Future of Tibet Under CPC Leadership

Early in the morning, 73-year-old Achung fills copper bowls with clean water in front of Buddha portraits in a scripture hall at his home -- a routine for Tibetan Buddhists.

His wife starts the morning by strolling around the village, spinning a bronze prayer wheel while humming mantras, which is also part of daily life of many Tibetans.

On Tuesday morning, however, Achung from the Yamda village in the western suburb of Lhasa reminded his wife to come back home earlier to watch TV because there would be a grand ceremony broadcast live across China.

About 15 kilometers away, under the rising, red-and-white visage of the Potala Palace in the heart of Lhasa, a national flag was hoisted at around 10 a.m., marking the beginning of the rally to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

In his speech at the rally, Vice President Xi Jinping, who headed a central government delegation to Tibet for the celebration, pledged to promote people's well-being and social stability in Tibet.

"To speed up development holds the key to resolving all issues in Tibet", he said, adding that "the economic and social development of Tibet should always aim at safeguarding and improving people's well-being."

"I'm impressed, especially when he mentioned the improvement of people's livelihood," said Achung, who was a serf before the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951.

Xi also urged the region to speed up the development of local industries, improve ecological protection and enhance openness to the outside world in order to improve the self-sustaining capacity that supports Tibet's development.

ENHANCING SELF-SUSTAINING CAPACITY

The Tibetan lady has a dream: to make Tibetan perfume as popular as French big brands.

"Materials of the Tibetan perfume are mostly natural herbs, making the smell very unique," said Phurbu Drolma, 30, who is head of a Tibetan incense factory in the western suburb of Lhasa.

It was the idea of Drolma's painter husband to set up the factory about a decade ago. While painting Buddhist Thangka and fresco, he noticed that large amount of incenses were needed in religious ceremonies.

Herbal medicines such as saffron and snow lotus are used in making incenses. "As a fashion lover, I said to myself one day: why not to make perfume with such materials?" Drolma recalled.

Within just 10 years, the factory grew from a small workshop with just 1,200 yuan to a company with assets valuing four million yuan, which produces incenses and perfume.

Drolma also asked her husband to design unique perfume bottles with Tibetan features. "I hope our perfume could spread the Tibetan culture and tradition to the world."

According to a white paper published by the Information Office of the State Council on July 11, there was no modern industry in Tibet before its peaceful liberation.

"But the region now has a modern industrial system covering over 20 sectors with distinctive local features, including energy, light, industry, textiles, machinery, mining, building materials, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food processing, folk handicrafts and Tibetan medicine," it said.

Some Specialty products, such as Lhasa barley beer, "5100 Tibet Glacier Spring Water" and Ganlu traditional Tibetan medicine have entered the market in other parts of China as well as the international market.

Losang, a Tibetan man who started working for Tibet 5100 Water Resources Holdings Ltd. in 2005, is now a vice manager for the company.

"I grazed cattle after graduating from primary school. At that time our family income for a year was just several thousand yuan," he said.

Now, Losang earns 6,000 yuan a month. In 2007, he demolished his adobe house to build a new one with his savings. "My family is proud of me," he said.

Tourism in Tibet has also maintained sustained and rapid growth. Statistics from the white paper showed that in 2010, some 6.85 million people visited Tibet, with tourism revenues reaching 7.14 billion yuan (about 1.10 billion U.S. dollars).

Booming tourism has allowed the Tibetan people to create new opportunities for commerce, with sales of traditional handicrafts and other souvenirs bringing in streams of cash.

Barkhor Street, which wraps around Jokhang Temple, is one of the oldest streets in Lhasa. Traditionally used by pilgrims during their religious rituals, it is also known as a commercial center with more than 1,000 souvenir shops, galleries, restaurants and cafes.

Tsering Gyamco and his wife Akyi have three stores on the street. Akyi sells handicrafts like copper Buddha statues and prayer wheels, while Tsering collects antiques.

Tsering opened his first store 14 years ago, right around the time that he met his wife. The couple now earns more than 100,000 yuan annually from their stores. Their son, a third-grader, is now studying in Lhasa.

IMPROVING TIBETAN PEOPLE'S LIVELIHOOD

The room was teeming with a mixed scent of Tibet incense and milk tea. Sitting in his Tibetan-styled couch, 63-year-old Tseten Norbu turned on a big television and shifted to the Tibetan language channel.

"I moved into this new house before the New Year holiday," he said.

