The real Tibet depicted by French media: "Seeking ones fortune" becomes popular slogan- People's Daily Online

The real Tibet depicted by French media: "Seeking ones fortune" becomes popular slogan

10:07, August 03, 2009

Like China's other regions, Tibet is full of opportunity for people to seek their fortunes, something encouraged by China's central government.

The Tibetan Indigenous Industry Company is a product of China's economic liberalization and a descendent of a Lama from the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in 1962, Dawa Dondrup started his teaching career at an elementary school in 1980. His wages were paid by the village where he was born. In 1983, he secured a post as a national teacher, showing his ambition. However, that year, the Chinese government decided to offer a 20,000 yuan interest-free loan to each young person seeking to be an entrepreneur. This was the start of "economic liberalization."

Dawa Dondrup seized this opportunity. He bought a second-hand vehicle after resigning from his position as a teacher. After being a long-haul truck driver for four years, he became an employee in a brokerage company. Later, he started to do business in convenience goods along the Nepalese border. In 1996, he capitalized on a new "opportunity." China's United Front held business training for "ethnic minority talent." Dondrup benefited from the training which taught him how to start his own company. He started a public works company one year later and participated in the construction of roads between Sichuan and Tibet.

A new turning point emerged in 2003. Dondrup said, "The public works business was profitable, but I also wanted to help others while making a fortune. Therefore, I entered the agricultural product processing business, allowing me to employ over 10,000 farmers to develop agriculture in several districts and counties."

The production plants of the Tibetan Indigenous Industry Company employs 150 people, 108 of whom specialize in production, with the remaining 40 in sales. Dondrup said he was a proud boss, "because of us, the income of over 200,000 farmers has increased by 78 million yuan in five years."

The portraits of generations of heads of state of the People's Republic of China hang on the wall of the Tibetan Indigenous Industry Company's meeting room. Since 1949, lives have undergone significant change. Officials from China's central government acknowledged, "the current meaning of communism is already different from what it was before. Today, the top priority is the economy." Furthermore, in the field of economics, "seeking ones fortune" is a slogan that even Westerners will not reject.

By People's Daily Online