The Vortext

As I read in this article from the People’s Daily, China announced yesterday that construction has finished on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The railway, having surpassed the railway between Cuzco and Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes (which I rode in 2002) to become the world’s highest, traverses 1,956 kilometers of mountains and frozen plateau between Xining and Lhasa. Still, test runs aren’t set to take place until July, which will probably mean a start date for regular service long after my hopeful trip to the region early next summer.

Just as interesting as the news itself, however, was this editorial also published in the People’s Daily, which, after praising the efforts of the government planners, engineers, and construction crews, goes on to preemptively defend their creation from the many international detractors worried about cultural imperialism in Tibet and the strong cultural and environmental impact that increased traffic and lower travel costs will have on the remote region, which even now is still difficult and expensive to reach. Amidst all this, the editorial makes a fair point, which many so-called activists neglect to consider:

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.

Despite the validity of this argument, however, the editorial takes it one step too far, reasoning that:

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.

If I believed that the Tibetan people had been at all consulted about their desires regarding a rail link to the rest of China, or that the impact increased tourism by both Chinese and foreigners will have on the fragile cultural balance left in the wake of persecution and on the incredible and not-yet-spoiled landscape of the “roof of the world” had received due consideration on the part of the Chinese government planners, I might agree that this development was “a common choice of the human race.” As it more likely stands, however, it seems yet another dictate imposed on the Tibetans by their conquerors, one that might make the transportation of supplies, goods, and people into and out of the region more easily achieved, but one that will certainly have negative consequences as well.

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