Villges in SE Tibet prosperous thanks to China's opening-up drive- People's Daily Online

Villges in SE Tibet prosperous thanks to China's opening-up drive

10:30, November 05, 2009

Located on the middle and lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, Zhuo Village, Nang County, Nyingchi Prefecture，southeastern Tibet, has only 50 households of 202 people. On stepping into the village, one can see villa-like buildings, a nice park, an exhibition center and a library.

According to Da Losang, head of the Villagers' Committee, after China initiated the reform and opening-up drive, the village reformed its production setup and redoubled its efforts to develop farming of crops, such as pepper, Chinese red pepper, walnuts and various vegetables, as well as a gardening economy.

Meanwhile, the village has also set up a construction company, and provides transport services and sends out villagers to work elsewhere, in a bid to help them increase their incomes.

Now, the per-capita net income of the villagers hits 8,000 yuan (1,172 U.S. dollars) per year, with 5,000 yuan being in cash, up 20 times from the time when the opening-up drive was launched.

Now all the 50 families live in spacious and bright houses and have access to electricity, clean drinking water, energy-efficient biogas and environment-friendly solar water heaters. In addition, there are asphalt roads linking the village to the county seat and other counties in the prefecture.

"I'm 69 years old and my wife is 60. I worked as a serf at the Ngapoi Manor from 13 to 18. Then for me, living meant suffering, "said Dorje Tsewang, a villager from Ngapoi Village, Gongbo'gyamda County, Nyingchi.

Speaking of the changes that have taken place since China initiated its opening-up drive, Dorje Tsewang's wife got very excited.

"As you can see, our house is even better than that of the housekeeper of the Nagpoi Manor in old Tibet. We can have meat as well as three to four vegetable courses at every meal," she said.

According to Dorje Tsewang, all the 143 villagers enjoy the rural cooperative medical service and those over the age of 80 are granted 1,200 yuan in government subsidies each month.

In recent years, making full use of the Nagpoi Mansor, the village has also developed tourism to help villagers increase their incomes. From January to August, Dorje Tsewang's family earned 10,000 yuan from tourists and the village's tourism revenue reached 420,000 yuan.

Source: Xinhua