Western China - news and development

[ahojunk]

New City to be Established in China's Tibet
2016-02-16 14:32:05 | Xinhua | Web Editor: Guan Chao

File photo of Shannan, or Lhoka Prefecture, Tibet Region. [Photo: baidu.com]

China's State Council, or the cabinet, has approved the application of Shannan in Tibet Autonomous Region to become the fifth prefecture-level city in the region, local authorities announced on Tuesday.

As part of the status upgrade, a city committee of the Communist Party of China, government, the people's congress standing committee, and the city's political advisory body will be established.

Located in southeastern Tibet with an average altitude of 3,700 meters, Shannan is the fifth prefecture-level city in Tibet after the regional capital Lhasa, Qamdo, Xigaze and Nyingchi.

Shannan, which borders Indian and Bhutan, is the birthplace of the ancient Tibetan civilization with the region's first King, first palace, first piece of farmland, first temple and first religious script.

 

[ahojunk]

Russia to export wheat to China’s Inner Mongolia
January 19, 2016 INTERFAX, RBTH
China to accept Russian wheat in the dry port of Manzhouli.

An import of Russian wheat. Source: RIA Novosti​

A month after Beijing lifted a near two-decade ban on Russian wheat, Russia will export the commodity to China’s Inner Mongolia region.

The dry port of Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia will be used as a point of transshipment for wheat imported from Russia, the head of the Heilongjiang province's Association of Applied Economics, Zhang Chunjiao, told Interfax.

In December 2015, China lifted a ban on the import of Russian wheat, which was imposed in 1997. The lifting of the ban was a part of a protocol on phytosanitary regulations for imports of Russian agricultural products to China.

In 2016 Russia plans to export up to 350,000 tons of wheat to China, according to Vedomosti.

 

[JSCh]

China’s poverty relief ‘grading scheme’ will rate top officials based on how much they improve life for the poor
The move is the country’s latest effort to lift its people out of poverty by 2020

• PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 17 February, 2016, 10:10pm
• UPDATED : Wednesday, 17 February, 2016, 10:10pm
• Zhuang Pinghui

An elderly beggar sleeps on the street in Shenzhen. Some 71 million people live in poverty in China. Photo: SCMP Pictures​

Senior officials will be judged on a new set of criteria to assess progress on poverty relief efforts.

The move – the country’s latest effort to lift people out of poverty by 2020 – comes months after President Xi Jinping described eliminating rural poverty as the toughest part of building a “moderately prosperous society”.

Despite three decades of stellar economic growth, some 71 million people still live in poverty on the mainland, earning less than 2,300 yuan (HK$2,750) a year. Most of them live in the central and western parts of China.

The criteria, released by the general offices of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, will evaluate provinces’ efforts to identify, help and reduce their impoverished population. It will also check if poverty relief funds are being put to good use.

It will apply to 22 provinces in central and western China, and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development will conduct the assessments annually until 2020.

An independent party, scientific research agency or NGO will conduct inspections, surveys and studies in accordance with the criteria, according to a statement from the offices.

Young girls gather to work on their homework in a village in Guizhou, one of China’s most impoverished provinces. Photo: Xinhua​

Officials who meet the poverty alleviation target will be rewarded, but those who fail to deliver satisfactory results risk punishment. The evaluation will serve as a major reference for assessing government officials’ performances, the statement said.

Shandong University professor Wang Zhongwu said the criteria were a warning for local governments not to neglect their duty of helping the poor, Xinhua reported.

For years, China’s “poverty counties” have enjoyed favourable policies, and officials have been unwilling to rid their counties of the status.

There have also been cases of poverty relief funds being misused or embezzled.

This month, Fujian province announced eight cases of irregularities in the use of such funds.

Last year, 20 Guizhou counties were found to have pocketed or embezzled the funds.

In 2014, 200 million yuan of poverty relief funds in Hainan province were found to have been misused.

China’s poverty relief ‘grading scheme’ will rate top officials based on how much they improve life for the poor | South China Morning Post

 

[JSCh]

House reconstruction completed after 2014 Yunnan quake
Source: Xinhua 2016-02-18 14:51:44

KUNMING, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Yunnan Province has finished rebuilding tens of thousands of homes damaged in the deadly Aug. 3, 2014 earthquake, the authority said on Thursday.

