People say it's still early to list the changes brought by a railway five months after it became operational, even if it is on the "roof of the world".

The subtle changes the Qinghai-Tibet Railway has brought to southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region lie in the increasing number of shops and restaurants, in the flocks of tourists coming to share Tibetan culture and in the eyes of local children, who, fascinated by the rumble-tumble of passing trains, long to see the wild world beyond the confines of the Kunlun Range and the Tanggula Mountain.

In one word, the railway to Tibet, believed by many to be a "mission impossible", has broken the humdrum life on the plateau.

The launching of the railway, one of the breaking events in China this year, was praised by Chinese president Hu Jintao as a "magnificent feat" in China's history of railway construction, as well as a "great miracle" of the world's railroad history.

Hu himself cut ribbons to mark the launching of the railway on July 1, the day that coincided with the 85th founding anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.

The railway runs 1,956 km across the frozen tundra of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from Lhasa to Xining, capital of the neighboring Qinghai Province. It has linked Tibet ever so closely with the rest of China, carrying more than 650,000 passengers to and from the region between July 1 and Nov. 30, according to the Ministry of Railways.

In the first 10 months of this year, Tibet received a record 2.25 million tourist arrivals from home and abroad, up 31.8 percent from the same period of last year.

The regional tourism bureau expects the figure to top 2.6 million for the whole year.

The railway has boosted the service sector and allowed farmers and herders, who make up 80 percent of the region's population, to try non-agricultural jobs selling souvenirs or waiting on diners.

Some of them have taken maiden train rides to the inland provinces on business or sightseeing tours.

Experts say the opening of the railroad plus the subsequent reopening of Nathu La Pass on the China-India border will help pave a new Silk Road to south Asia and build up regional harmony and prosperity.

Out of Tibet

Some better-off Tibetans are seeking to travel to the inland areas now that the tough winter climate has made their plateau home unpleasant even for the locals.

More than 100 people applied in two days when a senior citizens' center in Tibet's regional capital Lhasa solicited locals to join in an "out of Tibet" train tour to Lanzhou, Xi'an and Beijing for 4,000 yuan (US$500). The organizer decided they had to go in four groups instead of one.

Regular train services to big cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have forced airline companies to offer discount tickets for the first time after years of monopoly on the route.

Balo, a Tibetan retiree from the regional communication bureau, is planning to take a train to Beijing at the end of the year. He has two important places to visit: the Tian'anmen Square in the city center and Beijing Film Academy where one of his grandsons is studying for a master's degree.

In 1951, when the Chinese Communist troops led by Mao Zedong peacefully liberated Tibet and started a reform to abolish serfdom, the region had no road on its 1.2 million square kilometers of land. "Only Lhasa had a dirt lane for mules -- and that ran for just one kilometer," said Balo.

In 1972, Balo spent more than a month on horseback on a 3,000-km expedition from Lhasa to Ngari Prefecture in the western outback. "Come to think of it: it's amazing a train ride to Beijing takes just 48 hours and even a sleeper ticket costs only 30 percent of an air ticket."

A train trip from Lhasa to Beijing on hard seat costs 389 yuan (US$49) and a sleeper ticket sells for 813 yuan (US$102), compared with 2,430 yuan (US$305) by air.

With easier access to traffic and a tuition-free primary and junior high education, Tibetan parents would tell their children "work hard and try to get into an inland school".

Some schools in inland provinces and big cities including Beijing have Tibetan classes that teach putonghua, or standard Chinese, and offer a better education that would pave the way for Tibetan children to go to university.

Though this has never occurred to Puncog Gunce even in his wildest dreams.

The 17-year-old Tibetan boy in Nagqu county of northern Tibet spent his childhood as a shepherd and started primary school only this year. "My dad had to send me to school because the government said parents who fail to do so will be fined 3,000 yuan (US$375)."

He's not sure how long he would stay at school. "I'll be too old when I finish nine years of compulsory education. I might as well get some trendy clothes from the more developed east and open a little garment store here."

Railway Economy

As the Chinese saying goes, a man of wisdom should make a living out of the mountain and water close to his home.

In today's Tibetan version of the proverb, Tibetans should rely on the railroad -- at least to some of them.

Zhoigar is undoubtedly a woman of wisdom in that sense. The 59-year-old Tibetan peasant woman in Nagqu runs a Tibetan-style teahouse next to a railway station close to her home in Gulu town. The 30-square-meter room is almost always full seated and Zhoigar is seeking to expand the place into a cafe and souvenir shop. "I have to move quickly, otherwise someone else will do it."

In fact, shops and restaurants have been mushrooming around nearly every station along the rail link.

Qamba, who runs a dairy in Nagqu, plans to buy more cattle next year and double the plant's output that presently totals 1,500 kg a year. "Traditional Tibetan dairy snacks are very popular among tourists. Many buy huge packages to take home."

The regional tourism bureau said the tourism industry has employed at least 40,000 herders and farmers, twice as many as last year.

Herder families around Namco Lake, once dubbed as the highest salt lake in the world, are expected to make 30,000 yuan (US$3,750) each this year for accommodating tourists in their houses, said Liao Lisheng, an official with the bureau.

He said the average per capita spending of tourists in Tibet is at least 300 yuan (US$37.5) a day and half of the amount is spent on Tibet specific adornments, herbs, incense and dried yak meat.

The immense opportunities brought by the railway have triggered an investment craze among businesspeople from inland areas. Private investment into Tibet roared 73 percent year-on-year to 2.8 billion yuan (US$350 million) in the first three quarters, compared with 5 billion yuan (US$625 million) throughout the five-year period between 2001 and 2005.

Later this month Tibet will witness the inauguration of its largest shopping center in Lhasa, a 75-million yuan (US$9.5 million) project invested by five businessmen from Wenzhou, a booming manufacturing center in the eastern Zhejiang Province.

More than an Economic Boom

Experts say the railway means more than an economic boom in Tibet.

An Caidan, a Beijing-based expert on Tibetan studies, said the railway has made room for the development of Tibetan culture. "The Tibetans enjoy the right to seek development," he said. "The railway will lead Tibet to prosperity and present Tibetan culture to the world."

Huang Fukai, head of a Tibetan culture preservation society, believed the railway will change the locals' way of life. "They will keep to their traditional diet but will tuck into Western food and put on jeans, too."

Environmentalists worry the railway might undermine the ecology on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Addressing such concerns, the central government spent 1.5 billion yuan (about US$180 million) on environment conservation along the route, the largest amount in any single railway project in China.

"I do admire the Chinese government for that," said Italian sinologist Aldo Mignucci during a visit to Lhasa.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corporation, operator of the railway, sends a special train once a week to collect garbage along the route, which is delivered to Golmud for central disposal, said the company's vice president Ma Baocheng.

He said the company has also set up 15 sewage treatment centers between Golmud and Lhasa, the 1,142-km section completed last October.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2006)