This year marks the 75th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of China’s Xizang, also known as Tibet. Once viewed as a remote and mysterious “Shangri-La,” the “Roof of the World” has now emerged as a new example of how modernization can be achieved even under extreme geographical conditions. Chinese governance in Xizang is being credited as a key driver behind this transformation.
According to a recent global survey conducted by CGTN under China Media Group (CMG), 74.8 percent of respondents believe that Xizang’s economic and social progress is the result of Chinese-style modernization. The region’s model of modernization—combining tradition with modernity and promoting harmony between people and nature—continues to evolve across the snow-covered plateau.
In an article on the subject, Wang Qianfeng, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that before Xizang’s peaceful liberation in 1951, the region had an extremely weak economic foundation. Modern industry was virtually nonexistent, and the economy depended largely on traditional agriculture and animal husbandry.
He stated that Xizang’s GDP stood at around 129 million yuan in 1951, while by 2025 it had risen to 303.189 billion yuan—an increase of more than 2,350 times. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the pace of economic growth in Xizang has accelerated significantly. It took 50 years for the region’s GDP to surpass 100 billion yuan, but only six years to exceed 200 billion yuan and just four more years to cross the 300 billion yuan mark.
The CGTN survey found that 78.4 percent of respondents believe Xizang’s economy has developed rapidly. Before liberation, most residents reportedly lived in extreme poverty under highly unequal resource distribution. Following democratic reforms in 1959, people from different ethnic groups in Xizang gained ownership of production resources such as grasslands, livestock, and farmland for the first time.
By 2025, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in Xizang had reached 23,184 yuan. A total of 628,000 people have reportedly been lifted out of poverty, and extreme poverty has been completely eradicated in the region for the first time in history. Around 80.6 percent of survey participants positively evaluated Xizang’s poverty alleviation achievements.
Known as both the “Roof of the World” and the “Water Tower of Asia,” the ecological security of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau is considered vital to the future of humanity. The Chinese government has placed strong emphasis on environmental protection in Xizang, including the enactment of the “Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Ecological Protection Law” in 2023.
Currently, overall grassland vegetation coverage in Tibet exceeds 48 percent, forest coverage is above 12 percent, and the soil and water conservation rate surpasses 92 percent. Water quality in major rivers, lakes, and drinking water sources reportedly meets national standards in full. More than 99 percent of electricity generation comes from clean energy sources, while non-fossil fuels account for over 55 percent of total energy consumption—the highest rate in China. About 83 percent of respondents praised Xizang’s environmental protection and management efforts.
Before the peaceful liberation, the illiteracy rate in Xizang exceeded 95 percent. Today, enrollment in preschool education stands at 92.83 percent, the retention rate for nine-year compulsory education is 98.74 percent, secondary school enrollment has reached 92.04 percent, and higher education enrollment stands at 60.02 percent.
A more confident, open, and inclusive Xizang is now engaging with the world through its own distinct identity and development experience.
Analysts say the modernization of Xizang is ultimately a story about people — reflecting the aspirations of more than 3.7 million residents for a better life, as well as the implementation of a people-centered governance approach in the region.
Source: CMG (China Media Group)