Autonomy and the railway

Perhaps no other railway in the world could have competed with the new Qinghai-Tibet railway for the amount of attention, comment and opinion it inspired. The fact that the Chinese government decided on 1 July 2006 – the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China – as the day for the formal inauguration of the railway leaves no room for ambiguity regarding the project's 'political colour'. Driven by the intense media coverage of the new track, a massive collective interest in Tibet suddenly broke out throughout China – and, indeed, around the world. According to the numbers put out by the Tibet Autonomous Region's Tourist Bureau, 90,000 visitors arrived in Tibet within the first 20 days the railway was in operation. This has not only added an unbearable burden to the crumbling Potala Palace – which is supposedly designated as a World Heritage Site – but has significantly impacted on the lives of Lhasa locals. The prices of staple foods, vegetables and meats have all gone up dramatically, while worshippers are being forced to fight crowds inside temples.

The reaction of Tibetans to the new rail line is complex. This writer took a ride on the train from Beijing to Lhasa in January. Because it was winter – the slow season for visitors – there were few tourists on board. Instead, there were many Tibetan students heading home for the winter break. These students had been sent to 'inland' China for schooling from a very young age. In the past, because of the high cost of transportation, they could have gone for years without going home for Losar, the Tibetan New Year. The cheaper price of a train ride now helps in easing their homesickness, and this might well be the major benefit that the Qinghai-Tibet railway has brought Tibetans. The other benefit has been that the faithful from the Tibetan provinces of Amdo and Kham can now take the train to go on pilgrimage in U-Tsang, and vice-versa. Besides these, it is hard to locate the railway's merits.