Tibet not only has uncontaminated natural environment, but also has clean energy that offers green motive force for economic development. Most of the energy resources in Tibet are renewable. such as hydro energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, wind energy, etc. Tibet is always famous for abundant hydro energy resources with the reserves up to more than 200 million kilowatts and the annual electric energy can be up t0 1,760 billion kilowatt hours. According to preliminary investigation, 56,600,000 kilowatts in the annual electric energy can be developed and the annual energy output can be up t0 330 billion kilowatt hours. Hydro energy resources in Tibet are centered at southeast Tibet, where the reserves of hydro energy account for 70 percent of the whole region. However, the development and utilization of hydro energy resources in Tibet is still to a very low degree at present. The hydroelectric energy generated was 45 1,330,000-kilowatt hours in 1997 and this also proves that there is great potential for development and utilization of hydro energy in Tibet.
With annual sunshine adding up to 1,500-3,400 hours, Tibet is one of the areas with the most abundant solar energy resource in the world. The total radiation is up to 6,000-8,000 MJ /square meter in most area. The proportion of perpendicular incidence is big with small variation between years. Moreover, its distribution is complementary to that of the hydro energy in Tibet. Since the 1990s, Tibet has succeeded in implementing “the sunshine plan” and achieved remarkable effects in the utilization and promotion of solar energy. By the end of 1 997, Tibet has popularized 76,000 sets of solar stoves in all and built up solar energy greenhouse of 130,000 square meters. The various kinds of photo electricity facilities installed are up to 1,200 kilowatts in power. The use of solar energy can save of standard coal more than 100,000 tons. Thus it has played a positive role in socio-economic development and environmental protection.
Tibet is the area with the strongest geothermal power activities in China and the geothermal resource is of considerable amount. Geothermal power sites that have already been discovered are more than 600 and the conceptual estimate of generating capacity is about 800,000 kilowatts. Among 169 hot fields and hot water areas that have already been investigated, those with temperature higher than 80 degrees Centigrade account for 22 percent and the highest is 95.5 degrees Centigrade. The majority is close to or exceeds the local boiling point; those places with temperature between 60-80 degrees Centigrade account for 26 percent; those places with temperature between 40-60 degrees Centigrade account for 35 percent and lower than 40 degrees Centigrade count for 17 percent. The Yangbajain geothermal field, 90 kilometers from the down districts of Lhasa, is one of the biggest geothermal sites ever discovered in Tibet. It was built up and put into operation in 1988 and can transmit power of 50 million kilowatt hours to Lhasa every year. The potentiality of geothermal resources to be exploited in the Tibet is attracting increasingly extensive concern. The United Nations and Italy have successively contributed nearly 9 million US dollars to the construction of hot field project in Yangbajain, Nyingzhong, Nagqu, Lhadogang at early 1990s. The thermal power station in Nagqu began to generate electricity in 1994.
As for wind energy, there are two wind belts in Tibet and it is estimated that the annual wind energy reserves arc up to 93 billion kilowatt hours. Except the east Tibet, most areas are abundant in wind energy and the annual effective wind hours in north plateau are up to more than 4,000 hours. The small wind-driven generators in front of or behind the herdsmen7 houses in the northern Tibet can offer not merely the light, but also electricity for watching televisions, receiving the radio signals and communicating with the outside world.
Under the feudal serfdom, serfs and slaves made up95 percent of the Tibetan population, but owned nothing. Serf owners who made up only less than 5percent of the population, however, owned 95-odd percent of the wealth. In 1959, the Tibetan society had made certain progress. Unable to accept changes, some in the upper ruling class staged an armed rebellion, killing people who favored such social changes. When the rebellion was put down, the 14th Dalai Lama took them abroad where they organized a government in exile. This put an end to the enforcement of the serfdom which still held sway after the peaceful liberation ofTibetin 1951, and made it possible for the Central Government to decide to conduct the Democratic Reform ahead of time.
During the Democratic Reform that lasted from 1959t0 1960, the million serfs won emancipation and be-came masters of their society. They were given land to till and houses to live in. In the autumn of 1960, some 364,000 kg of grain converted from usury was declared as “not to be paid”; the serfs and slaves harvested some 28 million kg of grain for self consumption; and about 20,000 household servants were given 2.52 million kg of grain and settled down.
With food in stomach, the serfs and slaves sang:” With the Dalai, the sun shines over the nobility, but with Chairman Mao, the sun shines over us the poor; while the sun for the nobility has set, our sun rises.”
The Democratic Reform proved to be very successful, with some 200,000 peasants issued with land deeds and winning freedom. Chen Zonglie, then young men, recorded the segment of history with cameras, and photos taken then are touching and moving.
Historians recorded the history this way:
On June 28, 1959, the Preparatory Committee for the Founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region held its second session, adopting the Resolution on Conducting the Democratic Reform inTibetand the Methods on Rent and Interest Reduction in the Tibetan Areas. According to the new rule, debts the serfs and slaves borrowed from the serf owners before 1958 were declared null and void, while debts borrowed in 1959were to be paid at a reduced interest rate. During its third session, it was decided to abolish feudal serfdom and distribute land among the tillers, and adopted the Methods Concerning Reform of the Land System inTibet. In December 1959, it was decided that herd owners were not allowed to fire tenants at will.