(TibetanReview.net, Mar 06, 2009) — While Tibet remains cut off for foreign media and tourists, and movement of Tibetans remain tightly restricted, Chinese migrant workers and others continue to enter it massively, indicated China’s official Xinhuanet Mar 4.
At least 94,400 Chinese will have entered Tibet’s capital Lhasa from Feb 28 to Mar 31 this year by train alone, the report indicated. While over 5,000 entered the city daily as of Feb 28 by train, air and bus, some 2,950 would arrive by train every day from Feb. 28 to Mar 31, most of them from big cities of Chengdu, Chongqing, Lanzhou, and Xining, the report cited Jia Nailin, deputy director of the Lhasa Railway Station, as saying.
The report suggested that a substantial number of the travelers would be Chinese migrant workers. “The peak of migrant workers’ arrival in Tibet is expected to last till the end of this month on the basis of the current and previous circumstances,” Jia was quoted as saying.
Arrivals in Lhasa from China by the Air China flight alone peaked at 1,500 on Feb 28 and averaged 800 per day thereafter, the report said. The report said other airline companies, such as China Southern Airlines and Sichuan Airlines, were operating at full capacity, carrying a total of about 700 passengers per day, it added.
There were also daily long-distance buses bringing passengers to Lhasa from Chengdu, Xining, Lanzhou and Ge’ermu. The report said such large scale arrival of Chinese would continue till May.