My book "Qiangtang in the Polar Regions: The Story of Changes in Northern Tibet" was recently published by the China Tibetology Publishing House. Holding this documentary book with the fragrance of ink, I can't help but think of the new changes in the northern Tibetan plateau that I have experienced for more than 30 years.
The picture shows the newly published book "Polar Qiangtang - The Story of Changes in Northern Tibet" (taken by Tang Zhaoming on April 14, 2024)
This book is composed of four parts: "Northern Tibet, Singing Songs, Ecological Tibet, and Feelings for Northern Tibet", and its content is composed of more than 60 stories published in the "Northern Tibet Story" column of China's Tibet Network.
The publication of this book is mainly due to the "Northern Tibetan Stories" column opened for me by China Tibet Network in 2019. It reminded me of the beautiful and unforgettable days in the northern Tibetan plateau, and also gave me the opportunity to see the people, things, things, friendships, and changes in the northern Tibetan plateau with the realistic and truth-seeking brushstrokes of reporters......
Northern Tibet, known as "Qiangtang" in Tibetan, means "the vast northern highlands". It mainly refers to Nagqu City in the Tibet Autonomous Region, which is located on the "roof of the roof of the world", which is a vast land with high cold and lack of oxygen and relatively sparsely populated. Due to the cold and lack of oxygen here, people once described: "Three feet three from the sky, reaching out to touch the sky, no grass grows on the ground, the wind blows the stones and runs, one step three panting, and wearing a cotton jacket in all seasons." ”
As a reporter from Xinhua News Agency, after I walked through this vast and magnificent plateau, my heart was moved by it, but God was taken away by it. I don't know if I was moved by the "lack of oxygen and spirit" of the people here, or because I was attracted by the strange scenery here. In short, it became my "second home" and "spiritual Eden", and for more than 30 years, I fell madly into it.
This book is based on my more than 30 years of interviews and experiences in the northern Tibetan plateau. There are magnificent mountains and rivers, fascinating folklore, unique cultural customs, and all kinds of interesting facts about the animal kingdom; The life and work, ideals and pursuits of the Tibetan and Han pioneers and cadres assisting Tibet are intertwined here, and the development and protection of no man's land......
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the counterpart aid to Tibet. In the chapter "Feelings for Northern Tibet" in the book, I focused on describing the burning feelings of generations of cadres who have been fighting side by side with the Tibetan people, sharing weal and woe. With the vigorous help and counterpart assistance of the state, one brilliant achievement after another has been made here.
In the more than 70 years since the peaceful liberation of Tibet, various parts of the country have successively dispatched batches of cadres in various ways to recruit cadres, assign them to graduates, and provide counterpart support from relevant state departments and various provinces and municipalities in various fields and fields, thus playing a tremendous role in Tibet's various construction undertakings.
The work of aiding Tibet has undergone a process of continuous development, improvement, and perfection. In 1994, the central authorities convened the third forum on work in Tibet, at which the policy of "taking responsibility for each region, providing support to each other, and rotating it on a regular basis" was determined. In 1995, 14 provinces and municipalities in China provided counterpart support to 44 counties in 7 prefectures and cities in Tibet, of which Zhejiang and Liaoning provinces provided counterpart support to Nagqu Prefecture (now Nagqu City), mainly to prefecture-level units with relatively better climate and transportation conditions, as well as Nagqu County (now Xeni District), Amdo County, Ruxian County, Jiali County, Suo County, and Ba Qing County in the eastern and central regions.
The picture shows the herdsmen's housing in Payu Village, Seqing Township, Nierong County, which was built with the assistance of Shenhua Group (taken by Tang Zhaoming on September 27, 2019)
In June 2001, after the Fourth Central Forum on Work in Tibet was held, the whole country once again intensified its efforts to provide support to Tibet, including all 30 counties (districts) in Tibet that had not yet established counterpart support relations. Among them, Shenhua Group (now merged and reorganized with China Guodian Corporation to form China Energy Group) provided counterpart support to Nierong County in north-central Nagqu, and PetroChina, CNOOC, Sinopec and CITIC Group provided counterpart support to the western part of Nagqu, that is, Shuanghu Special Zone (now Shuanghu County), Nima County, Bangor County and Shenzha County in western northern Tibet. As a result, the curtain of assistance to this "forbidden area of human life" was opened.
From 2009 to the midsummer of 2019, I drove several times to the four counties (districts) of Shuanghu, Nima, Bangor and Shenzha in western Tibet. I was pleasantly surprised to see that with the assistance of PetroChina, CNOOC, Sinopec and CITIC Group, the production and livelihood of local herders have undergone profound changes.
The twin lakes are known as the "testing ground for the limits of human physiology" due to their altitude of 5,000 meters above sea level. In 1976, a group of pioneers broke into this no-man's land with the determination and courage to conquer the sky. In 2002, the cadres of PetroChina to Tibet shouldered the lofty mission and came to this barren land to work hard.
The picture shows the construction of Shuanghu County, which was aided by PetroChina (taken by Tang Zhaoming on July 27, 2013)
Today, PetroChina has successively built public service infrastructure such as kindergartens, hospitals, schools, nursing homes, photovoltaic power stations, and cultural squares here, and the urban layout has been basically improved, which has greatly improved the production and living conditions of local herdsmen and effectively promoted local economic and social development.
