Tibetan prefecture marches toward modernization

Yeshe Lhamo works at her cafe in Maqen county, the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Golog, Northwest China's Qinghai province, July 30, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

After quitting her job in an auto parts company in a big city, Yeshe Lhamo decided to return to her rural hometown in the Northwest China plateau province of Qinghai two years ago to open a cafe.

Renowned for its yak butter coffee, the 90-square-meter cafe has become popular among tourists, and makes a profit of 20,000 yuan ($2,800) a month.

Yeshe Lhamo, 27, who hails from Maqen county, in the Golog Tibetan autonomous prefecture, said that as the "hope of my family, I used to study hard to break free from the confines of the mountains", but she now realizes those efforts gave her the means to "come back and build our hometown even better".

Established in 1954, the prefecture, at an average altitude of 4,200 meters, is nestled deep in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The harsh environment, with steep mountains, vast grasslands, thin air and an average annual temperature of — 4 C, made life difficult for the locals, who mainly relied on herding for a living and horses for transportation.

Despite the challenging natural conditions, the past 70 years have seen a remarkable turnaround for Golog.

The prefecture now boasts over 13,000 kilometers of roads, ensuring connectivity to every town and village. It also has an airport, and expressways have been built in recent years.

There have also been 205 farming and animal husbandry industrial bases set up in the prefecture, starkly contrasting with the days when locals lived a nomadic lifestyle.

Through industries like animal husbandry and tourism, the prefecture, with a population of 222,000, achieved a GDP of 6.72 billion yuan last year.

The transformation from tents to apartments and from nomadic herdsmen to settled residents exemplifies Golog's journey from a state of backward feudal serfdom to thriving socialist modernization, said Ye Wanbin, head of the prefecture.

The progress was achieved through hard work. Zhou Wangzhong, deputy director of the prefecture's transport bureau, said building roads in Golog means digging tunnels in mountains and crossing permafrost areas.

"The construction workers had to endure the harsh conditions of high altitude," Zhou said. "No matter how difficult, the roads must be built because they symbolize hope for prosperity for our herdsmen."

As the prefecture advances toward modernity, residents have placed unprecedented emphasis on education, with their children benefiting from improved school facilities and resources.

Ngoje Nyima, who leads a herding life with his two children in Baima county, said that his greatest regret was dropping from school to go herding. Now, he is determined to ensure his children receive a good education. "I want them to go to school and not follow the old path of herding," he said.

With assistance from Shanghai, as part of a national scheme in which developed eastern regions support less developed western regions, Golog has built new schools across the prefecture, with teachers coming from Shanghai to support the teaching efforts.

"In our pastoral area, the most beautiful architecture is mostly schools," said Qi Yaqiong, president of a primary school in Madoi county.

The school has received 21.3 million yuan for the construction of the teaching building, sports ground and other facilities.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in late 2012, 3.8 billion yuan has been spent on education infrastructure projects in Golog, resulting in the construction, upgrade and expansion of 135 schools, a news conference on the 70th anniversary of the prefecture's founding was told last month.

Students from families who were previously registered as poverty-stricken and later lifted out of poverty no longer drop out of school.

"After I graduate from university, I believe my hometown will be even better, and I will choose to go to places where I am needed most, becoming a teacher," said Nedong Lhamo, a senior high school student.