Autos keep coming and going on the twisted China-Nepal highway; large passenger jets fly the highest air route above sea level in the world; and visitors and businessmen from various countries come in a continuous stream to the ancient Bakor Street in Lhasa. The Tibetan Plateau is stretching its arms to warmly embrace the world, reports the overseas edition of People's Daily on September 2nd.

The town of Zhangmu at Nyalam County in Tibet is a well-known border township between China and Nepal and most of its residents are Sherpas. Roaming around the town, one will find that the streets are in order with row upon row of buildings and that they are full of beautiful commodities. Over 40 years ago it was only a remote and backward border town. According to Sanmu, Party branch secretary of the Zhangmu Town community committee, in 2004 the average annual income of the Sherpas was 4,370 yuan, more than 20 times that of 40 years ago. Of this income, more than 90% was in cash.

The Sherpas are becoming rich by doing frontier trade. Among the Sherpas, 86 households are engaged in border trade, 67 in transportation and 50 run family hotels. Goods involving local specialties, handicraft articles, cashmere, drugs, beef and mutton are exported to Nepal and other South Asian countries from here.

Tibet's opening to the outside world has been witnessed in the development of the town of Zhangmu.

Tibet has actively developed its border trade with nations including Nepal. It has opened five trading ports so far, including Zhangmu, Purang and Yatung. Last year's Tibetan border trade volume exceeded 90 million US dollars. At Lhasa Jintian Highland Barley Wine Company, with an annual capacity of 5,000 tons of wine, the reporter saw that farmers coming to sell highland barley were standing in line. The company purchased its barley at a price 15% higher than the market. Farmer Laba Ciren said that when there was no such enterprise, his barley was sold at low prices, but now we have no worries about selling it.

The opening Tibet is also a paradise for travelers. No matter where you are, such as in the imposing Potala Palace in Lhasa, the Nagri Guge Kingdom Ruins in the remote Ali, Nam-tso Lake or the southern Tibetan Yalong valley, one will find different skin colors of foreign visitors. Tibet offers many tourist attractions, including folk festivals, travel in farming and pasturing areas, self-driven tours and independent tours. As a result, tourism has been turned into an industry making people rich. The number of travelers received by farmers and herdsmen was up to nearly 30,000 last year, up from 12,026 in 2003. And total income for the region reached 68 million yuan. Zhuoma, a hostess engaging in "happiness in a Tibetan family'' in the Changzhu town, Nedong County, said happily that in this year's two-month tourism peak season, her family has received more than 60 Sino-foreign travelers.

By People's Daily Online