Modernization and urbanization constantly improving people's lives
In the old days Tibet had no roads in the modern sense, but today a comprehensive transportation system including road, aviation, railway, and pipeline transportation is being developed and improved. In 2012 Tibet had 8,896 km of roads with sub-high-grade surface or better, and the total length of road opened to traffic reached 65,200 km. Every county and township now has access to road transportation. Sixty-two counties are accessible by tarmac roads. In 2006 the Qinghai-Tibet Railway began operation, introducing railway transportation into Tibet for the first time in history. The construction of the railway line connecting Lhasa and Shigatse will be completed in 2014. In 2011 Tibet's first expressway opened to traffic, linking Lhasa and Gongga Airport. By the end of 2012 Tibet had five airports, and nine airlines had operations there. Now 34 domestic air routes link Tibet with other parts of China, with Gongga Airport (Lhasa) as the main terminal supplemented by Bamda Airport (Qamdo), Mainling Airport (Nyingchi), Gunsa Airport (Ngari), Heping Airport (Shigatse). Before the peaceful liberation of Tibet only one small power station, with a capacity of 125 kw, provided electricity to the small number of privileged aristocrats. Today's Tibet has a rapidly growing power industry. With hydraulic power as the main energy source, Tibet is also developing geothermal power, wind power, solar power and other new energies that complement each other. In 2012 the total installed generating capacity reached 1.23 million kw, and the coverage of power supply was 100 percent. In Lhasa, the city heating project started trial operation, providing heating to 40 percent of the city's households by the end of 2012. In old Tibet people used to carry goods by themselves or use pack animals, and mail was delivered by courier stations. This is now history. Currently a network of optical cable, satellite and long-distance telephone lines has been established in the region, and all places above county level are now covered by 3G signals. Every township has broadband connection and every village has telephone services. In 2012 the number of households using landline telephone reached 2.76 million, and there were 91 telephones for every 100 persons. The number of households with Internet connections users was 1.47 million, with a coverage rate of 33.3 percent.
Urbanization has brought the fruits of modern civilization to people living in Tibet. Prior to the peaceful liberation of Tibet, only a handful of places were inhabited by any concentration of people, and only Lhasa, Qamdo and Shigatse could be called towns. The area of the town proper of Lhasa then was less than three square kilometers. In recent years Tibet has been promoting intensive, intelligent, green and low-carbon urbanization, which is a new-type urban system that centers on Lhasa City and radiates to prefectures, counties, border towns and towns with cultural attractions, in an attempt to attract more industries and residents. By 2012 Tibet had two cities and 140 towns, with an urbanization rate of 22.75 percent.
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