That includes 48,606 houses in Ludian County, the epicenter, with an investment of 2.3 billion yuan (352 million U.S. dollars), according to the post-quake reconstruction headquarters.

All the tents for temporary shelter have been dismantled, it said.

House reconstruction in the adjacent Qiaojia and Huize counties and Zhaoyang District of Zhaotong City has also been completed.

China unveiled a three-year plan in November 2014 to rebuild houses, public utilities, infrastructure and industry. Both central and provincial governments provided financial support.

The 6.5-magnitude quake on Aug. 3, 2014 killed more than 600 people and destroyed about 80,000 homes.

 

[ahojunk]

Thousands to be relocated in China to make way for world's largest radio telescope
The Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope or FAST is designed to detect signs of extraterrestrial life.

The 500-metre Aperture Spherical radio Telescope under construction in Pingtang county in Guizhou province ​

By Jennifer Pak, Shenzhen
1:10PM GMT 17 Feb 2016

More than 9,000 people in China will be forced to leave their homes to make way for the world's largest radio telescope as part of the country’s ambitious hunt for aliens. Authorities in south-western Guizhou province will relocate the families to make way for the launch of the world's largest radio telescope.

The 1.2 billion yuan (£128 million) project is designed to detect signs of extraterrestrial life.

To do that effectively, state-run Xinhua news agency reported that officials will “evacuate” all homes within three miles (5km) of the radio telescope. Li Yuecheng, Guizhou’s senior Communist Party official, said this would help "create a sound electromagnetic wave environment".

Xinhua reported that 2,029 families, a total of 9,110 people from Pingtang County and Luodian County will be affected. It added that officials would compensate each resident 12,000 yuan and ethnic minorities with “housing difficulties” get an additional 10,000 yuan.

A comment on the social media platform Weibo showed surprise at the scale of this relocation. “There are so many people, how can you move them all? Just because you say so? You guys are amazing,” wrote Xia Zhongde in a comment directed at officials.

Guizhou is one of the poorest provinces in China.

The 500-metre Aperture Spherical radio Telescope under construction in Pingtang county in Guizhou province​

Forced relocation to make way for infrastructure projects is common in China and affected residents often complain about the eviction and inadequate compensation. However, coverage of this project in the state-controlled press has been focused on China’s technological advances.

Construction on the 500m Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope or FAST began in 2011. Once it is completed in September, the telescope will measure 500m in diameter, which dwarfs the 300m-diametre Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

In November, Chinese scientists said they successfully tested a key component on their telescope. According to the China Daily, the telescope is unique because of its 4,500 panels, mostly triangular shaped that create a parabolic shape.The panels can move and alter the shape of the antenna, which picks up signals from far off corners in the universe.

"With a larger signal receiving area and more flexibility, FAST will be able to scan two times more sky area than Arecibo, with three to five times higher sensitivity," Li Di, chief scientist with the National Astronomical Observatories told China Daily.

"Ultimately, exploring the unknown is the nature of mankind, which is as visceral as feeding and clothing ourselves. It drives us to a greater future," he said.

 

[ahojunk]

Sino-Myanmar Railway bridge with longest span in the world starts construction
By Huang Jin (People's Daily Online) 13:26, January 25, 2016

The pier and cable crane tower of the Nu River Bridge. (Photo/Xinhua)

The pier and cable crane tower of the Nu River Bridge. (Photo/Xinhua)​

Construction begins on the Nu River Bridge, a project along the Sino-Myanmar Railway, on Jan. 24. It will be the steel truss railroad bridge with the longest span in the world.

Located at the junction of the Shidian county and Longling county in southwest China's Yunnan Province, the Nu River Bridge will have a total length of 1,024 meters. The height of the bridge above the river will be 211 meters. The bridge will mainly use steel truss arch beams with a span of 490 meters.

Yan Shuxin, a director from the constructors, China Railway 18 Bureau Group, said that due to restrictions arising from the special topography of the Nu River and Gaoligong mountains, the railway station will be built upon a deck. The width of the deck will reach 24.9 meters, which will be the widest among the same type of railway bridges in China. The construction of the Nu River Bridge will use over 46,000 tons of steel. It will require rare precision in the manufacturing of the steel trusses, and pose high risks in terms of assembling steel trusses at high-altitude.

