaze, is expected to be completed by 2022.

Sun noted the integration into Sichuan's transportation network will open up more opportunities for Tibet to participate in and benefit from the BRI.

Chengdu operates multiple China-Europe freight trains, making it possible for Tibet to transport goods to Europe via the route. The region could also send goods to ports in South China's Guangdong Province, taking advantage of the Maritime Silk Road.

Elevation map of the Sichuan Tibet Railway. The leftmost red star is Lhasa, Tibet. The rightmost red star is Chengdu, Sichuan. The number is elevation in meters.

 

[JSCh]

Kekeya green project: A man-made miracle
chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2018-10-18 08:42

An aerial photo shows the Kekeya green project in Aksu, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region. [Photo/ts.cn]

On the northwestern side of the Taklimakan Desert, the world's second-largest shifting sand desert, stands a man-made forest spreading across about 66,667 hectares.

This forest is the Kekeya green project, also a boundary dividing desert and green space in Aksu, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region.

Aksu launched the Kekeya green project in 1986 to change the harsh natural conditions. For over 32 years, four million people, including soldiers, students, teachers, civil servants and residents, kept on planting trees, creating a "green Great Wall" 25 kilometers long and four kilometers wide.

The green project has been set as a model of ecological restoration in China.

​

A car drives through the core region of the Kekeya green project in Aksu, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, Sept 20, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

​

Deep green ecological shelter forest adjoins golden rice fields in Aksu, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, Sept 23, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

​

The Kekeya green project stretches towards tall buildings in Aksu, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, Sept 26, 2018. [Photo/Xinjiang Daily]

​

In this undated file photo, people plant trees that will become part of the Kekeya green project. [Photo/iyaxin.com]

​

Satellite remote sensing images show Kekeya (from left to right) in 1987, 1995 and 2017. [Photo/Xinjiang Daily]

 

[JSCh]

 

[JSCh]

Relocation raises living standards for Lhopas
By Palden Nyima in Manling, Tibet | China Daily | Updated: 2018-10-19 09:36

Dawa makes a traditional costume at his home in Manling. [Photo by PALDEN NYIMA/CHINA DAILY]

The lives of members of the Lhopa ethnic group in the Tibet autonomous region have improved markedly in recent decades, thanks to the reform and opening-up policy that was launched 40 years ago.

Until about 50 years ago, they lived in the forest as hunters. Now, about 3,000 Lhopas live in Tibet, in sparse communities such as the group in Manling county, according to official statistics.

Despite his typically Tibetan name, Dawa is a Lhopa man from Tsedro village in Manling. He said he has witnessed many social changes in recent decades, having worked as a village official for many years. He is now a respected maker of ethic costumes.

"We used to live on the mountain and in the forest. We had no livestock and only had small fields for planting corn," the 52-year-old said.

"As hunters on the mountain, we lived in simple wooden sheds and our diet mainly consisted of meat from animals we hunted, corn we grew, and a few edible wild herbs."

He added that people often suffered from hunger, and they were forced to exchange bears' gallbladders and the skins of the animals they hunted for daily necessities such as grain, salt, tea leaves and clothes.

In 1985, 18 households, totaling 80 people including Dawa, were relocated from remote mountain and forest areas to Tsedro, where they were given houses, fields and livestock, resulting in a far higher standard of living. Since then, the number of households has risen to 41, with more than 190 people, he said.

The relocation was the Lhopas' first encounter with modern conveniences.

"Since 1985, the government has paid for house renovations three times, and now our living conditions are good," Dawa said.

A resident named Yari recalled that only one doctor traveled around local villages when the Lhopa lived on the mountain, but he was only able to treat minor illnesses, not serious conditions.

The 65-year-old woman said local women used to give birth at home, which resulted in many birth injuries and infant deaths, but the frequency of such incidents declined greatly after the people were relocated.

After he ceased to be a village official in 2008, Dawa began making traditional costumes to earn a living and to preserve the Lhopa culture.

He learned the skills from older people while the group was living on the mountain, he said.

However, it is hard to find the traditional materials, such as animal skins and fur, in the valley because hunting is prohibited by law. Instead, Dawa uses substitute materials to make the clothes.

In addition, he collects herbs, like other Lhopa families, and raises Tibetan pigs. Last year, his family's income was more than 60,000 yuan ($8,650).

