The meadow turf built on the earthen slopes flanking the Qinghai-Tibet Railway has been chosen as a model project by the railway construction headquarters.

The project was done by a 25-member Tibetan team headed by Lobsang Tubdain, deputy magistrate of Xiagyang Township of Shannan Prefecture in Tibet Autonomous Region. They came to build the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the highest railway in the world, on their own initiative and were assigned to build turf on slopes along the railway line.

Due to lack of experience, Lobsang Tubdain organized the Tibetans to study lawn-building books borrowed from the engineering library at night and practice what they had learned in the daytime. They also asked the advice of technicians on how to make turf live in a cold and oxygen-deficient region.

When they saw the turf they had transplanted green and luxuriant, the whole team performed a Tibetan folk dance. The project has won high praise from leading officials of the State Environmental Protection Administration and the Ministry of Railways. Workers of other railway units have been sent to learn from the team's experience.

There are numerous similar examples. Tibetans have become the main force in constructing of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which will link Xining, capital city of northwest China's Qinghai Province, with Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, with a total length of 1,925 km.

The 815-km section from Xining to Golmud of Qinghai opened to traffic in 1984 and construction of the 1,080-km section from Golmud to Lhasa started in late June 2001.

Zhaxi Lhobu led 400 other Tibetans in Damren Township of Damxung County of Tibet to work at the construction site.

"The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is built for our Tibetans. Of course we should do our part," he said.

An estimated 7,800 Tibetans are working on the 1,080-km Qinghai-Tibet Railway line. More than 100 Tibetan workers have been commended by construction units at different levels since work on the railway started in 2001, said Huang Difu, an official of the railway construction headquarters.

(Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2004)