Brand-new clothes, joyful smiles,savory buttered tea and fragrant barley wine. All these impress tourists to Shigatse prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region in recent days.

Tibetans in Xalu village of Shigatse prefecture have been in a happy mood celebrating the local Spring Festival, which is about one month earlier than in other areas of China.

It is hard for tourists to imagine that the village was hit by severe floods in 2000, which left 6575 villagers homeless.

To help the refugees rebuild their homes, the local government allocated a large amount of funds, about 20,000 yuan to each family, and sent them cooking stoves, cabinets, chests and beds.

The government also allocated extra funds to explore tapped water for the villagers.

To date, the villagers have finished the reconstruction work and are happily celebrating the coming of the new year.

( People's Daily February 3, 2002)