Yadong Port
Yadong is called “deep valley with torrents” in Tibetan. It lies in the valley of south slope of intermediate section of the Himalayas, north latitude 27°4, east longitude 88°9, some 3,000 meters above sea level, boarded by Sikkim and Bhutan. Since the mid-19th century, Yadong has gradually
developed into the main land passway for Sino-Indian border  trade, the largest foreign trading port of Tibet at the early 1950s.
    
Market trade with bordering countries begins to revive at Yadong port at present and the infrastructure construction of the port begins to take shape. Yadong is about 300 km from Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan, and about 100 km from Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, and 460 km from provincial capital of Lhasa, Tibet. All the cities have been basically connected with railways and highways. It’s about 400 kilometers from Yadong to Calcutta, the big coastal city in India and then seaway is directly available. In addition, it is only 220 kilometers from Gepur, a Bangladesh road artery city, also an ideal passway leading to the Indian Ocean in the south. It is favorable for to the economic development of Tibet and the economic development of India and other neighboring countries to try to reopen Yadong as soon as possible.
      
Since the reform and opening-up in 1978, the economic prosperity of Yadong, social stability, the highest volume of non-governmental trade reaching more than 4 million yuan have demonstrated the economic status of this strategic port. “If you don’t go to Yadong and you will never know the beauty of the plateau “, said the people living in Tibet for a long time. In recent years, many outlanders came to Yadong for visit. As a frontier port, Yadong will resume opening to the outside world soon. People in the whole county are carrying every preliminary preparation actively. Roads, bridges and energy facilities needed for further development have been built. A group of landmark buildings such as the border trade building, urban construction building that have been built with the support from Shanghai and the international mail exchange building built with government investment, local branch of Bank of China and finance, tax building, etc. rise up from level ground. The local dwelling houses of Yadong with national characters together with the modern city form a beautiful urban landscape. “Reach Yadong and you will know its beauty “. Stand at the ridge and take a broad view of Yadong city and it is like one bright jewel inlay in the magnificent Himalayas. This jewel is attracting guests from all directions with its unique charm.

Zam Port
Zam Port is the largest open port at present leading to subcontinent of South Asia, located at the south slope of intermediate section of Himalayas, bordered by Nepal to the east, the south and the west. It is also the Throat of Class I national highway-China-Nepal Highway. Zam Port is 736 km from Lhasa, 120 km from Kathmandu and is the main path for political, economic and cultural exchanges between China and Nepal. Some 2,400 meters above sea level, the port enjoys pleasant climate. The national boundary, Friendship Bridge, is l,700 meters above sea level. The traffic at the port is convenient and the infrastructure, such as energy, communication, etc. has been basically guaranteed. The management organizations in Zam town are sound, such as customs, bank, industry and commerce, joint inspection, public security, etc with over 3,000 permanent residents, more than 20 foreign trade and border trade companies. The average daily floating population is about l,000 persons and the annual turnover of goods has already topped 200 million yuan. Internally it has influenced Tibet and neighboring provinces and externally Nepal and bordering countries and regions. It is the largest border trade center port in Tibet at present. The port is close to the key location of “three rivers” economic development area in Tibet, which will bring more market resources for the frontier market in Zam. At present, Zam is being bathed in the sunshine of reform and opening-up.
      
The development of border trade has brought benefits to town residents in Zam. Nowadays only the old stay to look after the few cattle and sheep in Lishing Village, one mountain far from the site of town government. Most of the young men and women move to the town, engaging in the commercial transactions. They get back to the village to work for a period of time only in busy farming season. Here lie their roots; they cannot live without the ghee.
      
The busy Nepalese businessmen are a sight in Zam town. Nepalese woman’s gorgeous long skirts, and man’s tight trousers, body shirts, and Nepalese teenager’s flashing surprised sights have added another kind of beauty to Zam town.

Burang Port
Located in the southwest of Ngari Prefecture of Tibet and at the south slopes of the Himalayas, it is the meeting point of China, India and Nepal and also the only way for residents of the two countries who intend to pay homage to magical mountain and holy lake within the territory of Tibet. Moreover, it is one of the passways for the international tourists to enter into China. Burang is a picturesque place with pleasant and abundant tourist resources. “Holy mountains”, “Holy Lakes” are the main scenic spots in Burang. Because the special status of “Holy mountains”, “Holy lakes” in the religion, nearly ten thousand persons from Southeast Asia and the west come here every year. The frontier entrepot with a history of more than 500 years, the unique folk custom culture of Burang, simple and unsophisticated national dress, numerous natural landscape integrated with humane view have made Burang become the famous tourist resort in Tibet. Having resumed border trade with the northern part of India in 1992, it has been a main port for the foreign trade in the northwestern Tibet. The commerce of Burang develops progressively and the foreign trade enterprise of Ngari area has branches here. There are individual trade companies from inside and outside China and more than 100 traveling traders from India and Nepal. Because there is no highway to the outside and heavy snow often blocks the way, the foreign traders come in for trading between July to September every year. The annual turnover is not big and the total volume of trade is over 40 million yuan.
Since the reform and opening-up in 1978, the economic development and social stability of Burang have made the people live and work in peace and contentment. Thus the pattern of economic development has taken shape in the form of relying mainly on farming and animal husbandry, complemented by border trade, traveling and local industry. At present, the infrastructure of Burang is comparatively complete. Among the “three verticals and two horizontals and six pass ways in Tibet, Burang is the terminal point of one vertical and one horizontal road, and it also one of the six passways. The traffic lines in Burang lead to Indian and
Nepalese border and it is about lj300 kilometers to Lhasa and l,455 kilometers to Yechang in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region through national highway No. 219. As for the energy, now there are 3 small hydraulic power stations and the power stations of the county with installed generating capacity of 500 kilowatts is under construction, Telecommunications have already offered the international and domestic direct dial call service and telephones are even available in some rural areas of the county.

Two events created a hit inBeijingin 1999. They were the “Tibet Cultural Exhibition” early in the year, and the performance of the musical danceQomolangma in the summer–held to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Democratic Reform inTibet.

When the exhibition was held in theBeijingExhibitionCenter, the entrance ticket cost 20 yuan, but, despite of the high price, the queue awaiting admission extended for about l,000meters.

When the musical dance was performed in the Workers’ Gymnasium, all 10,000 seats were filled for each performance. The local people were astonished to see a robust and graceful dance performance emanating from what they understood to be “a cold area with scarce oxygen.”

We, who have worked inTibet, also  take pride in the integration of tradition and modernization, which found expression in the musical dance performance. Unlike palace dance and monastic dance performance, the modern musical dance performance features traditional dance movements treated in a modern way. As the dance contains modern elements, some in the West cry that cultural tradition has been wipe out in theTibet. However, the Tibetans do not think. That way.

“The world is experiencing rapid development. How can we still live in a traditional village isolated from the outside world’?” they ask.

“Why we should not seek changes, whilst theUnited StatesandEuropeare developing by leaps and bounds?”   “Does this mean changes and development constitute a Western patent?”