Tibet’s Metok County which is referred to as “The Lotus Hidden Land” is China’s very last county to be connected by a public road, with backyard transport and frequent natural disasters such as avalanches and rock slides, this has hindered the local peoples’ ability to find a way to wealth. Following the official opening of the Metok county public road in October of 2013, Metok’s people have quickly started moving forward towards a better-off life. Up until now the length of the Metok County public road has been extended to 270.13 kilometers, township (town) and administrative village road coverage have reached 75% and 46% respectively. Metok’s tourism industry has realized rapid development, last year receiving visits from 70,800 tourists.

Metok people are in the Midst of Saying Farewell to “A Difficult Road”

Metok is located in the south-eastern part of Tibet, having the name “The Lotus Hidden Land”, its average altitude is only 1,200 meters. Due to the regional Himalaya fragment belt and the Metok fragment belt, there is frequent geologic movement making it an area often witnessing numerous earthquakes, avalanches, landslides and mudslides. With a humid climate with much rainfall adding to all of this, Metok ended up becoming the last county in China to be connected by road. People often say “it is difficult to go into Tibet, but is even more difficult to go into Metok” when describing the difficulty of travelling there.

On October 31st, 2013, Metok became officially accessible by automobile. “China’s last county without a road became history, and it was no longer a great struggle for Metok people to leave from those mountains.”

Baima Chodron, born during the 1980s, is a Moinba representative of The National People’s Congress. At the beginning of February 2015, Baima Chodron, on her way back home from a meeting held in Nyingchi, encountered a big snow storm, but she eventually still could make it back home to Metok smoothly. She posted on her “Wechat Moments” a short video clip about the big snow storm with the following caption: No matter how (big the snow), we still can make it to the town. 

“The road is now opened to the public, what Metok people have wished for hundreds of years has been realized,” Baima Chodron said passionately, we can see and touch the changes that the public road bring over to the Metok people. For this, in 2014 she brought to Beijing the wish of “public roads opened to traffic in every township throughout Metok”.

Baima Chodron always smiles so happily, “I am happy because we have gained a lot, because Metok people’s life is getting better day after day.”

Nowadays, County public roads have been extended to a length of 270.13 kilometers, township (town) and administrative village road coverage have reached 75% and 46% respectively, which has increased 50% and 7% respectively in comparison with 2010. Amongst 25 villages in 2 townshipsthat have not been opened to traffic yet, there are 23 villages in which public roads are under construction, so Baima Chodron’s wish will be realized in the near future. 

Stones in Metok will be singing

The elder sister and the younger brother who run a stone-pot store on the Shuixianhua Street in the Metok Town are also feeling joyous. They wrote their happiness onto the signboard – Bangxin Township Happy Stone-pot Franchised Store.

The Bangxin Township of Metok County is famous for being the place of origin of Metok stone pots, the local people carve the “soapstone” from the Namjagbarwa Mountain into pots using a primitive kind of knife, and sell the stone pots throughout China. 

“Because I like to smile so I picked this name.” The younger brother, Nyima Dorje said. This young Moinba guy who graduated from high school last year chose to start up a business. His elder sister Chodron told the journalist, nowadays stone pots can be made by machines, which are less expensive.

According to Nyima Dorje, the store was opened in May last year, when business is high, in one day they can sell 6 to 7 stone pots, and generally the business is good. The elder sister and the younger brother have widened their range, selling Metok specialties such as ebony chopsticks and bamboo plaiting articles, which brings about 200,000 yuan yearly income  

Metok stone pots have become a beautiful “name card” of the most remote regions of the snowy Mountain, composing a sonorous melody that reflects the new life of the Metok people. 

What made the elder sister and the younger brother even happier is the degree of support from the government. “We do not need to pay taxes.”, Nyima Dorje said. 

In recent years, Moinba-Lhoba characterized cultural industry has grown up in the local area in order to preserve and develop the distinguished ethnic minority traditional cultures. According to statistics, the Metok County over-fulfilled the specialty investment in cultural industry with an amount of 2,000,000 RMB, therein speeding up the discovery, inheritance and enhancement of the Moinba-Lhoba characterized culture. The Bangxin Stone-pot Cooperation and Dexing Bamboo Woven enterprises have produced 134,000 products amongst which 113,000 products have been sold, sales amount to numbers to more than31.2 million yuan.