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Tibet poised to embrace brighter future

2011-07-17 22:35

BEIJING - Tasang, a 46-year-old villager in the Doilungdeqen county of Lhasa, capital of Tibet autonomous region, is happy about his current life, one that his parents have never imagined.

Tasang remains excited when he recalls 10 year ago when China's then Vice-President Hu Jintao visited his home while attending celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of Tibet's peaceful liberation.

Hu sent Tasang's family pictures of Chinese leaders Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin and a color television set as gifts.

"Tibet's development will go faster, and your life will become better, too," Hu said while extending good wishes to Tasang's family, Tasang recalls.

Ten years on, Tasang's mud-brick house has been replaced by a two-story new house made of stone, plus a clean and tidy courtyard. His son and daughter have already graduated from universities.

Noting that this year marks the 60th anniversary of Tibet's peaceful liberation, Tasang says his family are leading a happy life that his parents have never imagined.

On May 23, 1951, the Central People's Government of China and the local government of Tibet signed the Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet in Beijing , which symbolized the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

The peaceful liberation of Tibet became an epoch-making tipping point in Tibet's history, marking its transition from autocracy to democracy, from poverty to affluence, and from seclusion to openness.

According to figures provided by financial department of the Tibet's regional government, the central government offered a financial subsidy of 10.47 million yuan to Tibet in 1952, which increased to 53.1 billion yuan ($11.9 billion) last year.

The total fiscal subsidies that the central government offered to Tibet from 1952 through 2010 totaled 301.9 billion yuan.

"For each 100 yuan that Tibet has spent, 93 yuan of that is from the central government's subsidies," said Ai Juntao, director of the financial department in Tibet.

Polices of "pairing assistance" is also introduced to support the development of Tibet.

China's relatively-developed provincial-level regions, central government departments and enterprises owned by the central government had dispatched a total of 4,742 officials to work in assisting Tibet's development from 1994 to 2010.

The supporting provincial-level regions and institutions have totally offered a total assistance of 13.3 billion yuan in cash and materials to Tibet.

Under the leadership of the central government and assistance from across the nation, Tibet over the past six decades has undergone sweeping changes, in terms of economic development and social progress.

Tibet's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) surged from 142 yuan in 1959 to 17,319 yuan in 2010, according to official figures.

The rural per capita net income in Tibet rose to 4,139 yuan in 2010, up 99.2 percent from 2,078 yuan in 2005, while its urban per capita disposable income reached 14,980 yuan in 2010, up 78.1 percent from 8,411 yuan in 2005.

Around 3,100 people who belong to Lhoba ethnic group are living at the southern foot of the Himalayas in Tibet. The Lhoba people were practicing the slash-and-burn method of farming when Tibet just gained peaceful liberation in 1951.

China's central leaders have long been concerned about the livelihood of Lhoba people. President Hu Jintao has over the years kept asking lawmakers from Tibet about living conditions of Lhoba people during annual parliamentary sessions.

Thanks to government support, now in the Lhoba people's inhabitation region, farmers and herdsmen live in comfortable houses and some 90 percent of the households are telephone subscribers and 65 percent have cell phones.

"Tibet is at the rapidest ever period of its development, and people can enjoy the happiest ever life," said Thubten Khedrup, vice chairman of Tibet regional committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

More than that, people have reasons to expect an even brighter future for Tibet for the coming years.

At a high-level meeting on the work of Tibet held in January 2010 which was attended by President Hu Jintao and other senior leaders, Hu said that by 2020 the per capita net income of farmers and herds people in Tibet should be close to the national level.

Tibet's capacity to provide public service and infrastructure must also be comparable to the nation's average by 2020, through more government investment and better management, according to Hu.

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