Tibet Transportation

1300 years ago, It took Princess Wencheng three years to reach Lhasa from Chang'an (now between Xi'an and Xianyang). Early 17th century, Anto Andradi from Portugal was the first European explorer to enter Tibet, but he hadn't covered the tenth land of Tibet in 17 years. Before 1949, the messed-up ancient track is the only access to Tibet, the mysterious land.

In the early 1950s, to push the economy ahead, famous Sichuan-Tibet and Qinghai-Tibet Highways was built. The following years witnessed a series of great projects including Yunnan-Tibet, Xinjiang-Tibet and Kathmandu-Lhasa Highways.

In order to strengthen the communication, the task to open the air route to Tibet lay ahead. Though the high altitude, the thin air, the complicated landform, the cold weather, the sand storm, the ice storm, the thunder storm, the altitude wind of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were threatening the flight, the Beijing-Chengdu-Lhasa air route was opened on March 1st, 1965, which connect Tibet with the outside world. Tourists could fly from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xian, Xining and Kathmandu to Lhasa or from Chengdu to Nyingtri now.

In 2006, With the opening of Qinghai-Tibet railway, the difficulty to enter into Tibet has been completey overcome. The railway is expected to extend to Shigatse in the future. Beijing to Lhasa train runs every day, while Chengdu to Lhasa, Chongqing to Lhasa, Shanghai to Lhasa, Guangzhou to Lhasa, Xining to Lhasa, Lanzhou to Lhasa does every other day. Three-Dimensional Transportation Network of railways, highways and airlines has been built in Tibet.