Full Text: Tibet's development a historical necessity

(Xinhua) Updated: 2015-04-15 11:13

- The development path of new Tibet guarantees the common prosperity of all ethnic groups.

With the full support of the central government and the generous assistance of other ethnic groups from the rest of the country, the people of Tibet have worked together to achieve widespread success.

There have been substantial improvements in the quality of life. In 2013, the Gross Regional Product (GRP) of Tibet reached 80.767 billion yuan; the per-capita net income of farmers and herdsmen was 6,578 yuan and the per-capita disposable income of urban dwellers was 20,023 yuan. The overwhelming majority of Tibetans have now shaken off poverty that had dogged them for centuries to enjoy a relatively comfortable life. The low-income housing projects for farmers and herdsmen that were initiated in 2006 have been completed, and a total of 460,300 low-income houses were built, providing safe modern housing to 2.3 million farmers and herdsmen. The average per-capita floor space of farmers and herdsmen was 30.51 sq m, and that of urban dwellers reached 42.81 sq m.

In 2013, the population of Tibet rose to 3.1204 million, and average life expectancy was 68.2 years. These represent a tripling and a doubling of the respective figures from the early 1950s. According to the "CCTV Economic Life Survey" jointly sponsored by the National Bureau of Statistics, China Post Group, and China Central Television (CCTV), Lhasa has topped the "happiness index" for five consecutive years.

There has been comprehensive development in Tibet's education, health and social security. The region took the lead in China to provide its residents with a 15-year free education (three-year preschool, six-year primary school, three-year junior middle school and three-year senior middle school); 99.59 percent of school-age children are enrolled at primary level; the gross enrollment rates for junior middle school and senior middle school have reached 98.75 percent and 72.23 percent, respectively. The quality of the population is also improving. Illiteracy has been wiped out among the young and the middle-aged, and the average length of time spent in education for people above the age of 15 has reached 8.1 years. A basic medical and health service system has been established. Tibet now has 6,660 medical and health institutions. Free medical services are now available to all farmers and herdsmen in the autonomous region, with the relevant annual subsidy being raised to 380 yuan per person in 2014. Tibet is the first area in China to provide free physical examinations for urban and rural residents.

The drive for modernization continues. Modern industry and infrastructure are improving rapidly. A distinctive modern industrial system has been established that is adapted to the needs and conditions in Tibet and comprises more than 20 industries, in addition to the full development of a new energy system that is based on hydraulic power features complementation of geothermal, wind and solar power as well as other new energy sources. In 2013, the total installed generating capacity reached 1.28 million kw, and 100 percent of the local population was ensured access to electric power supply. A comprehensive transportation system including road, aviation, railway, and pipeline transportation has been gradually developed and improved. In 2014, every county and township now has highway access; 62 of the region's 70 counties are accessible by asphalted roads. The rail link connecting Lhasa and Shigatse - an extension to the Qinghai-Tibet Railway - is now in service. Tibet has now five airports served by eight airlines; and 45 domestic air routes link Tibet with other parts of China. A network of optical cable, satellite and long-distance telephone lines has been established in the region, and all places above county level now have 3G coverage. Every township has broadband service and every village has telephone services. By the end of 2013, the penetration rates of telephones and Internet stood at 98.1 percent and 37.4 percent, respectively.

Tibet is becoming increasingly open to the outside world. Keeping abreast with other parts of China, Tibet has gradually evolved from being a closed type to being one that is open and market-oriented. Tibet has been fully incorporated into the national market system. While products from all over the nation and across the world flow into Tibet, the region's own characteristic products also move in large quantities to other parts of the country and further afield. In 2013, the total value of Tibet's foreign trade reached 3.319 billion U.S. dollars; and the region hosted 12.91 million tourists, including 220,000 from overseas.

- The development path of new Tibet facilitates the inheritance and spread of the positive aspects of traditional Tibetan culture.

