China made history again when it laid down the last rail of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in Lhasa this week, marking completion of the world's most elevated railway.

Significance of a railway to Tibet, completed on the day when China launched its second manned spacecraft, is no less than the country's ambitious plan of space probe, as such a project on the rugged and frozen land of the "roof of the world" was once seen by some as a mission impossible even in an era when human beings had set foot on the moon.

Chinese scientists and engineers, however, eventually made true the century-old dream of the nation to connect the isolated snow land with a railway with other parts of the country.

And the project, called in a Tibetan song as "a heavenly path to happiness", well deserves the title of a marvel in the world's history of railway construction for the breakthroughs Chinese engineers and workers made in the thin air on the snow-covered plateau and their considerations for ecological and cultural protection in design and construction.

All the feats, however, will turn dwarf when compared with the changes the railway will bring to Tibet and its people.

Poor local traffic has long hindered the development of the region, which locks many Tibetans in the Himalayas and makes access to health care, education or even pilgrim hard. And the entry of outside supply and travelers is no easy matter because the current two traffic alternatives of road and air are either slow or expensive.

The good news is, however, the railway will carry 75 percent of supply transportation into Tibet after going into operation, according to experts' estimation.

In the words of Cewang Gyurme, president of the Academy of Social Sciences of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibetans as a whole, who make up 95 percent of the population in the region, will share the largest benefit from the region's development projects like the railway.

All people who think for the good of Tibetans have every reason to applaud for the railway project and the ensuing changes it will bring.

Regretfully, however, there are always some tub-thumpers who claim to be concerned with the good of Tibetan people but would cavil at the project.

They do not find fault with the project's engineering design, but oppose any of China's endeavors to develop Tibet simply out of stereotyped bias or even ill-disposed political attempt.

Only when one sees with his or her own eyes a Tibetan who struggled his way on rugged roads on foot on a bare mountain can he realize what a modern traffic tool means for Tibet.

They, who are enjoying all the conveniences and luxuries of modern civilization, are disqualified to make any remarks to defame China's efforts in developing Tibet. And those who think the snow land should be kept as a medieval museum to satisfy their bizarre personal curiosity should feel ashamed for their selfishness and nearsightedness.

Such tub-thumpers neglected a basic truth of human history: Development is a common choice of the human race, and no one should, or can, slam on a brake on a train to modern civilization.

The railway is scheduled to embark on its maiden trial running in about eight months, which will lead Tibet into a brand-new era of development. And then all the irresponsible clamour is doomed to be muted by the roar of the locomotives.

Source: Xinhua