by Xinhua writers Lin Jianyang, Lyu Qiuping and Liu Ying
LHASA, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) — On a slim rocky path the place even horses have been reluctant to maneuver, a porter, carrying a washer on his shoulder, climbed step-by-step over a peak at greater than 4,600 meters above sea degree, heading residence deep within the Himalayas.
It was a scene captured by a documentary produced by the Japanese public broadcaster NHK in 2010.
The porter within the movie represented most younger males in Medog, China’s final roadless county within the nation’s Tibet Autonomous Region, who needed to trek for days to hold heavy hundreds out and in of the mountain-locked county.
After the isolation of the county resulted in October 2013, when Medog Highway opened to site visitors, porters in Medog pale into historical past.
Medog was lifted out of poverty by the top of 2019. The per capita disposable revenue of farmers and herders skyrocketed to fifteen,278 yuan (about 2,147 U.S. {dollars}) in 2021 from 4,875 yuan in 2012.
ISOLATION
Located in a deep valley within the Himalayas, Medog is besieged by excessive hills and primitive forests. For centuries, porters have been the foremost transportation means for the county.
It took porters as much as 5 days to reach at Pai Township, the closest city exterior the mountains, as they needed to climb snow-capped mountains with none concrete highway.
Being the oldest son in a household that would not afford college, Tenzin Gyatso, an ethnic Monba from a village within the county, began being a porter at age 12.
When he first arrived at Pai Township, he noticed vast roads, automobiles and tv units for the primary time, forming a pointy distinction to his hometown.
“We had nothing back home, even no electricity,” Tenzin Gyatso recalled.
In his life as a porter, he carried cement, metal and different supplies for building websites and every day requirements for a public-owned retailer. He additionally used to hold sausages, cigarettes and herbicides again residence for retail.
“The sausage bought at the price of 14 yuan per kg could be sold at 50 yuan per kg,” he mentioned.
Using the financial savings he acquired by being a porter and promoting groceries, Tenzin Gyatso successively purchased a hydroelectric generator, a radio cassette recorder, a tv set and a washer, carrying them residence all by himself. The generator didn’t retire till a close-by hydropower station began operation.
In the remoted county, youngsters needed to trek for days to highschool, and plenty of sufferers needed to be carried on a stretcher or shoulder to a hospital within the metropolis correct.
Changgar, a former porter from Medog’s Baibung Township, nonetheless remembered when he and his fellow villagers took turns carrying an 85-kg affected person to a hospital.
“We shifted every half an hour. On one leg of the journey, I carried the patient on my shoulders for two hours,” mentioned Changgar, now 59, who weighed solely 60 kg at the moment.
Jamyang, vp of the hospital of Medog, mentioned due to the poor transportation services, the hospital was in need of giant gear and professionals, and subsequently, sufferers in severe situation needed to be transferred to bigger hospitals exterior the county.
“Some patients died on the way while being carried out,” recalled Jamyang, who has been working on the hospital since 2008.
Because of lengthy journeys carrying heavy hundreds, many male residents in Medog endure from spinal and knee joint issues even now, in keeping with Jamyang.
ROAD TO PROSPERITY
The state of affairs considerably modified following the beginning of operation of the Medog Highway in October 2013, with automobiles and machines flowing in. Children can now go to highschool by automobile, and, each time wanted, sufferers might be transferred to the town hospital rapidly, typically by ambulance. Porters are now not wanted.
Wei Changqi, Party chief of the county, mentioned Medog Highway has facilitated the journey of native folks, tremendously assured the provides wanted for folks’s livelihood and the county’s building, and helped carry down costs of products within the county. Healthcare and schooling ranges have additionally been a lot improved.
Tenzin Gyatso now owns an excavator, which he leases to building websites. He additionally runs a homestay and rents it to building employees. Combined with the revenue from the tea plantation, his household now earns greater than 100,000 yuan a yr.
Benefiting from the improved schooling state of affairs, Tenzin Gyatso’s 4 youngsters have all studied at universities. “Young men are lucky as they no longer have to be porters as we were,” he mentioned.
After commencement, Tenzin Tsomo, Tenzin Gyatso’s eldest daughter, teaches in a highschool within the metropolis of Qamdo, greater than 1,000 km away from Medog.
To return residence, the 30-year-old wants to rent a automobile to move for Bomi County, the place she has to switch to a bus. The complete journey takes greater than 16 hours.
To her delight, the Sichuan-Tibet Railway at present underneath building will cross via each Qamdo and Bomi.
“When the railway line starts operation, it will be much more convenient to return home,” mentioned Tenzin Tsomo.