Amid all this one simply could not ignore the rock-solid embrace of infrastructure on a region they say is one of China's least developed and poorest. The visit opened our eyes to a Tibet we in India know little of, a Tibet that goes beyond the stereotypes of lamas, monasteries, prayer wheels, yak butter tea and barley wine. Traveling over more than 1,400 km across Gansu was a splendid lesson on how a nation prioritizes infrastructure as the sole key to social and economic development. Slogans along the superbly built highways say, "If you want to be prosperous, first build roads." According governance, education and healthcare as much importance, the Government is now encouraging nomads to settle down in state-subsidized dwellings so that their children get access to a better lifestyle with greater exposure to the outside world through education, a facility they cannot avail in their nomadic existence.

And, as the engineering marvel, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, glides into the Lhasa railway station, traveling 30 hours up from Gansu's capital city Lanzhou, through the Gobi desert to the rooftop of the world, one is finally convinced of the extent of Tibet's integration with mainstream China's development.

This Tibet is a crucial part of China's new social and economic fabric, a plan the Chinese Government has undertaken in right earnest only in the last five years. Within this short span, Tibet has been linked by road, air, rail and telecommunication, affording it a hitherto unknown access to the outside world. From a single road between Potala Palace and Norbulingka in 1951, the total length of highways in Tibet, including rural roads, stretches up to 41,302 km linking Lhasa with Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, Xinjiang and Nepal. More than 600,000 vehicles today traverse the length and breadth of Tibet. The Qinghai-Tibet railway has opened up limitless possibilities for the tourism industry all along the majestic route. The once "forbidden zone of flight" over Tibet now has regular traffic between Lhasa and major metropolises like Beijing and Shanghai while Kathmandu provides Tibet with an international connection. With the remotest pastures and settlements linked through telecommunication, Tibet is completely wired today. And no view of the Tibetan grassland or the Gobi desert is complete without electricity poles in the frame - any nature photographer's bane - which actually signal how far and wide power has touched the Tibetan countryside.

Given this infrastructure, tourism is a natural sunshine sector here. Today, there are more than 200 travel companies operating out of Tibet and close to 200 hotels with over 7,500 rooms catering to international tourists. The tourism industry, directly and indirectly, employs around 75,000 Tibetans. Showcasing Tibetan culture is of vital necessity to this project because if local customs and flavors are lost, Tibet would no longer be attractive to those who long to visit the roof of the world to experience that very special Tibetan way of life. In another tourist-friendly move, aware of the restrictions that the special permit currently required to tour Tibet imposes on the average tourist, the Chinese Government is now considering doing away with the irritant altogether. All in all, China is getting more comfortable with outsiders visiting its weaker spots.

For local Tibetans, transportation and telecommunication have meant the opening of industries that now complement Tibet's traditional farming and animal husbandry sectors. With increasing modernization and integration of farming and herding, Tibetans are now being encouraged to produce more than their self-sufficiency limits in a way that they become totally self-reliant. Sketchy statistics suggest that over 1.33 million Tibetan farmers and herdsmen are involved in state-run forestry projects that have greatly enhanced their annual income.

Indeed, this Tibet is a far cry from the mythical Shangri La of James Hilton's Lost Horizon. Here Shangri La is only the name of an Ecological Tourism Zone that the government representatives of Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet together signed a declaration for in 2004 welcoming the world to a 21st century Shangri La.

Editor:Liu Fang