Continuous progress in Xizang pushes people's livelihood to new heights

LHASA — Kitted out in a brand-new Tibetan outfit, Chide packed all the documents she had collected from her field research and set off on a journey of some 3,000 km. Her destination: Beijing.

The Tibetan from Xizang autonomous region in Southwest China is a national lawmaker attending the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress, the national legislature. She is one of the 16 ethnic minority deputies among the 24-member Xizang delegation to the 14th NPC.

As she is the Party chief of a village in the city of Nagqu, it is no surprise that her proposal is related to the high-quality development of husbandry and rural revitalization — both pressing issues for the people she represents.

"As long as we work hard, we can achieve the target of common prosperity, along with the rest of our country and our region," she said.

After considerable efforts, Xizang has achieved significant economic development by optimizing its industrial structure, resulting in tangible benefits for residents.

In 2023, the gross domestic product of the region expanded 9.5 percent year on year to nearly 239.3 billion yuan (about $33.7 billion). The added value of the service sector accounted for 54.1 percent of the regional GDP and contributed a 57.6 percent share to economic growth.

Tsering, 49, has benefited from the growth in tourism. He hails from Tashi Chodan, a community known for Tibetan operas and its proximity to tourist resorts such as Trandruk Temple and the mausoleum of the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo in the city of Shannan. Tsering has refurbished his house and turned it into a homestay with five guest rooms.

"Our guests usually visit nearby resorts in the daytime, enjoy Tibetan opera performances in the evening and then spend the night here," said Tsering, adding that the guest rooms were fully booked during the busiest time.

Nyima Tsering, director of the community committee, said his community raked in a tourism revenue of 1.85 million yuan in 2023, including 1.04 million yuan from the homestay business.

Basang, 75, from Khesum community in Shannan, has felt great changes over the past decades. A son of serfs in old Xizang, neither rice nor vegetables graced his family's dinner table during his childhood, and they had no doctors to turn to when they were sick.

Khesum was the first village in Xizang to launch the democratic reform in 1959, when all serfs were emancipated from feudal serfdom.

Now, he receives a medical check free of charge on an annual basis, and has healthcare.

"We don't have to leave our community for minor ailments like stomach ache," he said, adding that they also have a family doctor who offers visiting medical services.

According to a white paper issued last year, Xizang has a comprehensive public healthcare system covering regular basic medical services, maternity and childcare, disease prevention and control, and Tibetan medicine and therapies. The average life expectancy in the region increased from just 35.5 years in 1951, the year of the region's peaceful liberation, to 72.19 years now.

The region is also the first provincial-level region in China to provide 15 years of publicly funded education, from kindergarten to senior high school, standing in stark contrast to the situation 70 years ago when access to education was limited to the nobility.

Fourth grader Padma Tenzin from Khesum goes to school in the urban area of the city, leaving home every Sunday and returning the following Friday. Not only does he study Tibetan, Chinese, English, math, science and other subjects, but can also choose to attend extracurricular classes, including basketball, soccer, music and dance.

Like many other children in the rest of China, the 9-year-old likes playing basketball and watching cartoons on a tablet computer.

"The cartoons of 'Boonie Bears' and 'GG-Bond' are among my favorites. They are both in Tibetan," he said with a smile.