The Sino-Myanmar Railway linking China's Kunming and Myanmar's Yangon covers a total length of 1,920 kilometers, among which, a 690-km-long section is in the territory of China. A 350-km-long railway from Kunming to Dali in China has been built. With the Nu River Railway Bridge, the 340-km-long railway linking Dali and Ruili will help to reduce the current travel time of 7 hours to about 2 hours by train.

 

[JSCh]

Karakoram Highway: Path to riches for China, Pakistan
By Yang Ziman (China Daily) Updated: 2016-02-22 10:12

China Communications Construction Company Ltd workers prepare tunnel-supporting steel frame at a construction site along the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan.CHINA DAILY​

Karakoram Highway project to transform Pakistan and generate handsome returns on Chinese investment

The improvement of the Karakoram Highway of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has greatly boosted transportation of farm produce and tourism in the north of Pakistan, said top executives of China Communications Construction Company Ltd or CCCC that has aided the renovation.

The highway, which used to be open for only four months every year, runs through the year now.

"The improved road has enhanced the economic ties between China and Pakistan. It is a road leading to abundant wealth and prosperity for the Pakistani people," said Sun Ziyu, vice-president of CCCC, a major Chinese State-owned enterprise principally engaged in the design and construction of transportation infrastructure.

"A smooth road plays an important role in China's investment in agriculture, infrastructure and energy in Pakistan. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a key hub along the Belt and Road Initiative since it connects the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road," said Sun.

The Karakoram Highway is the northern section of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a $46-billion project that connects Gwadar Port in southwestern Pakistan to China's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region via a vast network of highways and railways.

The 1,224-kilometer Karakoram Highway is one of the highest paved international roads in the world. It connects Xinjiang of China and Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain range at a height of 4,693 metres from the sea level.

The construction of the highway started in 1960s with China's aid, and finished in 1979. It is the only land way to connect the north of Pakistan with the capital Islamabad and the southern coastal regions. It is also the only route on the land between China and Pakistan.

A bird's-eye view of Karakoram Highway of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.CHINA DAILY​

CCCC took over the project to improve Karakoram Highway in 2006. The section to be improved, which measures 335 kilometers, was completed and reopened for use in September 2013.

"The highway goes through an extremely complicated and dangerous region nicknamed the disaster museum," said Wang Jingchun, the overseas affairs manager of CCCC. "Unpredictable catastrophes such as avalanches, landslides, rockfalls, earthquakes, cave-in incidents occur from time to time. When the construction first started in 1960s, more than 700 workers lost their lives in the process."

In 2010, a large landslide hit the midsection of the Karakoram Highway, which formed a giant barrier lake of about 300 million cubic meters, cutting the road in half as it flooded 20 kilometers of the road.

"Since the dam is on the upper stream of the river, it will flood all the villages in the downstream section if it breaks," said Chen Haipeng, deputy manager of China Road and Bridge Corp, which was responsible for the landslide dam solution.

"We invited a lot of top Chinese engineers to the site to find a solution to the problem of the landslide dam," said Pang Ming, manager of the improvement project. "Eventually we had to realign the route by constructing five tunnels with a total length of 7 kilometers through the mountains, which have been named the 'China-Pakistan Friendship Tunnels'."

The improvement project has created more than 10,000 jobs for the Pakistani people, who have been trained in the process to serve as talents for future infrastructure construction in the region. It has linked more than 15 million people in the region with faster access to the outside world.

Despite the technical challenges, the Chinese constructors have also helped the villages along the highway in building roads and bridges, maintaining power plants, diverting river routes, and building schools and orphanages. They have actively participated in the rescue and reconstruction work in times of natural disasters.

"As the only 'all weather' strategic partner of China, Pakistan is China's important gateway to South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia as well as the Islamic world," said Li Xiguang, deputy director of the Tsinghua School of Communication and Journalism.

 

[JSCh]

Tibet to build China's highest resort
By Palden Nyima and Da Qiong in Lhasa ( China Daily ) Updated: 2016-02-24 08:04:33

Tibetan skiers practice at Wanlong Ski Resort in Chongli, Hebei province, on Feb 17 during the Sohu Cup national ski mountaineering event.[Photo provided to China Daily]​

China's highest ski resort has been earmarked for Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region, as part of its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).

