A ten-day trip for journalists from eight major domestic websites was launched in Lhasa, capital of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, on Tuesday morning as part of a series of celebrations to mark September’s 40th anniversary of the region’s founding.

The tour was sponsored by Tibet Daily and www.chinatibetnews.com and included writers from china.org.cn and People’s Daily, giving them an opportunity to witness the great changes taking place in the region.

During the starting ceremony, Zhong Sheng, a senior regional publicity official and head of the 40th Anniversary Celebration Publicity Group, said, “July is the best time of the year in Tibet. Tibet is also experiencing the best time in its history.”

According to Zhong, by the end of 2004, Tibet’s population was 2.74 million, 92 percent of whom were ethnic Tibetans. “The customs and festivals of Tibetans have been well preserved. There are over 1,700 Tibetan Buddhist venues and about 46,000 monks and nuns living in monasteries, as well as four mosques and one Catholic church.”

From 1994 to 2004, central government earmarked 50 billion yuan (US$6 billion) for infrastructure construction, and 18 provinces and cities, 61 state departments and organizations, and 17 state enterprises invested 6.4 billion yuan (US$773 million) in Tibet’s economic construction.

Nearly 2,900 professionals and civil servants from government and state enterprise departments, as well as 187 teachers, have been sent to Tibet to provide help in the past ten years.

In 1965, the region’s GDP was only 327 million yuan (US$40 million) but it reached 21 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) last year. From 1994 to 2004, annual GDP growth was over 12 percent, the highest in Tibet’s history.

Tibet now has a highway network centered on Lhasa and extending to Qinghai, Sichuan, Xinjiang and Yunnan, with 42,000-kilometer highways open to traffic. Highways are available to 92 percent of counties and towns and 72 percent of administrative villages.

There are two airports, Gonggar Airport in Lhasa and Bangda Airport in Chamdo, with over ten routes to Chengdu, Beijing, Xi’an, Chongqing, Xinin, Guangzhou, Kunming and Katmandu. A third airport in Nyingchi is under construction.

Tibet received 1.2 million tourists in 2004 from both home and abroad. Of them, 95,800 were foreign tourists, bringing a total tourist income of 1.5 billion yuan (US$181 million).

“The daily necessities are very abundant here. People’s daily life has been obviously improved. Tibet has basically got rid of poverty. Residents in some areas even live a well-off life,” said Zhong. Last year, per capita GDP was 7,779 yuan (US$940), 33 times that of 1965. The per capita net income of farmers and herdspeople was 1,861 yuan (US$225).

By the end of 2004, there were 1,010 schools with 486,352 students, 117 of whom had postgraduate degrees. The schooling rate of children has reached 94.7 percent and illiteracy among young people has dropped to 22 percent. Last year, Tibet had 1,326 medical institutions and the average life span had increased from 35.5 to 67 years.

Wireless communications have covered all counties and towns in Tibet, and there are 28.6 telephones for every 100 people. Radio and TV coverage has reached 83.1 and 84.5 percent respectively, while internet users number 400,000. There are seven news websites, and overseas visitors to www.chinatibetnews.com account for 40 percent of the total.

Dejei Zhuoga (Drolkar), regional vice secretary-general and vice director of the 40th Anniversary Celebration Office, said various celebrations will be held in September, including evening parties with fireworks, singing and dancing performances and the completion ceremony of the renovation of Potala Place square.

With a total area of 1.2 million square kilometers, accounting for one eighth of the total area of China, Tibet, averaging over 4,000 meters above sea level, forms the main part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and is known as the "roof of the world.”

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Wang Qian July 6, 2005)