Why China Built Qinghai-Tibet Railway？
2 min readWhy did China build the Qinghai-Tibet Railway？This is an“ignorant question”.Transportation is the most basic prerequisite for any area to seek development.“If people want to be rich，they must first build roads.”This is a Chinese proverb.The construction of railway will bring fortune and benefits to Tibetan people，according to Mr.Wu Yingjie，minister of Public Relations Department of Tibet Autonomous Region.
After Qinghai-Tibet Railway went into operation on July 1，some foreign reporters are always curious about the role of this line.Mr.Wu，during an interview on August 7，said that once a German reporter raised a question:why did China build railway in Tibet？What will be the influence on local politics by thisline？Wu Yingjie asked a rhetorical question:“I have just finished a business trip in Germany last month.I saw two parallel railways along Rhine，with trains shuttling on them.Why should Germany build railways along Rhine？”
Mr.Wu said，any people with common sense knew that transportation is the basicprerequisite for any area to seek development.”To build railway in Tibet will definitely benefit the local development in every aspect，and the beneficiary will definitely be the local people.Why couldn’t some people understand such a simple reasoning？”
In fact，in only one month after Qinghai-Tibet Railway was open to traffic，local people have enjoyed a lot of practical benefits from it.Wu Yingjie cited an example:there is a Tibet High School in Beijing，to which Tibet will send excellent students to study every year.Before the railway was open，due to the high travel cost of around 5000 Yuan，students and parents couldn’t afford the money on road，and many students studying there couldn’t go home for family reunion for years.
Today，the fare for train is only around 1000 Yuan and students can get 50%-off.The opening of Qinghai-Tibet Railway coincides with summer vacation，so many Tibetan students in Beijing choose to take train to go back home.