Surrounded by snow-capped mountains and glaciers, Tibet has many natural advantages for developing a skiing and mountaineering industry.

It has five mountains higher than 8,000 meters, more than 70 mountains higher than 7,000 meters, and no fewer than 1,000 mountains higher than 6,000 meters.

"With an average altitude of 4,500 meters above sea level, Tibet is rich in unique natural resources for ice and snow sports," said Nyima Tsering, deputy director of the region's sports bureau.

Born in Tibet's eastern Qamdo prefecture, 47-year-old Nyima has spent the past 15 years honing local mountaineering expertise, turning the region into a center of Himalayan mountaineering culture and promoting it as a paradise for outdoor sports.

He also serves as the head of the Tibet Mountaineering Guide School and has climbed to the top of Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West, three times.

It is important to have a ski resort in the region's capital, Nyima said, because it will provide a stage for younger generations to learn the basics of winter sports before attempting the many natural snow-capped mountains in the area.

"Just as China is new to the winter sports game, Tibet also has a long way to go," said Nyima, adding that he hoped "to see the faces of Tibetan skiers" at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

A contract has been signed between the sports bureaus of Tibet and China's Heilongjiang province to aid in the training of Tibetan talent.

Azha, a coach with the team, said he believed there was a lot of potential for Tibetans to do well in winter sports.

He gave the example of Dorje, one of four Tibetan skiers who participated in the recent 2016 Sohu Cup national ski mountaineering event and came eighth in the men's event.

"These four Tibetan skiers were only trained for 90 days, and they did a good job. We can make it in the future," he added.

 

[ahojunk]

Surprise boom town sprouts in rural Western China
Editor: Li Kun 丨CCTV.com
02-23-2016 16:08 BJT

By Tom McGregor, CNTV Commentator

Much of Western China remains rustic and sparsely-populated. Rural farm villages dot the landscape, where a modern-day world seems far away. A traveler may feel transported to a different era, where they have landed into an ancient China dominated by an agricultural society.

Beijing has implemented a "Go West" national economic policy more than a decade ago to encourage manufacturing businesses to shift operations from the prosperous east, south and north regions of the country and re-open them in the West.

Progress has been slow and steady, since the western region still needs more infrastructure, such as bigger highways, railways and transport hubs to keep deliveries of goods running smoothly.

Meanwhile, farmers are beginning to witness some growing prosperity, as they utilize new science & technology methods with enhanced agro-machinery to boost crop production and that has led to rising incomes.

Fufeng village emerges into big city

The town of Fufeng in Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province, northwest China is located 120 kilometers west of Xi'an. For an outsider visiting, the surrounding region appears to be an isolated outpost.

You find beautiful scenery with rolling hills in the distance, but this is a land where farmers labor and toil. Nevertheless, Fufeng town has transformed from a non-descript farm village into a boom town in just a few short years.

Even as recently as 2012, CNTV's Panview visited Fufeng and only saw a small grocery store, hospital, PC room and motel in operation. But, Fufeng has gotten much bigger, where one can see rows and rows of high-rise apartment complexes, roads with traffic jams during rush hour, as well as crowded pedestrian streets and shops.

The ghost town that wasn't

Meanwhile, the global media has spotlighted numerous stories of alleged "ghost towns" in China, cities where large apartment complexes were built but nobody is living there. And yes, some property developers have made bad investments, but other cities are blooming.

Fufeng is one such town. On paper, building a city there does not seem brilliant. Nearly all residents in the surrounding area have low incomes, either as farmers or shopkeepers. However, they are outstanding savers with close-knit families.

It's their strong family values that make Fufeng so prosperous. Farmers are hardworking and they aspire to enjoying better lives too.

Hence, when major property developers announced a few years ago that they would construct new apartment high-rises, real estate agents had easily signed up many buyers, willing to pay 100,000+RMB just for a down payment.

Family love means family wealth

Chinese farmers may struggle to earn high incomes even during good years, but they save as much as they can. They instill dreams in their children and encourage them to get a proper education and find better jobs.