Tibet has succeeded in preserving the spoken and written Tibetan language. The region enacted three provisions in 1987, 1988 and 2002, respectively, to provide a solid legal base for the study, use and development of the Tibetan language and script. Bilingual education, with Tibetan as the principal language, is widespread in Tibet. Primary schools in all farming and pastoral areas and some urban areas use both Tibetan and Chinese in teaching, but mostly Tibetan for the major courses. Middle schools also use both languages, and Tibetan classes in middle schools in inland areas also have Tibetan language course. In the national college entrance exams, it is permissible to answer questions using Tibetan script. Computer coding of Tibetan characters has reached national and international standards. Editing, laser phototypesetting and electronic publishing in Tibetan are extensively adopted. Tibetan is widely used in political life. Resolutions, laws and regulations adopted at people's congresses at all levels, and official documents and declarations published by people's governments at various levels and their subsidiary departments in Tibet are published in both Tibetan and Chinese. In judicial proceedings, Tibetan is used to try cases involving litigants from the Tibetan group and for the relevant legal documents. While preserving and developing the Tibetan language, the state also popularizes standard Chinese throughout the country, including Tibet, so as to promote economic and cultural exchanges between ethnic groups and regions.

The outstanding traditional Tibetan culture has been preserved and handed down. Tibet has issued the Regulations of the Tibet Autonomous Region on the Protection of Cultural Relics, and issued the Notice of the Tibet Autonomous Region People's Government on Strengthening the Protection of Cultural Relics, in addition to the enactment of various other relevant laws and regulations. Currently, Tibet has 4,277 cultural relic sites, including 55 key cultural heritage sites under state protection, 391 under regional protection, and 978 under city- or county-level protection, as well as three state-level historical and cultural cities (Lhasa, Shigatse and Gyangtse). The Potala Palace, the Norbulingka and Jokhang Temple are on the World Heritage List. Tibet Museum is a national A-class museum. The Tibet Archives boasts a collection of more than 3 million documents of historic importance. Tibet has 76 items listed as state-class intangible cultural heritage items, 323 as regional ones, 76 as city-level ones, and 814 as county-level ones, in addition to 68 representative trustees of such cultural items at the national level and 350 at the regional level. There are 117 Tibetan opera troupes. Tibetan opera and the Gesar epic are included in UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Modern public cultural services also extend across an ever-widening area; radio and TV coverage has reached 94.38 percent and 95.51 percent, respectively. Every administrative village or Buddhist temple in Tibet now boasts a library appropriate to its needs. In 2011, Tibet set up a special fund to support the development of cultural industries.

Citizens enjoy full freedom of religious belief. In Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism, Bon, Islam, and Catholicism coexist with a number of other religions, and within Tibetan Buddhism there are different sects such as Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug. The freedom of religious belief of various ethnic groups is respected and protected by the Constitution and the laws, with all religions and sects being treated equally. This equates to true religious tolerance. No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or disbelieve in, any religion, nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion. Currently, Tibet has 1,787 sites for different religious activities, over 46,000 resident monks and nuns, and 358 Living Buddhas; there are four mosques and over 3,000 Muslims, and one Catholic church and 700 believers. Traditional religious activities such as learning the scriptures and debate, promotion through degrees, initiation as a monk or nun, abhisheka (empowerment ceremony), sutra chanting, and self-cultivation are held on a regular basis, while ceremonial activities are also held at important religious festivals in accordance with conventions. Ordinary believers usually have a scripture hall or a Buddha shrine at home, and such religious activities as circumambulation while reciting scriptures, Buddha worship, and inviting lamas or nuns from monasteries to hold religious rites are normally practiced.

Living Buddha reincarnation is a succession system unique to Tibetan Buddhism and is respected by the state. Through traditional religious rituals and historical conventions like drawing lots from a golden urn, the Tibet Autonomous Region searched for and identified the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama, and conferred and enthroned the 11th Panchen Lama with the approval of the State Council in 1995. The State Administration for Religious Affairs issued the Measures on the Management of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas of Tibetan Buddhism in 2007 to further institutionalize the reincarnation process of Living Buddhas. Since democratic reform in Tibet, over 60 incarnated Living Buddhas have been confirmed through historical conventions and traditional religious rituals.

