Officials get taste of village life

By CnAgri2012-10-31 12:50:37 Print

Officials from Lhasa and other larger cities in Tibet have been dispatched to work in rural villages to learn the needs of locals and help them solve pressing problems.

Since October 2011, more than 21,800 officials in Tibet have been dispatched to work in nearly 5,500 villages, immersing themselves in the lifestyles of Tibetan herdsmen and farmers. 

They have gained valuable insight about the most pressing problems facing the villagers and have used their resources to help make a difference. 

The officials arranged a variety of training seminars and programs that will help villagers to increase income. They have proposed 588 projects involving 37.05 million yuan, 31 of which have been completed. 

One team helped Xueka village in Gongbo'gyamda county, Nyingchi prefecture, raise pigs and provided 1,000 fruit trees for them to plant in an area of 800 hectares. 

Pedma Tsomu, chief of the village, said people will see the benefits soon and no longer have to envy other villages that have become rich from tourism because of proximity to key highways. 

In Nyemo county, Lhasa, another team helped spread the county's reputation and boost the tourism potential of the ancient village of Dunda, which is 1,300 years old and is the hometown of the father of the Tibetan language, Thonmi Sanbhota. 

Dunda village is also a proud producer of Tibetan incense, Tibetan paper and engraved blocks for printing Tibetan scripts. 

The village now has its own homepage and has opened stores on most popular online shopping sites, such as Taobao. Online sales are good and at most can reach 5,000 yuan a day. 

The team of officials aims to build the village into a tourism site with rich historical and cultural legacies. 

Many officials had a hard time adjusting to an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, living with no electricity and running water. They relied on sleeping pills, melted icy water for cooking and used cow dung as fuel to provide heat. 

Tashi Norbu, from the department of environmental protection in Tibet, went to work in Laya village in Namling county, Xigaze prefecture. After spending time there, he realized he had underestimated the complexity and overwhelming nature of problems facing grassroots officials. 

He became a humble student and endeavored to learn from local residents and village officials. Working with them, he was able to come up with beneficial projects that truly address the villagers' needs. 

Compared to a comfortable and spacious office in Lhasa, working conditions are much harsher in the village. It requires patience, endurance, motivation, faith and love to be a qualified village official, he said. 

Zhou Junjian, from the high people's court in the region, led another team stationed in Pucun village in Sa'gya county, Xigaze prefecture. 

He learned that farmland in the village is not sufficient. Many villagers live on crops that are scarcely able to sustain the family for a year. 

Zhou noticed some open-minded villagers had found work outside the village after autumn harvest season. Some still hesitate to leave. In families with only one son, the elders usually keep the boy at home. 

People should go out and find more opportunities to work and make extra income, Zhou said. 

Source：chinadaily.com.cn