General Secretary Xi Jinping's concerns｜Friendship across mountains and seas——Heartwarming stories of counterpart assistance to Tibet

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the launch of counterpart assistance to Tibet.

"It is the consistent policy of the Party Central Committee that the central government supports Tibet and the whole country supports Tibet. It must be adhered to for a long time, and we must seriously sum up experience and create a new situation in Tibet aid work." In August 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized this when delivering an important speech at the Seventh Central Tibet Work Symposium.

Under the care and concern of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, relevant central departments, provinces and cities supporting Tibet, and enterprises supporting Tibet have played their respective advantages, insisted on taking the protection and improvement of people's livelihood as the starting point and foothold, and made industrial and intellectual assistance to Tibet, and promoting exchanges and integration among all ethnic groups as the focus of their work. Through the counterpart assistance mechanism, batches of cadres supporting Tibet have brought the care of the Party Central Committee and the friendship of the people across the country to the snow-covered plateau, continuously forged a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, and effectively promoted long-term stability and high-quality development in Tibet.

"We should focus more on livelihood issues that are of general concern to the people, and do a good job in employment, education, social security, medical care, elderly care, childcare, housing and other livelihood issues, and implement them one by one, so that people of all ethnic groups can have a stronger sense of gain, a more sustainable sense of happiness, and a more guaranteed sense of security." -- Xi Jinping

Yan Chaowu, a doctor from the Fuwai Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences who is assisting Tibet in its aid mission, is about to leave Tibet. He is still busy performing a heart surgery - this is the 301st heart surgery he has performed during his work in Tibet.

"Thanks to the foundation laid by previous batches of doctors aiding Tibet, local doctors are more familiar with the surgical procedures. This operation took us only half an hour." He said that now the Tibet Autonomous Region People's Hospital has advanced congenital heart disease treatment technology and rich experience, and has initially achieved the goal of "no serious illness outside Tibet" for congenital heart disease.

According to the "hospital-based department" mechanism, the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery of the People's Hospital of the Autonomous Region welcomed Xu Liang, a doctor sent by Fuwai Hospital to assist Tibet. "In the next year, the department will depend on you. If we encounter any difficult and complicated diseases in the future, the two places can solve the problems through remote consultation." Yan Chaowu said at the farewell ceremony.

The medical talent "group-style" aid to Tibet launched in 2015 has formed team advantages and exerted overall effects through continuous medical talent relay, so that people in the plateau can get high-quality medical services at their doorstep. In the past 10 years, more than 4,400 new medical technologies and projects have been launched, more than 2,500 medical technology gaps have been filled, and various cutting-edge treatment plans have come to the snowy plateau.

Education is the foundation of a century-long plan. The 2024 college entrance examination results of Lhasa Nagqu No. 1 Senior High School, a key project supported by Zhejiang's aid to Tibet, hit a record high: the overall pass rate was 100%, the undergraduate rate exceeded 96%, and the key undergraduate rate was nearly 69%. Wu Pengfei, a teacher from Zhejiang who aided Tibet, said: "We use high-quality teaching to cultivate local students, and at the same time pass on Zhejiang's teaching concepts and experience to local teachers, and cultivate a team of local teachers with strong comprehensive qualities."

Shanghai aid-Tibet teacher Pan Jie leads students in ideological and political education classes in the barley fields.

The impressive results reflect the great role played by "group-based" education aid to Tibet.

In April 2016, the first batch of "group-style" education aid talents entered Tibet. So far, 17 counterpart provinces and cities have sent more than 2,100 education aid talents to Tibet, supporting 21 primary and secondary schools in Tibet, helping more than 2,500 local teachers and more than 150 teams, so that students of all ethnic groups in Tibet can enjoy high-quality teaching resources.

Medical care and education are the key areas for the development of people's livelihood in Tibet, and are also the focus of targeted aid to Tibet. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, "group-style" aid to Tibet has become a "magic weapon" for accurately filling the gaps in people's livelihood and development in Tibet, and is a vivid manifestation of the significant advantages of my country's socialist system of "concentrating resources to accomplish major tasks" in the new era.

"We should leverage our strengths and avoid our weaknesses, adapt to local conditions, deepen reform and opening up, accelerate the construction of railways, roads and other major infrastructure, develop characteristic industries, speed up the construction of a national clean energy base, coordinate development and security, and embark on a path of high-quality development that suits Tibet's reality." - Xi Jinping

At the beginning of September, the snowy plateau showed signs of autumn. Bailang County, Shigatse City, which has the largest greenhouse vegetable base in the region, began to prepare to adjust the planting structure of greenhouse vegetables.

"We need to adjust the planting structure according to the market, create a time difference with vegetables from outside the region, establish a closer relationship with markets inside and outside the region, maximize economic benefits, and allow the people to have more income." said Li Dong, the tenth batch of aid-Tibet cadres from Jinan City, Shandong Province.

In Bailang County, Shigatse City, Li Dong, a member of the 10th batch of Jinan City’s aid-to-Tibet cadre, is communicating with local farmers. Photo by reporter Ding Ting

The development of Bailang County's greenhouse vegetable industry is inseparable from Shandong's aid to Tibet. With the continuous promotion of Jinan City's aid-Tibet cadres, Bailang County now has 17,400 mu of vegetable planting area, an annual vegetable output of about 66,000 tons, and an annual output value of about 300 million yuan. The income from vegetable planting accounts for nearly 16% of the per capita disposable income of farmers and herdsmen in the county.

