An Introduction to Social and Economic Development in Lhasa City

　　Qizala (China)

　　Ladies and gentlemen,

　　First of all, on behalf of the 830,000 Lhasa people of various ethnic groups, I would like to extend my warmest welcome to all of you present here at the Fourth Forum on the Development of Tibet. I would like to take this opportunity to give you a brief introduction to the social and economic development of Lhasa.

　　Located in the flat river valley of the Lhasa River, a branch of the Yarlung Zangbo River, Lhasa receives nearly 3,000 hours of sunlight annually at an altitude of 3,650 meters, and it is therefore dubbed the "Sunlit City" by Tibetans. Administratively speaking, Lhasa consists of one district, seven counties and one state-level economic and technical development zone, covering an area of roughly 30,000 square kilometers. It has an established urban area of 62.9 square kilometers and a total population of 830,000.

　　As the political, economic and cultural center of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Lhasa has been considered a holy city for Tibetan Buddhism, a city with longstanding history, a pure city of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and an emerging city for opening up and reform. In recent years, Lhasa has set itself the goal of building the city into a beautiful place to live. Lhasa has succeeded in striking a balance between environmental protection, economic prosperity, social stability, thriving culture, and the well-being of local people.

　　Preservation of the ecological environment

　　The ecological environment is pivotal to productivity and competitiveness. Lhasa takes the preservation of its ecological environment as a fundamental guarantee for energetic development and long-term social and political stability, optimizing its ecological environment, improving its cultural environment and upgrading its investment environment. Introducing advanced overseas technologies, the city has committed to expanding green space by carrying out the afforestation project in the south and north mountain downtown areas. The city has engaged in the comprehensive management of the Lhasa River by expanding the water base and increasing air humidity. By reinforcing the protection of wet land, wild animals and plants and by realizing comprehensive coverage of its heating infrastructure, the city has created a propitious environment for life and work. In 2013, Lhasa registered 345 days of grade I and grade II air quality, with the proportion of days of grade II or above hitting 97 percent. The qualification rate of centralized drinking water sources here has remained at 100 percent for years, and the green coverage in the city has reached 38 percent, with per capita public green area of 62.34 square meters. A total of 1.5 billion yuan has been invested in the protection of the old city - including 56 ancient buildings - which has substantially improved the cultural environment. Meanwhile, efforts have also been dedicated to supporting the comprehensive management of the urban and rural environment with the focus on tourism, construction, transportation, market and the appearance of the city. Now, Lhasa has laid a solid foundation for sustainable development with a beautiful ecological environment, an enlightening cultural environment, and a favorable development environment, representing an ideal balance of humanity and nature, citizens and society, and person and person.

　　Thriving economy

　　Economic growth determines a city's competitiveness. In 2013, Lhasa hosted almost 8 million foreign and domestic tourists, earning 8.22 billion yuan in revenues from tourism. By virtue of unpolluted water, soil, and air and its cultural environment, the city has been an energetic catalyst for core industries such as foodstuffs, beverages, medicine and crafts. In addition, efforts have been intensified in developing industries such as new-energy, construction and building materials, handicrafts, and solar power, in improving the capacity, infrastructure and logistics of the Lhasa economic and technological development zone, the Liuwu new district, the Tibetan culture and tourism park, the industrial parks in Dazi County, Qushui County and Duilongdeqing County, and in propelling the development of the non-public economy by successfully organizing an array of business activities such as China's Glory in Tibet and Private Entrepreneurs Travelling Tibet.

　　In 2013, a total of 312 projects were introduced to Lhasa, up 42 percent year on year, representing paid-in investment of 15.38 billion yuan, up 60 percent. More jobs have been created to allow all the people to participate in the market economy and enjoy the benefits of development. Lhasa is now achieving rapid and high-quality economic growth. According to statistics, its gross domestic product soared from 15.43 billion yuan in 2009 to 30.49 billion yuan, witnessing a growth rate in excess of 12 percent for five consecutive years; its local fiscal revenues leaped from 1 billion yuan in 2009 to 5.02 billion yuan in 2013; and its fixed-asset investment climbed from 13.61 billion yuan in 2009 to 37.62 billion yuan in 2013, maintaining a growth rate of more than 20 percent for five consecutive years.

　　All-round social development

　　In recent years the local government has greatly intensified investment to improve education conditions and balanced development, clarified the centralized school sponsoring role of the municipal government, prefectural governments and township governments managing vocational schools and high schools, junior high schools and primary schools, and primary schools and kindergartens respectively, expanded the policy of government paying for board, accommodation and education over the period of 15 years from kindergarten to high school, ensuring that all the children of farmers and herdsmen can afford to receive good education, launched the construction project of building a Lhasa education city by investing 4.4 billion yuan, supported the development of vocational education by establishing the first and second Lhasa city medium occupational technical schools, and energetically carried out employment training by implementing a number of projects with a total of 70,913 rural and urban residents being trained and 29,000 rural people entering into the workforce in the urban area by the end of 2013, generating revenue of 510 million yuan.

