Where is the traveling destination you look forward to be?

My friend asked me in MSN two days ago.

 My answer is Tibet, China, which has been a dreamy land for me since I was in the University.Tibet has long been a fascinating place to thousands travelers who get there every year to experience its attractions, including its culture, its wildlife, and the breathtaking Himalayan mountain. Above all, what attracts most travelers is the promise of visiting a land that's unspoiled by modern life. However, modern life has burst into Tibet: the railway between Qinghai province and Tibet Autonomous Region began running in this summer.

From our government’s standpoint:
The railway, which took five years to build, could double Tibet's tourist revenues by 2010 and cut transport costs into the region by 75 percent, lift its 2.8 million people out of isolation. The Qinghai-Tibet railway will have a profound impact on Tibet's economic and social development, and will create the conditions for Tibetan society's advance towards modern civilization

In few Tibetan and foreign critics’ eyes, the railway will benefit Han Chinese, China's dominant ethnic group, at the expense of Tibetan natives. They argue that enhanced transportation links will accelerate a trend of Han-led economic development and smother Tibet's ancient spiritual culture, while undermining the pristine natural environment of its highlands.

Tibetans who have voiced reservations say they do not oppose the railway in principle but argue that it was conceived mainly to enhance China's economic control over the Tibetan region. They say it will also aid Chinese exploitation of mineral resources in the Tibetan highlands.

From foreign engineers’ perspective:

Those who have been involved with elements of the project, said the railway would require heavy expenditures on maintenance and may be hard to run for more than a decade without an extensive overhaul. That’s to say, the railway is an endless construction project.

The voice from our neighbor: The q-t railway is actually a military project which can be the channel of transporting army and weapons from inland China to west plateau easily. Then China can control not only the Tibet but also the frontier in west Asia.

Obviously, there comments are not our original intention. The reason to point out the views is to remind ourselves we’d better not take it for granted that all the groups and countries would express the same honeyed words towards the same issue, like the QT railway.

Different people have different views. It’s not a harmonious society and world.  In such a perplexing and complicated globe, there’s still a long way for us to go to build our own Shangrila.

Best wishs to my country.

－－北欧海盗