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Rinzin Wanggyai, Oldest Township Party Chief in China
Rinzin Wanggyai, 67, who used to be an alternate member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), claims that the present post of being the Party secretary of a Tibetan township on the roof of the world, with a population of 2,200, suits him most.
Now secretary of the CPC committee of Nyaimai Township, Lhunze County of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Rinzin Wanggyai is the oldest township Party secretary in the country who enjoys deputy ministerial treatment, the highest administrative level for a township Party chief in China.
Rinzin Wanggyai is allotted a cozy apartment by the regional government of Tibet in Lhasa, the regional capital, but he seldom lives there.
He spends most of the year in his "base" in Nyaimai Township, five hours away from Lhasa by car. Getting up at five o'clock in the morning, Rinzin Wanggyai goes from door to door, listening to demands and expectations from farmers, and complaints about problems that need to be solved by the township authorities, after having his simple breakfast.
Half a century back, Rinzin Wanggyai, a native of Nyaimai, was a serf of a major serf owner in the township. Rinzin Wanggyai recalled at that time, he had to carry on his back 60 kilograms of zanba, a roasted barley flour, and take the cargo to Lhasa on foot three or more times a year. The rest of the time, he had to herd livestock, till the land, or do other heavy chores for his master.
"We serfs were just talking animals, being ordered around by the master but treated no better than animals," said Rinzin Wanggyai.
Rinzin Wanggyai's life has undergone great changes since the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951. In the early 1950s, Serf Rinzin Wanggyai was sent to construct the highway connecting Lhasa with Chengdu, capital of neighboring Sichuan Province, for the government.
He was paid on a daily basis, that was the first reward he had ever received for his labor. There he met with the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), whose affability impressed him a lot. He even thought those two years were the happiest time during his serfdom.
The rebellion led by the Dalai Lama in 1959 was suppressed but Rinzin Wanggyai did not flee after his serf owner and the Dalai Lama, but chose to stay.
"I know PLA soldiers were nice men who would never treat me like animals," he said.
After the democratic reform in Tibet, Rinzin Wanggyai was elected chairman of the farmers' association in Nyaimai and joined the CPC. He was elected Party secretary of Nyaimai Township, thus starting his political life.
Apart from being a member of the standing committee of the Tibet Regional CPC Committee, Rinzin Wanggyai was also elected an alternate member of the 11th CPC Central Committee and twice a deputy to National People's Congress, China's top legislature. He attended the first Tibet work meeting of the CPC Central Committee and also held other leading posts in Tibet.
Among all the official posts, the Party secretary of Nyaimai Township has kept him for the longest time, which he said is the most inseparable post for him.
In 1992, when Rinzin Wanggyai was holding an important post in Shannan Prefecture, he repeatedly requested to be the Party secretary of Nyaimai Township." My biggest wish in old age is to well develop my hometown," said Rinzin Wanggyai, adding that he will work for his locals for several years before he retires.
Like most rural areas, Nyaimai in the early 1990s was still poor. On his return, he concentrated on fulfilling a range of major tasks, including developing education.
Today, there are five primary schools in Nyaimai, enrolling 97 percent of the local school-age children. In contrast, only 25 people were literate in the township 50 years ago, all of whom were nobles or lamas.
"Now, villager are getting rich who are used to put their money in banks," said an exciting Rinzin Wanggyai. "But half a century ago, there were only 800 head of livestock in Nyaimai."
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