- The development path of new Tibet is sustainable.

Serving as the important ecological safety barrier in China, Tibet's role is significant not only in Asia but on a global level. In recent decades, in keeping with economic, social and natural laws, Tibet has avoided development at the expense of the natural environment. Instead it has followed a sustainable path compatible with the harmonious coexistence of economy, society, and ecological environment. Guided by the Scientific Outlook on Development, the central government lays great emphasis on environmental protection, deeming it as an important part of development. Aiming at the strategic objectives of building the ecological safety barrier as well as ecological and beautiful Tibet, the regional government strives to establish and follow a new sustainable pattern of development on the Tibet plateau.

Over the years, both central and regional governments have devised and implemented a series of plans for ecological conservation in Tibet to make overall planning for eco-environmental protection and economic construction of the region. In the National Plan for Eco-environmental Improvement and the National Program for Eco-environmental Protection, formulated by the government in 1998 and 2000 respectively, a separate plan with specific protection measures was drawn up to make the freeze-thawing zone on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau one of the country's eight major areas for ecological improvement. In 2009, the national government approved the Plan for Ecology Safety Barrier Protection and Improvement in Tibet (2008-2030), aiming to complete the Tibet ecology safety barrier by 2030 with an investment of RMB 15.8 billion. The Tibet Autonomous Region has also worked out and implemented a series of plans for eco-environmental protection and construction, including the Eco-environmental Improvement Plan, Plan for Water and Topsoil Conservation, Comprehensive Improvement Plan for the Environment in Farming and Pastoral Areas, and Ecological Function Zoning. Tibet has also further intensified efforts in eco-environmental protection by way of legislation, such as amending the Regulations of the Tibet Autonomous Region for Environmental Protection, and issuing the Methods of the Tibet Autonomous Region on Oversight and Management of Eco-environmental Protection.

Both the central and regional governments have adopted quite a number of strict measures for environmental protection. Projects have been carried out to protect natural forests, to reforest cultivated land, and to restore grassland by prohibiting grazing, as have grassland ecological environment improving programs like conservation and recovery of natural grassland, settlement of nomads, man-made grassland, and deteriorated pastureland improvement. A national fund was launched to compensate costs of public forest management. Efforts are being made in the areas of desertification control, water and soil conservation, comprehensive control of the drainage basins of small rivers, and prevention of geological disasters. Tibet's regional government is very prudent in developing industry, imposing strict constraints on industries that are heavy consumers of energy, and those which cause severe pollution or issue heavy emissions. It advocates the use of clean energy, and endeavors to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. The central and regional governments have adopted strict measures to prohibit exploitation of mineral resources. In 2013, the Tibetan government issued and began implementing regulations on supervising eco-environmental protection, regulations on supervising the exploration and exploitation of mineral resources, and measures on evaluating environmental conservation, further controlling the access to mineral development licenses through stricter environmental standards. The autonomous region has brought exploration and exploitation of mineral resources under its unified management, and vetoes any project that fails to meet the environment standards.

Thanks to concerted efforts made by all parties concerned, great progress has been made in Tibet's ecological improvement. Currently, its nature reserves, which amount to 413,700 sq km, or 33.9 percent of the total land area of the region, lead the whole country. Its forest coverage rate reaches as high as 11.91 percent, and the region tops the whole country in total growing wood stock. Tibet boasts 6 million ha of wetlands, leading all the other areas of China. All the region's 125 species of wild animals and 39 wild plants under state protection are well cared for in the established nature reserves. By the end of 2012, Tibet had 85.11 million ha of natural grassland in total, of which 69.1 million ha was available for grazing. Tibet remains one of the areas with the best environmental quality in the world, with most parts of the region maintaining their original natural state.