Accordingly, Children are expected to grow up and would likely migrate to cities for better opportunities, and then send back some hard-earned money to their parents.

Then when they get married, families from both sides of the bride and groom are expected to help the newlywed couple buy a home and furniture. Young families can now move into those newly-built apartment complexes in Fufeng Town.

Additionally, city officials made a smart move by building wider roads, permit architects to design stylish buildings and urban planners have blended ancient Chinese architecture with a trendy modern European look. You can find a number of parks where children can play freely.

Shoppers find plenty of imports

Visitors to Fufeng may uncover an added surprise. Many small shops focus on selling imported goods, particularly imported food from Europe, which are popular for local residents. There's a number of bakeries and shops that sell food imported from Europe.

A few other clothing stores sell clothes designed by European brands. Efforts to encourage import buying can entice even more direct investments from foreign-based retailers and companies. Perhaps, later on, foreigners may consider living in Fufeng Town if they wish to escape the hustle and bustle of China's major metropolitan areas.

Looking west for China's future

China's eastern and southern coast regions are already developed. Nevertheless, the western zone has a long way to go to urbanize, but Fufeng Town is setting an example as a "Can Do" city and that should inspire many other farmers living elsewhere to move ahead on progress and modernization.

Fufeng is a town rising in prominence and more deserving of greater recognition.

Tmcgregorchina@yahoo.com

WeChat ID: +86 13439758718

( The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Panview or CCTV.com. )

Panview offers an alternative angle on China and the rest of the world through the analyses and opinions of experts. We also welcome outside submissions, so feel free to send in your own editorials to "globalopinion@vip.cntv.cn" for consideration.

 

[JSCh]

Tibet to invest 75-mln-USD on sky burial sites protection
Source: Xinhua 2016-03-09 15:28:18

LHASA, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's plateau region of Tibet will spend 490 million yuan (75 million U.S. dollars) over the next five years on the repair and protection of sky burial sites, a traditional Tibetan funeral practice, local authorities said Wednesday.

Sky burial is a Tibetan and Mongolian tradition, whereby the dead are fed to predatory birds, in place of cremation, so that their souls may ascend to heaven.

In total 156 sky burial sites will receive funding. The regional government will invest 165 million yuan this year on 47 sky burial sites, mostly close to a lamasery. Each site will be assigned 3 to 5 million yuan to finance repair and protection work, according to the regional civil affairs department.

Wild dogs, burial waste, bumpy roads and a lack of facilities for mourners are affecting the practice, said Xu Jiali, deputy head of the regional civil affairs department who has visited 60 sky burial sites during the preliminary investigation.

The funding will cover the construction of roads, fences, reception rooms, mortuaries and furnaces to burn waste, said Xu.

 

[JSCh]

Across China: Free education benefits Kirgiz children
Source: Xinhua 2016-03-11 19:28:13

URUMQI, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Pazla Simayel, the only teacher at a remote village school since 1989, has seen his students leave the school over the past three years. However, he said he was happy to see that.

Pazla Simayel, 46, used to teach Kirgiz language and maths to students from grade one to grade six at Sogat school in Akto County in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. He now looks after preschoolers.

The school, little more than a tent with a worn-out blackboard, was combined with another 62 primary schools scattered across the mountainous areas into two new schools in the county seat.

Akto County, a heartland for the Kirgiz ethic minority, provides free tuition, buses and accommodation for students.

Elberdi,the school bus driver, said it usually takes about 20 days to pick up more than 5,000 primary and middle school students from the mountains and take them to their schools when each semester begins or send them back home for holiday.

At first Pazla Simayel was depressed to see his children leaving him, but was relieved to see them studying in classrooms with decent facilities and heated dormitories.

"With poor education, most of my students were trapped in poverty, now they have opportunities and have high hopes," he said. He used to take several days to bring textbooks to the school himself, either on a donkey or a horse.

Xiaobaiyang Bilingual Primary School is one of the schools to receive the Kirgiz children. The number of students has increased from 380 in 2013 to 2,484 now, most of whom come from the mountainous pasturing area, said Yan Xubo, Party secretary of the school.

Yan said he was sad when he discovered how many children never had the chance to eat vegetables or eggs and could not even write their names in mandarin Chinese.

