Qinghai-Tibet Rail to promote Tibetan culture (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-10-09 21:29
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway will promote the preservation and development of
the Tibetan culture to cater to an influx of tourists looking for unique
cultural experiences, a noted scholar on Tibetan studies said on Monday.
"The Qinghai-Tibet Railway enables a beneficial interaction between the
Tibet's culture and other cultures," said Lhamo Puncog, vice president with the
China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture, in
advance of a Tibetan culture forum which is slated for October 10 and 11.
As most tourists to Tibet are interested in the sites and unique ethnic and
cultural spectacles, local government and citizens are being encouraged to
further develop their culture, Lhamo Puncog explained.
As well, local citizen will have easy access to information and cultures from
the outside world with the development of tourism.
Opened on July 1, the 1,956-km-long Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the first to
reach China's interior from the Tibet Autonomous Region. It travels a route
through spectacular mountain ranges that averages more than 4,000 meters above
sea level.
The Tibet Autonomous Region has received more than 913,000 tourists from home
and abroad between July 1 and August 31, up 54 percent year-on-year. Tourism has
raked in over 940 million yuan (around 117.5 million U.S. dollars) during the
period, an increase of 48.6 percent year-on-year.
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