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Tibetan houses: one of the most beautiful scenes in Ganzi
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-09 17:25

Tibetan houses: one of the most beautiful scenes in Ganzi

The picture taken on March 24, 2009 shows a beautiful view of Jiaju Tibetan Village in Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze in southwest China's Sichuan Province. [Xinhua Photo]

To encourage residents to receive tourists and increase their incomes, the Danba County Government has extended low-interest loans to its residents to help them renovate their Tibetan buildings, on condition: the traditional appearance of the houses should remain unchanged.

Nowadays, the houses of Baosheng and his neighbors are becoming better and better, with spacious and bright rooms, richer, more delicate carvings and decorations. Hearths made of cement and decorated with white ceramic tiles are easier to tidy up. Baosheng's house has been praised greatly by Chinese and foreign tourists from home and aboard.

In the 1980s, Chong'eng Tamu and her daughter opened a highland barley distillery, which made them better off. A decade ago, they already built a two-story elegant and decent Tibetan style house. Nowadays, the house would cost at least one million yuan.

With the improvement of people's livelihood, Tibetans have begun to pose a higher requirement for the quality of their houses. Silang Zhangxi said some of his clients were very careful about details and asked to have their houses decorated with golden powder.

"In the past, only monasteries could afford this. But this also shows that people are becoming prosperous."

In present-day Daofu County, Tibetan style "villa groups" and modern buildings co-exist. In the county seat, just around the corner of Tibetan houses, there are the bustling business streets. Hotels, shops, restaurants… modern buildings and plain and decent Tibetan houses are just hundreds of meters away.

There were no decent counties when Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture was established in 1950. However, by 2007, the urbanization rate of the prefecture reached 18.26 percent. Cities are expanding and living conditions have greatly improved. The traditional Tibetan buildings are regarded as the one of the most beautiful scenes in each city or county.

 

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