Highways on the Roof of the World (4)

cctv.com 11-03-2004 16:58

Since construction on the highways from Sichuan to Tibet and from Qinghai to Tibet began 50 years ago, the explosions necessary for such projects has never stopped there. Building roads in Tibet is arduous work with bad weather and unreliable geological conditions not only requiring greater physical labor from the road builders and maintenance workers but also causing unexpected injuries and even deaths among them. The difficult circumstances have made the workers physically stronger and have increased their desire to succeed. When you’re walking on a Tibet highway, you will probably be attracted to the unique scenery but one should remember that the highway under your feet remains open to traffic only due to many years of maintenance by workers.

On the 2000-kilometer plus Qinghai-Tibet highway, there is a maintenance squad called the No. 1 Road Maintenance Squad Under Heaven, so-named because they work at the Tanggula mountain pass with an elevation of over 5,000 meters and because the road they maintain is always the best. These Tibetan road maintenance workers standing amidst wind and snow know their responsibilites well.

As road maintenance workers work far from other people and cities, they are unable to personally take good care of their children or provide them with a good education. In the past, maintenance workers kept their young children with them, in the ditches beside the road, as they worked.

The road itself, however, widened the vision of the children as it extended onwards, and the children wanted to explore all the way along it to the place where it ended. Tashi Jangco, Chairman of Tibet Tianlu Co., Ltd., was just one of these children.

Establishing childcare centers is a very positive way the Tibetan communication authorities have used to solve the education problems faced by the road maintenance workers. These centers are funded by the Tibetan communication authorities and provide the children of maintenance workers’ with accommodation when they study in the cities, a practice warmly received. This is the childcare center established by the Shannan Prefectural Communication Bureau in Zetang Town. Children study here together every evening. A good education provides every child with boundless opportunities for a bright future. Just as Tashi Jangco did, these children are beginning to form their dreams in a childcare center.

Their parents working several hundred kilometers away don’t have to worry about them while they are at the center as they are well cared for. As their homes are far away, the children can only return home once a year, but they enjoy their life here.

Over the past 50 years, schools appeared wherever the road reached. Postal services, banks, newspapers, TV and many other new things appeared, and consequently the Tibetans, who had remained in the high mountains closed to the outside have now found that outside world to be wonderful. They now desire to be involved in the world, and at the same time, hope that their hometown will become a more wonderful place too. After graduating from university, Tashi Jangco began to work for the communication authorities where his parents had worked.

You may not have wondered why Tibet has its own listed companies but just 50 years ago barter was Tibet’s main commercial model. Because it had personnel with broad vision and a constantly developing communication industry, Tianlu Co., Ltd. set its grand goal on going public. The company mainly builds roads and because present the communication industry in Tibet is developing rapidly, this has provided a good opportunity for the Tianlu company to actively participate in that process. The road leading from the city proper of Lhasa to the Gonggar Airport was in the past 97 kilometers long but from 2002 the government invested 650 million yuan in building two bridges and a tunnel on the road in order to cut the distance between Lhasa and the airport by half. Tashi Jangco led the Tianlu company in implementing the project and, as a result of the development of the communication industry in Tibet, the Tianlu company has performed very well.

The experience of Tashi Jangco is exactly the experience of many other people inof the communications industry in Tibet. In his life so far there are many things that he will never forget like inspecting the Sichuan-Tibet highway and the China-Nepal highway on foot. He also crossed mountains to investigate Muoto County, the only county in China that didn’t have any highways. However, what influenced him the most was his four years of work at the communications research institute. With help from older communications researchers, he fostered a scientific spirit of being exact in his work and came to understand the importance of science and technology. As a matter of fact, the development of Tibet’s communication industry is largely attributable to respecting scientific laws and the use of large numbers of new processes and technologies. The Tibet communications authorities have subjected its traditional state-owned enterprise to the market by transforming it into a modern joint-stock company. In addition, using science and technology, the strategy for pluralistic development has been adopted with the focus on developing roads to extend industrial chains.

Road construction is a labor-intensive industry, but the Tianlu company is trying to become a technology- and capital-intensive enterprise. Enterprises like Tianlu are creative and devoted to development. The government has made enormous investments in Tibet’s communication so, consequently, road builders are drawing up an even more magnificent blueprint for Tibet’s roads. Tibet will soon achieve a major leap forward in its road development.

This is certainly an impressive plan and it is one which will enable the Tibetans to become more energetic and creative due to the implementation of the plan. Road development is, after all, closely related to human development as the more roads people have, the larger their material and spiritual world becomes. Moreover, the more needs people discover, the quicker the pace of road development.

Our bus is speeding along the highway, taking us to the dreamlike land of Tibet.

Tibet is tourist destination full of mystery and beauty and its people are hardworking, brave, straightforward, sincere and humorous. Long ago Tibet was a sea, but over time became a rich plateau, a paradise of wild animals and plants. Wild yaks and antelopes can be seen running on the vast plateau.

And black-necked cranes and brown-headed gulls fly over its blue lakes.