Ethnic Han Legislators Marked out in Tibet's Legislature

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 17, 2003

Ethnic Han Legislators Marked out in Tibet's Legislature

As only two of the 16-member legislature elected Friday in the Tibet Autonomous Region were of Han people, their nationality was marked in brackets on the list of the new chairman and vice-chairmen.

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As only two of the 16-member legislature elected Friday in the Tibet Autonomous Region were of Han people, their nationality was marked in brackets on the list of the new chairman and vice-chairmen.

This is the inverse of the practice of China's National People's Congress and legislature in other Chinese provinces, where the nationalities of Tibetan and other ethnic groups are marked out.

Ethnic Tibetans numbered 13, including the chairman, making up 81 percent of the new leading body formed Friday at the closing session of the autonomous regional people's congress. One was of ethnic Hui nationality.

"It indicates that Tibetans have become the real masters of the autonomous region. And the policy of regional national autonomy has been fully implemented," said Dawa Cering, a Tibetan deputy from the Xigaze prefecture.

China, a multi-ethnic state, has altogether 56 nationalities. Apart from the majority Han, which makes up 93 percent of its total population, there are 55 ethnic groups. Regional autonomy is being practiced by people living in 64 percent of the country's vast territory.

Tibet has a population of 2.61 million, of which, 2.41 million,or 92 percent of the total, are of Tibetan ethnicity.

The current autonomous regional people's congress has 440 deputies, 298 of whom, or 67.7 percent, are Tibetans. Tibetans also make up 78.7 percent of the 479 members of the Tibetan Autonomous Regional People's Political Consultative Conference, which ended its eighth session on Wednesday.

During the current session, Tibetan deputies put forward 240 proposals covering the fields of tourism, public health, reemployment and management of technical personnel.

Basang Zhoima, 23, the youngest Tibetan deputy, made several proposals, demanding the government build a road leading to her native village and open popular science classes for her fellow folks.

They raised 261 proposals at the fifth session of the Seventh Regional People's Congress held last May. All of them have been relayed to the relevant government departments so far.

For instance, some Tibetan deputies jointly signed a bill on providing minimum living allowances for Tibetan people living below poverty line last year.

Based on the bill, the regional government promulgated, after repeated discussions and consultations, a regulation which stipulates that each urban resident below poverty line be provided with a minimum subsidy of 200 yuan per month.

In another case, Tibetan deputies saw people in Cona county live in need on account of poor land and an acute shortage of water resources. Based on their proposals, the local people's government built a new village for the 300 households and dug water canals and water wells. When the residents moved into the village, they instinctively called their spacious and cozy new home the "Village of Happiness".

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