Clad in a white fleece coat and pink woolen hat, Purbu sits on the thick carpet of her new two-storey house and sips from a bottle of juice. The small table beside her is piled up with candies and snacks, glossy Tibetan-style furniture fills the room and the windows, whose thick glass keeps out the harsh winter wind, offer a view of her spacious yard from which a yak peeps curiously into the room. Enjoying an hour of leisure, our hostess confesses that sometimes she is not sure if she is in a dream, and has to pinch herself to make sure she is awake.
Purbu was born 51 years ago in the village of Yamda, 15 kilometers west of Lhasa, which at the time was just a rough settlement of tent homes and adobe shelters. The entire local income came from the plots of land that the villagers tended in the same manner their ancestors had for centuries past, and the size of harvest depended completely on the mercy of Mother Nature. This was a scene that represented the bigger picture on the plateau. In 1950, Lhasa, which was designated regional capital when Tibet Autonomous Region was founded in 1965, was a comparatively insignificant city of less than three square kilometers with a population of just 30,000. There was no sewage system, the roads were unpaved, and beggars were everywhere.
When she recalls her early memories, Purbu is always amazed at how much the region and her village have changed. Lhasa is now 18 times the size it was in 1950, and boasts all modern infrastructures and amenities. Yamda itself has recently seen massive changes thanks to a government-funded housing project, building bigger, safer houses for all local families. Eighty percent of local residents, including Purbu and her family, have already made the move.
Purbu’s new home is three times the size of her former residence, but both the exterior and interior of the house remain distinctively Tibetan, as the project is dedicated to rebuilding old neighborhoods without damaging their local identity and aesthetics. She paid for it with her savings, along with a government subsidy of RMB 24,000 and an interest-free bank loan of RMB 20,000.
The new village not only provides larger, more comfortable homes, but also brings with it improved utilities, including roads, water, electricity, postal service and telecommunications. Now Purbu no longer has to venture out in a chilly winter day to draw water from the well, carry it home, and then wash clothes in icy water. Running water and a washing machine have freed her from the labor that once gave her sore muscles and frostbitten fingers.
With modern infrastructure, appliances and technology like this having significantly relieved the burden of housekeeping and farming, Purbu and her family have more time for entertainment and other undertakings. One of Purbu’s two daughters worked in Lhasa before returning to give birth to her son, while the other is attending school in the southern province of Hunan.
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