Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner,
National Geographic
September 8, 2014
China’s Ultimate Tourist Adventure
In the summer of 2006, the Tibet’s “rooftop of the world” became more accessible with the opening of a new fast train connecting China with Tibet. Over the previous 50 years, China had envisioned a 1,215 mile (850 km) railroad route to Tibet, which required crossing some of the world’s most difficult terrain. Eight years after construction of this high-tech railroad, it has become
one of the newest world tourist adventures.
Boundaries and names shown do not necessarily reflect the map policy of the National Geographic Society.
The Chinese government has used every technological advance to build a railroad track from Golmud in China’s Qinghai Province to Lhasa, Tibet’s capital. The route surmounts 16,640-foot (5,072-m) elevations of the Kunlun Shan (Mountains), crosses a world-record 240 miles (386 km.) of permafrost and has the world’s longest railroad tunnel built on frozen earth.
This railroad is the world’s highest, requiring supplemental oxygen to be supplied to entire passenger cars and in canisters to individual passengers as the train crosses high elevations. The Chinese constructed the passenger cars, while General Electric built the high-tech diesel locomotive engines, capable of running at oxygen-deficient elevations.
It was anticipated that the more than US$4.2 billion Qinghai-Tibet railroad may transport more than 1,000-2,000 passengers daily. Connected to China’s previously existing railroad network, this new railroad makes it possible to travel the nearly 2,000 miles (3,218 km) from Beijing to Lhasa in only two days. Consequently, some passengers might be disappointed with the somewhat spartan accommodations in “economy class,” but others overlook those and enjoy the overall experience.
Now that the project is finished, Tibet is experiencing an enormous shift in culture, as Chinese government agents, military, business people and tourists rush in, particularly to Lhasa.. Tibet, a land separate from China in identity and spirituality, is seeing major cultural consequences. Chinese President Hu Jintao called the new train a “miracle railway, boosting the economy and bringing jobs to the Buddhist heartland’s ethnic minorities,” but Tibetans generally disagree.
Many Tibetans and foreign interest groups worry that the railroad will only hasten the “Chinafication” of Tibet. Many believe that China sees Tibet as a “New Frontier” and are using the railroad to further colonize it. China’s leaders have traditionally seen Tibet as a buffer to powerful India to the south.
Tibet, a rugged country occupying the windswept Tibet Plateau of western China, is located between the Kunlun and Tang-Ku mountains on the north and the Himalayas on the south. The plateau averages 12,000 feet (3,658 m) in elevation. Considerable portions of the plateau and associated mountains are well above the tree line and with extensive permafrost.
With an area of 471,662 square miles (1.2 million sq. km.), Tibet is nearly twice the size of Texas. Deeply eroded canyons cross the unsheltered plateau. Until the fast train arrived, most transportation routes in this barren landscape covered in sand, gravel and rock consisted of winding footpaths and unpaved roads.
Except for the valleys, Tibet’s highland climate provides inhospitable conditions much of the year. In the winter, below freezing temperatures coupled with winds from the north makes the environment extreme. Summers have cool days and cold nights, as heat is lost through clear skies at night.
Most of Tibet’s estimated 6.2 million Tibetans and 7.5 million Chinese live in the south near the Brahmaputra River and the capital, Lhasa. Already Tibetans are a minority in their own territory, because of the massive influx of Chinese. The Dalai Lama leads Tibet’s religion, Lamaism, a branch of Buddhism. He has been in exile in India since 1959, as a result of Chinese occupation of Tibet.
Chinese occupation of Tibet began in 1950 and China’s influence and control in the mountainous region has been increasing ever since. China’s policies towards Tibet include the unity of the Chinese and Tibetan peoples. Sadly, though, the Chinese media launched a campaign against Lamaism, portraying the Dalai Lama as the enemy. China has banned reconstruction of Tibet’s monasteries and has placed an absolute limit on the number of monks and nuns allowed. Consequently, their numbers have fallen.
The Tibetan language may also be dying out in some areas as schools choose to teach only in Chinese. After graduation, jobs in Tibet can be difficult to find unless the applicant is fluent in Chinese. In central Tibet, jobs for the local Tibetans are being lost to the better-educated Chinese immigrants.
While the declaration of Lhasa as a special economic zone in 1992 brought a new wave of Chinese settlers and modern technology into Tibet, it also brought marginalization of the Tibetan people. The Chinese settlers seem to be at the forefront of the economic development, trading in the new modern goods, while the Tibetans struggle. The Chinese media portray Chinese culture as civilizing and modernizing, while describing Tibetan culture as “backward.” As Tibet strives to find a balance between the advances of the new millennium and its historic cultural identity, few analysts believe that it can stop the wave of Chinese culture that soon may overwhelm it.
Nonetheless, the modern China-Tibet railroad is a little-known tourist destination in itself. This once-in-a-lifetime adventure provides tourist experiences that are both physically and culturally unique and instructive to tourists.
Co-authors are Neal Lineback, Appalachian State University Professor Emeritus of Geography, and Geographer Mandy Lineback Gritzner. University News Director Jane Nicholson serves as technical editor.
