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3 The mist lifts over China's
sky-high railway By Eve Cary
For the Chinese, the ambitious railway
between Qinghai and Lhasa in Tibet - now a year
old - represents both a triumph of Chinese
technology and the realization of "father of
modern China" Sun Yat-sen's dream to link the East
to the resource-rich West. The Chinese have
provided a number of justifications for the
project, including aiding development in the West,
bringing economic benefits to Tibet, and improving
the Tibetan quality of
life.
To critics, these justifications are seen
as an unconvincing cover-up for China's true
intentions for the railway: to homogenize and
colonize Tibet while stripping it of its natural
resources and cultural heritage.
On July
1, 2006, the 85th anniversary of the founding of
the Chinese Communist Party, President Hu Jintao
cut the ribbon to mark the completion of the
railway between Qinghai and Lhasa and the linkage
of Beijing to Tibet. The railway, begun in 2001
and completed at a cost of US$4.2 billion,
required such an impressive combination of
engineering innovations to account for the extreme
elevation and the harsh terrain that Swiss railway
engineers declared the project impossible in
1990s. [1]
The train peaks at more than
5,000 meters at the Tanggula Pass, and 80% of the
line has an elevation above 4,000 meters,
requiring cabin pressurization and extra oxygen
for passengers. The line also crosses 550
kilometers of permafrost, which rises and falls as
it melts during the day and freezes during the
night, leading to such potential problems as track
buckling.
To account for the problem,
Chinese engineers developed a series of solutions
that include elevating more than 160km of track,
[2] installing a permafrost-monitoring system, [3]
and placing cooling pipes that use ammonia into
the permafrost to prevent melting. These
innovations have allowed passengers to cross
4,064km from Beijing to Tibet in just 48 hours,
and for as little as $49 for a hard seat. [4]
A year later, China's reasons for the
railway and long-term plans for Tibet have become
clearer. It is possible to discern some of the
more veiled Chinese goals for Tibet and the role
the train is meant to play in achieving them by
looking at the projects and policies launched
alongside the railway, how the railway complements
these projects and policies, and China's progress
in realizing its ostensible goals.
By
determining China's actual goals for the region,
and how the railway fits into those plans, we can
begin to speculate on the long-term impact of the
railway on Tibet and answer this question: Will
the railway lead to greater prosperity for
Tibetans, or is it the vanguard for less positive
changes to come?
When we look at projects
and policies launched at the same time as the
railway, heavy-transportation projects stand out,
indicating an emphasis on resource extraction. The
central government plans to invest 77.8 billion
yuan (about $10 billion) in 180 projects in Tibet
from 2006-10 as part of its Western Development
Plan. [5] Additionally, China plans to build the
world's highest airport in Ngari and has begun a
rail line from Lhasa to Xigaze, which will be
completed in 2010, [6] and is planning rail lines
from Lhasa to Nyingchi and Xigaze to Yadong. [7]
Lu Yan, an engineer with the Geological
and Minerals Exploitation Bureau in Tibet, noted
that mineral deposits, including gold, copper and
iron, could have a value of more than a trillion
yuan, and Chinese officials recently commented
that Tibet's minerals "could become a cornerstone
of China's economy". [8] There are also plans for
harnessing the power of Tibet's rivers: early last
year, the Huadian Group signed an agreement with
the Tibetan regional government to construct
several hydropower plants. [9]
In light of
the heavy investment in transportation
infrastructure, the railway seems to take on a
completely different significance, especially
since it appears that heavy infrastructure will
comprise a significant portion of China's
development aid in Tibet.
The cultural and
ethnic identity of Tibet has changed dramatically
in recent years, and recently implemented policies
and projects indicate this change is intentional
and that the railway was built to assist with the
achievement of these goals.
Though it is
difficult to ascertain the true ethnic makeup of
Tibet, as figures vary wildly (Chinese figures
claim that 92% of the population is Tibetan, and
just 5% Han Chinese, [10] while one
non-governmental organization pegs the ratio at
7.6 million Han to 6.1 million Tibetans [11]), in
2002, Jin Shixun, deputy director general of the
Tibetan Autonomous Region Development and Planning
Commission, admitted that of 200,000 inhabitants
in Lhasa, the capital, just half were Tibetans,
and noted that he expected the numbers of Han
Chinese to rise. [12]
The train has also
brought about a dramatic increase in tourism. From
July 2006 through June 2007, the railway
transported 1.5 million tourists into Tibet [13] -
an average of more than 4,000 tourists a day - and
the Chinese are aiming to reach 6 million by 2010.
[14] More than 1.1 million tourists visited Tibet
in the first half of 2007: an 83.6% increase over
the same period last year, before the railway was
launched. [15]
These changes, as well as
the railway's role in them, are not coincidental,
but rather represent a larger migration plan,
particularly when considering Hu Jintao's
appointment of Zhang Qingli as Tibet's party
secretary. As former commander of the Xinjiang
Production and Construction Corps, Zhang
helped
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