In the midsummer of 1987, when I first took a bus to the Shuanghu office (now Shuanghu County) to cover the news, there were only a dozen rows of civil houses and a few tents in the town, and dozens of families lived. There are neither canteens nor restaurants. At night, the lighting is a diesel engine that generates electricity, and keeping in touch with the outside world is a transmitter.
At that time, the thousands of kilometers of road from Lhasa to Shuanghu Lake were said to be highways, but in fact they were not artificially built roads, but roads rolled out by car wheels, with potholes and uneven heights, and it was common for cars to be "trapped" in quagmires. Even if all goes well, the ride will take three to five days. It is also common to catch up with the rainy season and walk for ten and a half days.
The picture shows the asphalt road being paved to Shuanghu County (taken by Tang Zhaoming on July 27, 2017)
What is very surprising is that in 2018, the asphalt road in Shuanghu County was officially opened to traffic; Now a day's drive to the county town of Shuanghu, a car trip has become a relaxing and wonderful sightseeing trip. In 2019, Shuanghu County was connected to the national grid, and people no longer have the trouble of power outages......
Due to the higher altitude and more severe cold and hypoxia in western Tibet, the lives of the local herdsmen have not changed much year after year for a long time. Since the central government formulated and implemented the central government's aid to Tibet, the life of herdsmen can really be described as "changing with each passing day".
The picture shows a taxi on the street of Bangor County (taken by Tang Zhaoming on August 2, 2012)
In Bangor County, when I walked through the streets, I found that the row of Yan'an cave-style stone houses built in the 60s of the 20th century and with the couplets of "Industrial Daqing and Agricultural Dazhai" written on both sides had long been demolished and turned into new Tibetan houses with air conditioning.
In 2003, with the assistance of Sinopec, Jijiang Tashi Road and Xingfu Road were built in the streets of Bangor County, which used to be "muddy all the way in rainy days, icy all the way in snowy days, and dark all the way at night". Solar street lights have also been installed on both sides of two wide and neat cement roads. Whenever the lights come on, dozens of street lamps neatly arranged on both sides of the street are like two yellow dragons hovering in the center of the county, stretching into the distance.
Rongma Township is one of the most remote townships in the northern part of Nima County. In 1976, when the no-man's land was developed, Rongma Township moved from Shenzha County to the no-man's land, which was originally under the jurisdiction of Shuanghu and later under the jurisdiction of Nima. In the past, the herdsmen of Rongma Township jokingly referred to their lives as "wearing a Tibetan robe to the end and moving only one cow". Now almost every household in Rongma Township has a motorcycle, and many families have cars and tractors.
The picture shows the herdsmen's newly opened "Holy Land Happy Teahouse" in Xinji Township, Bangor County (taken by Tang Zhaoming on August 3, 2012)
In 2019, I came to Nierong County again with the Plateau Pick-up Car Volunteer Service Group of the Beijing Association of Tibetan Aid Workers. In the past, there were only a few rows of tin roofed mud houses, and the towns were no larger than a small village in the mainland.
The picture shows the prosperous county town of Nie Rong (taken by Tang Zhaoming on September 27, 2019)
Over the years, Shenhua Group has worked hard to improve the lives of herdsmen in the construction projects, and has successively assisted the construction of Payu Village, Seqing Township, Tonglong Village, Nima Township, and Zhiba Village, Nierong Township.
For more than 30 years, I have returned to Nagqu Town, the capital of the northern Tibetan Plateau, again and again, and I have experienced the changes here.
At an altitude of 4,500 meters, Nagqu Town governs the vast land of 430,000 square kilometers of Nagqu City, making it the highest city in the world. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, the Gela Oil Pipeline and other Tibetan "lifelines" all run through here.
The picture shows the old appearance of Nagqu Town, the capital of northern Tibet (taken by Tang Zhaoming in 1988)
In my memory more than 30 years ago, Nagqu Town was almost all white tin roofed mud houses, and was called "Tin City". These tin roofed earthen houses have thin roofs and poor wind resistance, resembling steamers in summer and ice cellars in winter. The whole town has no electricity during the day, and at night it can only be lit by oil-fired generators, and the power generation time is only a few hours a night, which is very inconvenient. The dirt roads that kick up dust as soon as the cars pass, and the lack of water supply and sewerage projects, often have sewage flowing everywhere, and there is no town at all. Today, Nagqu Town is a modern plateau new city, with clean streets, convenient taxis, and rows of high-rise buildings......
The picture shows the new appearance of the streets of Nagqu Town, the capital of northern Tibet (taken by Tang Zhaoming on December 17, 2023)
After the spring breeze of reform and opening up blew all over the northern Tibetan plateau, especially after the counterpart assistance of Liaoning and Zhejiang provinces, the construction of infrastructure in Naqu began to make great strides, and the "three projects" of water supply and drainage and central heating were fully completed and put into use, and the city's appearance changed with each passing day, forming a municipal road network extending in all directions.
At the end of last year, I came to Nagqu City with several entrepreneurs from Beijing, and after donating 1,000 portable multi-functional plateau energy-saving pots, we climbed the Nagqu Railway Station with many steps to prepare for the train to Lhasa. I saw that the huge gantry crane was loading and unloading a car of railway transportation materials, a busy scene.
I seem to see a take-off Nagqu town, and I also seem to see a take-off plateau in northern Tibet! (China Tibet Network text, photo/Tang Zhaoming)