The house, covering 201 square meters, originally cost 210,000 yuan. However, the local government picked up part of the tab for Tseten, to the tune of 170,000 yuan. For the 40,000 yuan remainder, Tseten and his family were allowed to apply for a 20,000-yuan interest-free loan.

Tseten noted that the new house was much better than the one he used to live in. "In the old house, the cattle stayed downstairs and we lived on the second floor. There was no bathroom," he recalled.

The old man is one of the beneficiaries of a massive housing project in Tibet.

According to the July 11 white paper, before Tibet's liberation, more than 90 percent of its people had no private housing.

"In 1951, the per capita housing space of urban dwellers was less than three square meters, but the figure reached 34.72 at the end of 2010," it said.

"Since 2006, with the construction of a new socialist countryside and comfortable housing project underway, 274,800 households, comprising 1.4021 million farmers and herdsmen, have moved into modern houses, and the per capita housing space has increased to 24 square meters in rural area," it added.

The housing project is just one of the favorable policies enjoyed by Tibetans like Tseten. The elderly man said that senior citizens over the age of 60 can receive 50 yuan every year in the form of a pension.

Pointing at his wardrobe, Tseten appeared joyous. "In the inland provinces, people just have subsidies for household electrical appliances. However, we have similar subsidies for furniture as well," he said.

"Before the peaceful liberation, I was a serf," Achung said. "Like most people who were not aristocrats, I had no chance to receive an education. I went out to graze the cattle every day," he added.

Education was monopolized by monasteries before the liberation, with a limited number of schools run by monks and government officials. Nearly all of the students in the schools were children of nobility.

"The enrollment rate for school-age children was less than two percent, while the illiteracy rate was as high as 95 percent among the young and the middle-aged," said the white paper.

During the past 60 years, the central government has invested 40.73 billion yuan in Tibet's educational facilities.

According to the white paper, Tibet has now basically established an educational system with special local and ethnic characteristics. "Now the enrollment rate for primary school-age children of Tibetan ethnic group has reached 99.2 percent; that for junior high school, 98.2 percent; that for senior high school, 60.1 percent; and that for institutions of higher learning, 23.4 percent," it said.

"The illiteracy rate among the young and middle-aged has fallen to 1.2 percent," it said.

Achung is now living with his daughter, both children of whom are college graduates. His granddaughter is now working in a township government, while his grandson is preparing for the exam to recruit public servants.

"An ordinary person could become government worker through exam, I never dreamed of that before," Achung said.

Medical care in the region has improved as well. Ngawang Dondrup was the first doctor to work in the village of Gyalpa in Tibet's Shannan Prefecture. During the 14 years that he has worked there, he has witnessed significant improvements in medical care.

"Before 1997, there was no doctor in the village," he said. "These days, people can purchase medicine at our local clinic. Most of the costs are covered by our medical system," he said.

The white paper stated that all of Tibet's townships now have health centers, while all of its villages now have clinics. A health care system for rural areas was established with funds from the government the major part.

"The average life expectancy has increased from 35.5 to 67 years," it said.

Experts generally believe that the improvement of people's livelihoods is an important factor in maintaining social stability.

"Tibet is developing fast; therefore, people now have more wishes and desires," said Tubdain Kaizhub, a professor from Tibet University.

"Only after the living condition of residents is improved, could the society be harmonious and steady," he said.

"The economic and social development of Tibet should always aim at safeguarding and improving people's well-being. Our objective is to ensure that people of all ethnic groups in the autonomous region have access to education, employment, medical and old-age care and housing," Vice President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday.

AID FROM ACORSS COUNTRY

Liu Jinzhu is the talk of the town in the Himalayan village of Mainling in Nyingtri Prefecture.

An official from the affluent coastal city of Xiamen, Liu was entrusted to work as the government head of Mainling in 2007. Armed with market experience in coastal regions, Liu helped the people of Mainling to nearly triple their annual incomes within three years.

Through tourism-related commerce, families of the native Lhoba tribe have supplemented the incomes they earn through farming. Houses have been built, home appliances have been purchased and the comforts of modern living have come within reach.

After being marketed as an idyllic retreat from city life, the tourism income of Mainling grew nearly 30 times in the space of three years, reaching 28 million yuan in 2009. Tourism has surpassed agriculture as the main engine of economic growth in Mainling.

"The experience and resources I gained from my previous job with the municipal government of Xiamen helped a lot," Liu said.