Now the Kirgiz children enjoy free eggs and milk, flush toilets and water heaters, as well as learning to read in mandarin Chinese, he said.

Akto invested 865 million yuan on education in 2015 (133 million U.S. dollars), accounting for nearly a third of its total expenditures.

Free education has lifted the enrollment rate of senior high schools to 89 percent from less than 40 percent five years ago, said Li Xiangdong, head of the county education bureau.

 

[JSCh]

With multiple mega projects completed, China plans more in its west
Source: Xinhua | 2016-03-11 17:07:52 | Editor: huaxia

A combined picture shows some of the key projects in China's west. (Xinhua)​

BEIJING, March 11 (Xinhua) -A series of major infrastructures projects were highlighted in China' s draft outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) presented to its top legislature's ongoing annual session.

Many of the projects, including a new railway linking Sichuan and Tibet, were located in the country' s vast western areas, where development is relatively backward compared with their coastal peers.

To curb the imbalance, China has invested trillions of yuan in developing the west for decades, building many remarkable projects, such as high-speed railways, highways, airports and electricity facilities.

The projects contributed a lot to improving the daily life of local residents, boosting tourism and enhancing the country' s exchange with its neighbors in central and south Asia.

The following is a collection of such major projects completed during the previous five-year plans. First is the 1,776-km high-speed railway line linking Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province, and Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It was completed in 2014.

Among the maga projects completed is the Guozigou Bridge in Xinjiang's Huocheng County, looked as follows.

And more projects are now operational, like Lizigou Grand Bridge in Weining County of southwest China's Guizhou Province. The bridge, which measures 1,032 meters long with three main spans, is one of two massive structures on the Neijiang-Kunming railway line.

Or the Lhasa-Gonggar Airport highway in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

Or the largest hydropower station in Tibet to harness the rich water resources of the Yarlung Zangbo River and empower the development of the electricity-strapped region.

Or more as follows, which do you like?

QINGHAI, March 17, 2014 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on March 16, 2014 shows a view of the 10-megawatts solar power station in Delingha of northwest China's Qinghai province. The solar project, connected to the grid in July 2013, is the first phase of a tower-type solar-thermal power plant with the total capacity of 50 megawatts in the Qaidam Basin of Qinghai. (Xinhua/Zhang Hongxiang)

LHASA, Dec. 9, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on Nov. 8, 2011 shows electric pylons in Amdo County, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The Qinghai-Tibet electricity network project was completed and put into use then, by which the power grid of the Tibetan plateau is connected with power lines in other parts of China. (Xinhua/Wen Tao)

 

[JSCh]

ALTAY, Aug. 16, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Several wind powered generators are seen at a wind field in Altay in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, Aug. 13, 2011. The wind energy supplies clean energy along with the protection of local environment. (Xinhua/Zhang Wencheng)

YUSHU, May 13, 2013 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on May 10, 2013 shows electric transmission towers in Yushu, northwest China's Qinghai Province. A power grid construction was just finished to ease local electricity shortage. Yushu had its isolated grid severely damaged in the magnitude 7.1 earthquake in April 2010, claiming 2,698 lives and injuring over 12,000. (Xinhua/Wang Bo)

NANNING, July 11, 2014 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on Dec 31, 2013 shows the bird' s eye view of Heichi airport in southeast China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Hechi airport came into service in 2014. (Xinhua/Gao Dongfeng)

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

To develop Tibet's town and village, we need more powerful dams along the Yarlung Zangbo River.

 

[JSCh]

Cloud platform donated to digitalize Tibet's basic education
Source: Xinhua 2016-04-12 18:56:20

BEIJING, April 12 (Xinhua) -- A cloud platform designed to digitalize education was donated to 200 primary, secondary schools and kindergartens in Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday.

The platform, worth 60 million yuan (9.28 million U.S. dollars), was donated by Beijing-based technology company "Yunxiao," or cloud school, through the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (CSCLF) and the Tibet Development Fund during a ceremony in Beijing.

The cloud platform is expected to improve campus administration using technology while providing a digital teaching and learning platform.

Jing Dunquan, vice chairperson of the CSCLF, said educational IT development should be used to close the digital divide among different regions, cities and rural areas while giving more children access to quality educational resources so that they can change their fate through education.