In recent years, Bailang County has built Tibet's first national-level standardized vegetable planting demonstration area and promoted the overall upgrading of the industry. In 2023, after in-depth research, the tenth batch of Jinan City's aid-Tibet cadres proposed the idea of ​​doing a good job in the "production end" and "sales end" and opening up the vegetable industry chain. At present, more fruit and vegetable varieties suitable for plateau cultivation are being cultivated, and standardized production processes are gradually being established.

Shannan City is located on the banks of the Yarlung Zangbo River and borders Shigatse City to the west. In recent years, Hubei Province has taken the development of industries as a key strategy for its counterpart assistance to Tibet to help Shannan develop high-quality development.

In 2003, Huaxin Cement Co., Ltd. settled in Sangri County, Shannan City, Tibet. It is a key enterprise for Hubei to implement industrial aid to Tibet. Based on the concept of green environmental protection, the company produces various cement products, which are widely used in key projects such as Gonggar Airport, Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway, and hydropower station development projects, reducing the construction costs of key national projects in Tibet. By the end of 2023, Huaxin Cement had achieved a cumulative industrial output value of 18.244 billion yuan, paid 2.2 billion yuan in taxes to the local area, and promoted the development of local industries such as electricity, transportation, mining, and services.

More industrial aid projects are being vigorously promoted. "Lhasa rapeseed oil", "Shannan Tibetan eggs", "Nyingchi tea"... Over the past 30 years, the counterpart provinces, cities and central enterprises have deeply explored the resource endowments and development potential of the recipient areas, activated the endogenous driving force of the recipient areas through industrial development, and promoted the high-quality development of the snow-covered plateau.

More and more industrial aid projects are taking root in the snowy plateau. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, more than 9,500 aid projects have been implemented. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period alone, 17 provinces and cities have arranged 229 industrial aid projects and 4.406 billion yuan in aid funds to help Tibet achieve high-quality development and increase employment and income for local people.

"The spirit of aiding Tibet is a noble spirit of the Communist Party of China and a significant advantage of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Lack of oxygen does not mean lack of spirit, and this spirit is the revolutionary ideal that is higher than the sky. You are on the plateau, but your spirit is higher than the plateau." - Xi Jinping

It is almost half a year since Wu Jiahan, a doctor from Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, came to Tibet to help, but he is still not used to the altitude of more than 4,000 meters in Burang County, Nagqu City.

Breathing the rarefied air, Wu Jiahan finally understood the hardships his mother, Li Baien, had gone through. More than 30 years ago, Li Baien, then the chief physician at Ningbo Women and Children's Hospital, volunteered to come to Tibet and had not returned home for two years.

Not seeing his mother for a long time, the young Wu Jiahan silently expressed his longing in his diary: "My mother is a doctor on a plateau at 4,500 meters. I want to be like her when I grow up." Many years later, following in his mother's footsteps, Wu Jiahan took over Li Baien's mission of curing diseases and saving lives.

The harsh natural environment tests the responsibility and commitment of the cadres sent to Tibet, and tempers their will and talents.

In 2019, Xu Po from China Baowu Group came to Zhongba County, Shigatse City, at an altitude of more than 4,700 meters, to assist Tibet. During his time in Tibet, he endured the physical discomfort caused by the high-altitude and hypoxic environment, initiated projects such as the revitalization of basic education, employment assistance to Tibet, and industrial assistance to Tibet, and made positive contributions.

After the three-year aid period ends, Xu Po will continue to work in Tibet according to the organization's arrangement. "Although working on the plateau is hard, this kind of struggle is more valuable and meaningful," he said.

On April 1, 2019, people visited the National Tibet Aid Exhibition Hall. Photo by reporter Li Xin

Having worked in the harsh environment of the plateau for a long time, some cadres sent to Tibet have lost their lives in Tibet forever.

In the National Tibet Aid Exhibition Hall in Lulang Town, Nyingchi City, there are photos of cadres who unfortunately died in the aid to Tibet since the launch of the counterpart aid to Tibet: Shao Haiyun, a cadre from the second batch of Shanghai's aid to Tibet, Zhao Ju, a doctor from the second batch of Anhui Province's group aid to Tibet, Chen Beixin, a cadre from the fifth batch of Beijing's aid to Tibet... Many of them did not have time to leave a single word when they fell, but their lofty aspirations are forever engraved on the mountains and rivers.

For thirty years, regardless of wind or rain, batch after batch of aid-Tibet cadres have come forward one after another, sacrificing their youth, sweat and even their lives, and working hand in hand with the local cadres and the masses to compose a magnificent epic of "lack of oxygen but not lack of spirit, hardship but not fear of hardship, and higher altitude but higher realm".

Over the past 30 years, in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and other central competent departments have organized and sent 10 batches of nearly 12,000 cadres and talents to work in Tibet. The selection structure has been continuously optimized, from mainly selecting party and government cadres to selecting a combination of party and government cadres, professional and technical personnel, and business management personnel. The personnel, education, age, and professional structure are more reasonable, providing strong cadre and talent support for the comprehensive implementation of the Party's Tibet governance strategy in the new era and promoting extensive exchanges and integration among all ethnic groups.