China's central government launched a unique "pairing-up" support program for Tibet in 1994. Under the program, state departments, local governments and state-owned enterprises across the country are required to provide aid to Tibet in the fields of human resources, finance and materials, technology and management.

The program, operated smoothly in a state with strong government leadership, has allowed Tibet to catch up with wealthier regions in other parts of the country more efficiently, analysts have said. Similar arrangements were made to boost the development of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The July 11 white paper stated that from 1994 to 2010, 4,393 aid projects were launched under the program in Tibet, with total aid worth 13.3 billion yuan. At least 4,742 experienced officials like Liu have gone to work in Tibet, bringing in much-needed experience and know-how for Tibet's development.

Padma Choling, the chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, said that the 16-year-old program has tremendously boosted Tibet's development and helped it maintain social stability.

Aid from across the country has become a key supplement to the financial assistance provided by the central government, the official said, adding that the aid projects focus on improving the welfare of local residents. The projects feature increased investment in infrastructure and social services for rural Tibet, which is predominantly populated by farmers and herdsmen.

Almost half of the aid that comes in from across the country, or 6.2 billion yuan, has been used to finance projects in rural areas of Tibet, Padma said.

"Tibet's development is so closely linked to the pairing-up support program that without it, what we see today (of Tibet's development) would be totally different," said Professor Tubdain.

The professor, who is also the head of Tibet University's economics and management department, said that officials and teachers from inland provinces have played an important role in improving the quality of the university's research and teaching over the past few years.

"We assign the officials to key posts and entrust them with the most important tasks," Tubdain said. "We have learned a lot from their expertise."

Zhi Haijie, a Beijing cadre who is working in Tibet, said the decade-old program's value can not be assessed simply by the amount of money spent or the input of human resources.

"It is the brotherly care of Tibet and our commitment to help Tibet grow with us that matters the most," Zhi said.

STABILITY BRINGS CONFIDENCE

A holy city in the eyes of Tibetan Buddhists, Lhasa now resembles a modern city in many ways.

Streams of cars run on wide concrete roads that weave through the city's urban areas. Billboards showing Chinese and international brands line the roads, while stereos in streetside shops blare English pop songs. High-end shopping malls and residential complexes are under construction.

However, the city still retains its strong religious flavor. Devout Buddhists prostrate in front of the Jokhang Temple at the heart of the well-preserved old city. Lhasa residents, some with prayer wheels in hand, walk around the Jokhang Temple and the Potala Palace as part of their daily worship rituals.

Business is brisk on nearby Barkhor Street, as tourists flock to vendors selling Tibetan handicrafts.

Today, there is little sign that the holy city was bruised by deadly riots only three years ago. "Lhasa is safe. I have no worries at all," said a cabdriver surnamed Liu.

"Stability is something that common people want the most," said Tubdain.

Tourism is sometimes used as a barometer of public confidence in stability. Government statistics show that Tibet attracted more than 5.5 million tourists in 2009 and 6.8 million in 2010, compared with only 2.2 million in 2008.

The government aims to attract 15 million visitors each year by 2015, with annual tourism revenues expected to hit 15 billion yuan in the next five years, said Yu Yungui, Party chief of the tourism bureau of Tibet.

The St. Regis Lhasa Resort, Tibet's first luxury hotel, recently opened its doors to high-end travelers. Construction on the Shangri-La Hotel and the Intercontinental Hotel will begin in Lhasa this year, Tibet tourism officials said.

"There is strong demand for luxury accommodation and we see a lot of potential," said Jean-Michel Kok, director of rooms at the St. Regis Lhasa.

However, officials, experts and local people have agreed that Tibet still faces some problems in its development.

Although Tibet's rural and urban per capita net income in 2010 surged by 99.2 percent and 78.1 percent, respectively, from 2005, it still has half a million people living in poverty, with each of them earning less than 1,700 yuan a year.

Life expectancies in Tibet, 67, almost doubled over the past 60 years. However, in comparison to the average life expectancy of 82 years in Shanghai, Tibet still has a long way to go in this regard.

Like many parts of China, Tibet is caught in the dilemma of trying to balance modernization with the preservation of traditional culture.

However, the country's leaders believe that the region has the capability to solve these dilemmas as it marches toward revitalization.

"The current of history moves on," Vice President Xi Jinping said. "The grand rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is irresistible."

"The future of Tibet will be even brighter," he said. Enditem

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