The Qinghai-Tibet railway under construction will play a decisive role in the economic developmentof the Tibet Autonomous Region, southwest China, according to researchers from government think-tanks.

Completion of the Qinghai-Tibet railway will bring the hinterland region into China's national railroad network, substantially increase inbound and outbound cargo shipping from the region by slashing transport cost, and help attract more tourists from outside Tibet, say researchers with the Research

Institute of Industrial Economy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences.

The railway will provide fine infrastructure for the sustainable development of Tibet and create conditions for the industrial restructuring of the region, according to research reports about the influence of the project on the social and economic development of Tibet.

With an area of 1.2 million square kilometers and an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters, Tibet is dubbed the roof of the world and under-developed economically mainly because of a transport bottleneck, as it is China's only provincial region withno access to railways.

Liu Kai, a researcher from the CASS Research Institute of Industrial Economy, says that the quicker the regional economy develops, the more it will rely on transport links with the outside world.

Tibet now suffers huge costs for highway transport. Construction of the railway will help cut transport costs, lower commodities prices and activate consumption in Tibet, said Wang Taifu, with the Research Institute of Economic Strategy underthe Tibet Regional Academy of Social Sciences.

It will also help local enterprises to explore markets both at home and abroad and aid overseas enterprises entering the region, Wang says.

Wang predicts that by 2010, Tibet will handle 2.8 million tons of cargo annually, of which 2.1 million tons will be transported by train. By 2010, 1.8 million tourists are predicted to visit Tibet a year, and 630,000 will travel by rail.

The Qinghai-Tibet railway, from Xining, capital city of northwest China's Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, capital city of Tibet, will traverse 1,925 kilometers. Its 815-km section from Xining to Golmud of Qinghai opened to traffic in 1984. Construction of the 1,080-km section from Golmud to Lhasa started in late June 2001. The main part of the project is scheduled for completion at the end of this year.

Rescued Tibetan asses released to wild in northwest China

Twelve rescued Tibetan wild asses have been returned to the wild in the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve, northwest China, according to the administration of the state nature reserve.

Like the Tibetan antelope, the Tibetan wild ass is also rare onthe Tibetan Plateau and a priority on the list of animals under state protection.

To protect the endangered animal species from extinction, the Chinese government has set up three nature reserves on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau including one at Hoh Xil.

At the end of 2003, zoologists with the Hoh Xil Tibetan Antelope Rescue Center in the nature reserve found a baby Tibetan wild ass with wolf bites and brought it back to the rescue center,where it received vet treatment and intensive care. That was the first Tibetan wild ass the center rescued.By February 2004, the center had rescued five grown Tibetan wild asses and another six foals. They were injured by wolf bites or from highway accidents.

After a six-day effort, researchers at the rescue center successfully returned all 12 asses to the wild earlier this month.

From: TibetMagzine