China has issued a series of souvenirs to mark the opening of
the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's longest plateau
railroad.
The series, including a stamp album, a gemmy gold plate, a
watch, a paperweight, an engine model of the inaugural trains and a
silver medal, are issued by the National Museum of China, the China
National Philatelic Corp. and the All-China Philatelic
Federation.
The souvenirs combine both Han and Tibetan ethnic cultural
elements, designers say.
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, opened on Saturday, stretches 1,956
kilometers from Qinghai's provincial capital of Xining to Lhasa.
The section of 814 km from Xining to Golmud began operation in 1984
and the Golmud-Lhasa section started construction on June 29,
2001.
The project is dubbed an "engineering marvel" because people
used to think the perennial ice and slush along the route could
never support tracks and trains. The railway is projected to help
double tourism revenues by 2010 and reduce transport costs for
goods by 75 percent in Tibet, Chinese officials said.
(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2006)