A: Tibet was ruled as a feudal serfdom before the 1959 Democratic Reform, and
its geographical location closed it to other parts of China, as well as the rest
of the world. Its social production therefore remained stagnant for a long period,
and agriculture and animal husbandry were its economic bases. During the 1920s,
the local government of Tibet established industries, such as wool plant, paper
mill and hydropower station but due to the lack of skilled technicians, they were
often inactive.
Since the democratic reform, great support for industrial
development has been forthcoming to Tibet from the central government and people
throughout China. Engineers and technicians have been sent from the interior to
help develop modern industries in Tibet, and its industrial progress has now entered
a new era. In the mid-1950s, the first public power enterprise in Tibet, the Lhasa
Power Station, was constructed. Later, the state invested in the construction
of the Yangbajain Power Plant, the largest geothermal power plant in China.
After several decades of concerted efforts, modern industries have gradually been
strengthened in Tibet, and an industrial system has been formed there, with the
power industry, mining, building materials, machinery, pharmaceuticals, processing
of agricultural and livestock products, and folk handicrafts as its mainstay.
There are now some 260 medium-sized and small enterprises in Tibet with 51,000
employees. The production scale in Tibet has continued to expand, its industrial
structure having become more rationalized, and technological standards and the
quality of products having gradually improved. The output of Tibet's main industrial
products has seen sharp increases, the investment scale has continued to enlarge,
and there have been great achievements in improving its infrastructure facilities. |