"Thanks to President Xi Jinping, we have received more welfare than in the past, and many of the central government's preferential policies are implemented correctly and efficiently. People like us, at the lower levels of society, are benefiting more."

 

[JSCh]

Herbs grow Tibetan farmers' fortunes
By Palden Nyima in Manling, Tibet | China Daily | Updated: 2018-10-19 09:35

A worker takes care of seedlings at entrepreneur Nyima's plantation in Manling county, Tibet autonomous region. [Photo by Palden Nyima/China Daily]

Farmers in the Tibet autonomous region's Nyingchi have been collecting medicinal herbs for years. Now they are using them to heal their poverty woes.

Manling county, which has a history of at least 3,800 years, is synonymous with Tibetan medical culture. Historical records show Yuthok Yonten Gonpo, the founder of traditional Tibetan medicine, trained practitioners and dispensed medicines in Manling, and wrote about its achievements in ancient times.

One of the reasons Manling is so integral is its abundance of medicinal herbs. It grows an estimated 3,800 types of plants and 680 kinds of macrofungi.

In 2010, the county government took measures to make the area a center of Tibetan medicine.

Seeing a business opportunity, entrepreneur Nyima set up the Golden Sun Tibetan Herbal Plantation Farm in 2012 to cultivate medicinal herbs.

"It's become harder to find naturally grown herbs in high-altitude areas since the market demand has risen," he said. "I felt that Tibetan medicine's development would have no future if no measures were taken to preserve these herbs.

"Herbs have big business potential, as the Tibetan medicine market is growing. I also want to help protect traditional culture."

His plantation grows six kinds of herbs and sells them in other parts of Tibet and neighboring Yunnan province. Buyers are mostly Tibetan medical institutes, but they are also popular among tourists. Last year, the business made more than 300,000 yuan ($43,200).

Nyima, who is well-known in the region, said he did not expect such success. The 52-year-old, who hails from Gyaltse county, had a difficult childhood. He had no chance to go to school, so he learned how to read and write Tibetan while working in a monastery as a carpenter.

When he was 19, he had an opportunity to work for the government in Manling, where he met his wife and decided to settle down. He also worked at chicken farms, pig farms and apple orchards before starting his herb business. The venture has not only made his family better off but also helped many impoverished locals.

Nyima employs nine workers and four technicians, as well as some part-time workers at peak periods. Workers are paid 180 to 220 yuan a day, while the technicians receive 6,000 yuan a month, he said. At least 19 poor families have benefitted from working at his farm.

He has also built two greenhouses and allows villagers to use them to grow herbs for free. Lodre has worked at the farm for three years. He expressed his gratitude to Nyima as the job is not tough but the salary is satisfying.

"Before coming here, I'd worked on construction sites for years. The jobs were mostly heavy and risky, but now my family is very pleased," the 31-year-old from Shigatse said.

According to the Manling government, the county's eight townships all now have herbal plantation companies as well as communal village plantations.

Nyima said the county has promised to invest 1.68 million yuan to expand his farm, allowing it to play an even bigger role in the development of Tibetan medicine and poverty alleviation.

 

[JSCh]

New railway set to fuel Tibet’s economy, trade with India and Nepal: experts
By Li Xuanmin Source:Global Times Published: 2018/10/11 22:28:40

The last T-shaped girder is installed on the Lhasa-Ya'an highway bridge at the Chengdu-Ya'an section of the Sichuan-Tibet railway in Southwest China's Sichuan Province in April. Photo: IC

The construction of the Sichuan-Tibet railway, dubbed the world's most challenging railway, will have a big influence in boosting Tibet's integration into South Asia and the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative (BRI), as well as facilitating its trade connectivity with China's developed regions, industry observers said on Thursday.

The comments came after Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the full launch of the planning and construction of the 1,700-kilometer Sichuan-Tibet railway at a meeting held on Wednesday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The meeting emphasized that the railway, which will run from Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, to Lhasa, capital of Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, will promote ethnic solidarity, safeguard national unity and consolidate the stability of the frontier, as well as bolstering Tibet's economic and social development, the report said.

The 250-billion-yuan ($36.16 billon) railway, which will have a designated speed of between 160 and 200 kilometers per hour, is expected to be completed by 2026, media reports said.

The line will go through the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, one of the world's most geologically active areas, which also has sharp changes in terrain. This means the construction of the railway line will have to overcome substantial risks.

