Economy of Tibet

Due to limited arable land, livestock raising is the primary occupation mainly on the Tibetan Plateau, among them are sheep, cattle, goats, camels, yaks, donkeys and horses.

The main crops grown are barley, wheat, buckwheat, rye, potatoes, oats, rapeseeds, cotton and assorted fruits and vegetables.

[2] Professor Lin Chun summarizes, "Roads, factories, schools, hospitals, and above all, modern conceptions of equality and citizenship, however undemocratic they might be, had transformed the land of snows where the cruelty and hardship of an ancient serfdom had been evident.

[6] In the first six months of 2008, economic growth in Tibet was halved after the Lhasa riots led to a slump in tourism, consumption and output.

The conference was attended by CPC Politburo Standing Committee members: Hu Jintao, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang signaling the commitment of senior Chinese leaders to development of Tibet and ethnic Tibetan areas.

The government initially tried to follow the industrial structure and development plans of other regions, while ignoring the actual situation in the TAR (scarcity of fuel, high transport costs, inexperienced local labour, etc.).

[13] According to the White Paper published by the central government in 2009 to mark the Fiftieth Anniversary of the "Democratic Reform in Tibet," a modern Tibetan industry has developed with mining, construction materials, handicrafts and Tibetan medicine as pillar industries, and power generation, processing of agricultural products and livestock and food production as auxiliary.

[15] Founded in 1953,[16] the state carpet-making factory in Lhasa has turned into a modern enterprise whose products are sold in Europe, North America and South Asia.

[6] In 2007, the figure climbed to some 4 million visitors but fell to only 2,246,400 in 2008[18] on account of the region being closed to tourism from March till June.

Between January and July 2009, more than 2.7 million tourists visited the TAR, three times as many as for the same period in 2008,[19] generating an income of 2.29 billion yuans.

[20] In 2010, the region received 6.85 million tourists from home and abroad, generating revenues of 7.14 billion yuan, 14 percent of its total GDP.