　　Moreover, efforts have also been invested in constantly improving the standards of medical treatment and health care. Both urban and rural residents can receive a physical examination free of charge and have their health records established. Almost all Lhasa residents have now received a physical examination. The city has carried out pilot medical diagnosis and treatment predating settlement, and established family medical accounts for farmers and herdsmen. Almost every county, town, village and community in Lhasa now has medical and health service agencies. By the end of 2013, the city had 472 health agencies and 2,536 medical treatment beds, with 6.03 health workers and 4.22 medical treatment beds per thousand people. The city has continuous optimized the social security system encompassing old-age insurance, medical insurance, and unemployment insurance, with work-related injury insurance covering more than 95 percent of the local residents. More than 76 percent of the senior citizens included in the "five guarantees" system have received centralized support. At the same time, a centralized support system is also being built for orphans and disabled children. Lhasa has realized balanced educational development, significant upgrading of medical treatment and public health, progressive social security, and all-round social development.

　　Flourishing cultural development

　　Culture is the circulation system and soul of a nation. On this front, Lhasa is fully engaged in the protection of intangible cultural heritage, with a total of 76 intangible cultural heritage projects underway, including 20 state-level projects and 31 autonomous-region-level projects, and 80 trustees actively developing the cause of public culture by spreading culture, health care, science and technology into the rural area and introducing the education of sciences, recreation and sports, law and health care into residential communities, putting in place cultural activities centers, Xinhua bookstores and folk art troupes in counties, comprehensive cultural centers in towns, and cultural activities rooms, public studies and movie projection in villages. By the end of 2013, the broadcasting and television coverage rate had both reached 98 percent. The city has gradually formed a cultural and art corridor featuring regional characteristics such as the Sho Dun Festival, built cultural brands such as the television drama Wen Cheng Princess, and prepared to construct a Tibetan culture and tourism park including a cultural city, a Rinca park and three cultural valleys. The traditional culture of Lhasa has been effectively preserved with distinctive features, providing intellectual impetus to its step change development.

　　Happy and healthy life

　　Constantly improving quality of life is the starting point and foothold of all government work in Lhasa. In 2013, funds spent on projects promoting quality of life accounted for more than half of the newly increased revenue. Progress has been made in the housing of farmers and herdsmen and improving infrastructure construction in terms of water, power and gas supply, transportation, communication, radio and television, postal services and environment. On the other side, efforts have been made to nurture specialty industries, create jobs, improve employment ability, build revenue-generating platforms, and raise the income of farmers and herdsmen. The per capita net income of farmers and herdsmen increased from 4,149 yuan in 2009 to 8,265 yuan in 2013; urban per capita disposable income climbed from 15,114 yuan in 2009 to 21,427 yuan 2013. The urban built-up area has been remarkably expanded by accelerating the construction of Liuwu new district and Dongcheng district, improving urban functions, and reinforcing the building of the transportation and pipe networks and related infrastructure, which has greatly improved people’s living standards. With the implementation of these livelihood projects, local residents have moved into large and bright houses, and secured access to clean water, safe electricity, convenient roads, and environment-friendly gas. Lhasa has now been appraised as one of the happiest cities in China for seven consecutive years. Here, youngsters live a happy life, middle-aged people appreciate their careers, and the old spend their remaining years in comfort. In summary, all the people have benefited from reform and rapid development.

　　According to the Blue Book of Public Services published by the China Academy of Social Sciences in 2013, Lhasa ranked first in satisfaction with basic public services among 38 major cities, with six indicators - public transportation, public security, the urban environment, culture and sports, social security and employment, and gross domestic product - topping the list. More specifically, public security has ranked first for three straight years, public transportation, urban environment, social security and employment and gross domestic product have ranked first for two straight years, while elementary education has ranked in the top three for three straight years. Meanwhile, the city has won many honorary titles such as national historic and cultural city, model city of social development, and national garden city.

　　Ladies and Gentlemen!

　　It’s better to see once for oneself rather than to hear several times. Themed on the development opportunities and choices of the Tibet Autonomous Region, this forum is of great practical significance. I suggest all guests take a tour around Tibet and experience the local culture. And when you go home, you might have come up with better ideas for the development of Tibet.

　　In conclusion, I wish you a happy stay in Tibet. Welcome to Tibet!

　　（Qizala，Member of the Party Committee of Tibet Autonomous Region and Secretary of the Lhasa Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China）