Long Xingchun, an associate professor at China West Normal University, told the Global Times on Thursday that the railway could fuel Tibet's economic growth because it will connect Tibet with Sichuan, whose transportation network is also linked with other southwestern regions as well as more developed central and eastern regions such as the Yangtze River Economic Zone and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Upon completion, the travel time by train from Chengdu to Lhasa will reportedly be cut from 48 hours to about 13 hours.

"The shortened travel time will enable faster movement of goods and people between Tibet and wealthy regions of China, injecting new vigor into Tibet's economy," said Sun Zhang, a rail expert and professor at Shanghai Tongji University.

The project will also provide the second rail line into Tibet after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

But Long noted that the new railway will offer more significant benefits than the first rail line.

Unlike Northwest China's Qinghai Province, which is relatively undeveloped, Sichuan is Tibet's most affluent neighbor, and is the center of China's southwest regions with a dynamic and vibrant economic structure. "So its economic radiation effect to Tibet will be much stronger," Sun told the Global Times.

It is also necessary to construct the railway so that goods can move quickly along the route without being affected by weather conditions, Long said.

"Every year, the Sichuan-Tibet highway is closed for up to six months due to natural disasters, blocking Tibet's trade connectivity with inland China," Long added.

In the long term, the railway could also potentially boost Tibet's tourism revenue as well as driving investment in its real economy, which will help bridge the gap between the country's western regions and those in the east, Sun noted.

Opening up more

Experts also pointed out that the railway can help Tibet play the role of an "intermediary" between Southwest China and South Asian countries such as Nepal and India. "The region could then utilize resources from home and abroad to drive its economy," Long said.

At the same time, more Chinese tourists will be eager to travel by train to South Asia and goods from northern India and Nepal can be shipped to China more quickly, helping the two nations to tap the Chinese market.

The prospect of connecting with South Asia is promising, as the railway line from Lhasa to Tibet's Xigaze, as part of an extension of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, was put into use in 2014. Meanwhile, the China-Nepal railway, which will link Nepal's capital Kathmandu with Xigaze, is expected to be completed by 2022.

Sun noted the integration into Sichuan's transportation network will open up more opportunities for Tibet to participate in and benefit from the BRI.

Chengdu operates multiple China-Europe freight trains, making it possible for Tibet to transport goods to Europe via the route. The region could also send goods to ports in South China's Guangdong Province, taking advantage of the Maritime Silk Road.

Elevation map of the Sichuan Tibet Railway. The leftmost red star is Lhasa, Tibet. The rightmost red star is Chengdu, Sichuan. The number is elevation in meters.

 

[JSCh]

Eco-unfriendly vehicles banned from base camp of world’s highest peak
By Xu Hailin Source:Global Times Published: 2018/10/21 23:18:40

A model presents a creation during a folk costume show at the 5,200-meter-high base camp of the world's highest peak Qomolangma, in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Aug. 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

Eco-unfriendly tourist transport vehicles will be banned from base camp starting 2019 at Mount Qomolangma, known to the Western world as Mt. Everest, in a Tibetan county government environmental campaign.

Locals who live below the poverty line will be employed as tour guides and drivers of new electric golf-style buggies to and from the camp, China Tibet Online reported Saturday, citing the government of Tingri county, Xigaze, Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

"It will help reduce pollution in the area and raise the income of locals," Wangqiong, deputy head of Tingri county, was quoted as saying.

"This area has a fragile environment and its natural conditions have limited processing capabilities of trash and sewage, which must be handled very carefully."

More than 100,000 people, including 40,000 mountaineers and hikers, visited the Everest Base Camp and nearby area in 2017, the Xinhua News Agency reported in March.

Some 2.26 tons of human feces, one ton of mountaineering trash and 5.24 tons of household waste have been removed from the world's highest peak since April.

A further 8 tons of trash was removed between 5,200 meters and 6,500 meters above sea level.

A professional cleaning company has been hired to maintain the area and every visitor will receive trash bags to promote cleanup, Wangqiong told the news site.

Electric buggies are used in scenic spots across China to reduce emissions, Zhang Shangzheng, dean of the tourism management department at Anhui University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"If local government chooses charging piles to solve the power issue, such piles must be carefully installed at places that do not influence the water or damage the beautiful scenery," he said.