China's Tibet Facts & Figures 2005

Population

Religious Belief

National Regional Autonomy

Tibetan Economy

Transportation, Posts & Telecommunications

Environmental Protection

Tourism

Education, Science & Technology

Culture, Public Health & Sports

People's Livelihood & Social Security

Appendices

Web Links

40th Anniversary of the Establishment of Tibet Autonomous Region

Tibet Through My Camera's Lens

Late Autumn in Tibet

50 Years in Tibet

China Tibet Information Center

Transportation, Post & Telecommunications

· Highways

· Oil Pipelines

· Railway

· Aviation

· Posts and Telecommunications

December 25, 2004 marked the 50th anniversary of the opening to traffic of the Qinghai-Tibet and Sichuan-Tibet Highways. Prior to this, Tibet did not have a highway in the true sense. Today, it can satisfy the public need for highway and civil aviation transport. In the same period, there have been impressive gains advanced telecommunications. Construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is progressing smoothly.

Highways

In old Tibet, there was no highway in its truest sense, forcing Tibetans to rely on human and animal power for transportation. There wasn't a single civilian vehicle. In the half century since the peaceful liberation in 1951, the Central Government has invested some 7 billion yuan in construction of highways in Tibet. This has led to the construction and opening in steady progression of the Sichuan-Tibet, Qinghai-Tibet, Yunnan-Tibet, Xinjiang-Tibet and China-Nepal highways; Tibet has also built the Naqu-Qamdo, Lhasa-Xigaze and Lhasa-Yadong highways.

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Oil Pipelines

In the 1950s and 1960s, oil used in Tibet had to be transported by automobiles via the Qinghai-Tibet and Sichuan-Tibet highways. Owing to the excessively long distance, oil consumed on the way accounted for one-third of the total transported volume. In addition to the high costs, the transportation was full of danger.

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Railway

The State Council approved the establishment of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway (Phase II) project in February 2001. On June 29 of that year, the Central Government decided to invest US$3.17 billion in the 1,118km project. Phase I extends 845 km from Xining to Golmud. It was built in 1984.

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Aviation

Flying over Tibet was deemed impossible in the past due to the high altitude. Today, it has become the fastest transport means of getting in and out of Tibet. Aviation services began on March 1, 1965 when a plane of Southwest Airlines succeeded in flying from Chengdu to Lhasa. At present, it has regular flights shuttling between Lhasa and cities like Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an, Xining, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Kunming and Zhongdian.

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Posts and Telecommunications

There are some 140 post offices in the Tibet Autonomous Region, with rural postal routes extending over 80,000 km and air mail routes 650 km. Recent years have seen a steady annual increase in the volume of postal services and telecommunications business. Lhasa maintains express mail services with more than 200 large and medium-sized cities in the country. There are two international postal routes, all of them going to neighboring countries via Zam and Yadong in Xigaze Prefecture.

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