Most of Tibetan people have house property

08:31, February 05, 2009  

The current second agricultural census in Tibet shows housing condition in Tibet Autonomous Region, southwestern China, has greatly improved by occupying a 98.7 per cent of self-owned residences.

In 1950, when Tibet was still in a dark and brutal society, 900,000 out of one million people in Tibet lived in the open air without roof to prevent from wind and rain. The officials, nobles and upper lamas, who only take up 5 per cent of the total population, grasped most of the lands, pastures, houses and livestock, while serfs and slaves, who account for 90 per cent, enjoyed no freedom and were sold and even killed at random by the serf owners.

"After the peaceful liberation of Tibet, we move from the cowshed, where we used to live in the old Tibet, to our own house, which distributed by the government, " said the 60-year-old Nyima while recalling the houses at that time were tatty and unable to prevent from leaking.

It never occurred to Nyima that he could live in decent villadom decorating with modern furniture with a yearly income of more than 200,000 yuan.

In 1994, when the state's 3rd working conference on Tibet was held, Tibet attached great importance to housing project for needy Tibetan farmers and herdsmen.

Since 2006, a total of 170,000 households, 860,000 farmers and herdsmen in Tibet moved into new houses thanks to the housing project.

According to Qiangba Puncog, chairman of Tibet, Tibet has allocated 680 million yuan alone in 2008 to build new houses for 310,000 farmers and herdsmen.

"Even the nobles' houses in old Tibet were not as pretty as we have now," QangSang, one of the beneficiaries in Doilungdeqen County of Lhasa said, "the houses are built in Tibetan style which make us feel comfortable and amiable."

According to the local bureau of development and reform and statistics bureau of Tibet the per capita living space of rural dwellers has improved by 20 to 30 per cent since the housing project was practised in Tibet.

"Tibet plans to invest 8 billion yuan more in the last two years of the 11th-Five-Year Plan to enable people in rural areas to have access to water, electricity, highway, post, communications..," said Puchung, party secretary of the local bureau of development and reform.

Besides, in 2009, 250,000 Tibetan farmers and herdsmen are expected to enjoy safe drinking water and 200,000 rural people will be able to use firedamp.

Source: Xinhua

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