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September 22, 2014

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Aid workers tackle public services

PEOPLE helping people. Provinces helping provinces. Cities helping cities. It’s all part of a national program where wealthier areas of China provide financial assistance and development expertise to more poverty-stricken remote inland regions.

Since 1994, Shanghai has been paired with five counties in the prefecture-level city of Shigatse in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

The Shanghai Aid Tibet project has poured about 2.63 billion yuan (US$428 million) of funding into the second-largest city in Tibet, which is about 280 kilometers southwest of the capital Lhasa.

Perched on the high Tibetan plateau, Shigatse is a historic place, rich in Buddhist culture but poor in economic development. It is the traditional home of the Panchen Lama and lies only 300 kilometers, as the crow flies, from Mount Everest.

Shanghai takes its “sister city” role very seriously, said officials of the Cooperation and Communication Office of the municipal government.

It has dedicated itself to helping Shigatse improve basic public services and institutions, to modernize the living conditions of local residents, to upgrade health care and education, and to develop local industry and job skills, according to the office.

As of June this year, 376 people in seven groups have been dispatched to work in Shigatse. Their efforts have resulted in the establishment of 1,216 separate aid projects.

Each of the seven groups had a particular focus.

“During the initial stages 20 years ago, Shanghai focused on construction of local infrastructure and expanded programs related to education and public health,” said Dai Jingbin, head of the seventh group of Aid Tibet.

In keeping with requirements set forth by the Central Committee of China’s Communist Party, aid efforts have emphasized helping grassroots communities, such as farmers and herdsmen. To that end, Shanghai has been building new villages to provide local people with more modern amenities.

Tap water, sewage systems, electricity, telephones and television have come to remote, impoverished communities once pretty much cut off from the world. By the end of 2013, over 95 percent of the prefecture was connected to radio and television.

Roads have been paved to connect the area to the outside world. The South Yingxiong, North Yingxiong, Middle Shanghai and Middle Weiguo roads built by the first group of Shanghai aid workers are still the main roads of Gyangze County, and the Canda Mansion remains one of its most bustling commercial buildings.

Old urban districts and shantytowns ­­— many in disrepair after natural disasters — have been renovated. After the 2011 earthquake that killed seven and injured 136 people, the sixth team of Shanghai workers relocated the residents of three badly damaged villages to the New Sangang Town in Yadong County, which is now a model for local urbanization projects.

Infrastructure is important, but the Shanghai “sister city” project is also dedicated to cultural enrichment. Museums and stadiums have been built. The Mount Dzong Museum, completed in 2010 with an investment of more than 80 million yuan, is a 12,000-square-meter facility housing local religious, historical and folk exhibits.

Education is a key plank of the Aid Tibet program.

About 25 million yuan was invested to create the Shigatse Shanghai Experimental School. It opened in 2004, providing primary and junior high classes at first. A senior high school was added in 2007 with another 25 million yuan. It’s now the only 12-grade boarding school in the prefecture, with the best scholastic record.

Other schools have also been built in the five counties. They include support facilities, such as dormitories, canteens and computer rooms. Teachers at the school have been invited to Shanghai for training. By the end of 2013, about 72 percent of local teenagers at the age of senior high school students were in classroom study.

In health care, Shanghai has helped Shigatse complete medical services systems at the prefecture, county and villages levels. The prefecture People’s Hospital and other medical facilities in the five counties were expanded or rebuilt. Doctors from Shanghai have traveled to Tibet to help train medical personnel in Shigatse.

‘Give a man a fish’

Free health examinations, launched by Shanghai medics, are popular among local people. More than 17,500 people have used the services, and 49 children diagnosed with congenital heart disease have been treated in Shanghai.

Aid Tibet believes in the old proverb: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Show him how to catch fish and he will feed himself for a lifetime.”

To meet that ultimate aim, the project is trying to promote the local economy and create industries spanning traditional crafts, husbandry, science and technology.

In pastoral areas, the Shanghai teams have helped herdsmen to build drinking water stations and sheds, taught them modern forage cultivation and instructed them in disease prevention among their herds.

Aquaculture centers were built in Yadong County, vegetable farms in Gyantse, orchards in Lhatse and poultry farms in Dingri.

Given the harsh climate of the plateau, the teams have also constructed greenhouses to prolong the growing season and enable cultivation of a wider variety of crops. Produce from Shigatse is now reaching national markets. Melons from the area are considered some of the finest in China.

The sixth aid team alone built 22 agricultural demonstration gardens to help local farmers breed high-quality produce.

Enterprises and organizations in Shanghai have been encouraged to participate in the economic and social development of Shigatse. The Shanghai International Festival of Arts, for example, is promoting the traditional arts of Shigatse. Agricultural products have been displayed at expos and fairs in Shanghai, and two sales rooms to promote produce from the area have been created in Shanghai.

Shanghai is also helping to attract investors from China and abroad by setting up investment promotion centers, construction project trading centers and administrative service centers.

Tourism remains a lucrative industry in Shigatse. Cultural tourism is highlighted. Tibetan ethnic handicrafts and the production of local souvenirs are regarded as new growth points.

“When surveying the achievements of the past 20 years, we found that support for industrial development was insufficient and programs capable of generating higher personal incomes and local government revenues were too few,” said Dai.

“Cultural tourism, with its rich and unique resources, turned out to be one of the most promising industries for Tibet,” he added.

As a result, the seventh group of Shanghai aid workers has set tourism development as a prime goal.

Shanghai Aid Tibet invested 20 million yuan to set up an annual gala county show entitled Imprint of Gyangze. The first one was held on August 15. Local herdsmen and other performers participated in an event held at an altitude of more than 4,020 meters.

This performance, a live version of Director Feng Xiaogang’s movie “Red River Valley,” drew many tourists to the story of the local resistance to the British army’s invasion 100 years ago.

The annual show is expected to bring the county 10 million yuan every year during the peak summer season. It has already stimulated business at local hotels, restaurants and tourism companies, and put some money into the pockets of farmers and herdsmen.

The show comprises 150 main performers, each of whom can earn 3,000 yuan a month during the peak season and 1,800 yuan a month during the off-season. Lesser performers can earn 50 to 100 yuan per performance leading their yaks around on the stage.

“We think this can improve local government revenue and the incomes of farmers and herdsmen on a sustainable basis,” Dai said.

Work is already underway to develop other activities based on the rich local culture and history of the area.

It doesn’t stop there. The seventh team of Shanghai aid workers has initiated a new pairing of five districts in Shanghai — Pudong, Zhabei, Putuo, Songjiang and Xuhui — with the five counties in Shigatse.

The Pudong New Area, with its advanced technologies, is now cooperating with Gyangze County to build a modern agricultural demonstration zone, combining farming, crop processing and tourism.

The county has founded an agricultural development company, jointly funded by two companies in Pudong, to construct and operate the demonstration zone.

Pudong is responsible for seed research and development, marketing and sales for the new company, while Gyangze is focusing on planting and processing.

During the initial period, Pudong will help train management staff in Gyangze so that local people will eventually run the program on their own.

“We now focus on self-help programs that draw on the rich resources in Tibet and are operated according to modern market principles,” Dai said. “We hope these programs will generate sustainable economic benefits and improve the quality of life for local people.”




 

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