The new Chinese train runs on the highest railroad in the world, traversing a region known for high-intensity earthquakes and low temperatures. It cost $3.2 billion to build and is an extraordinary feat of modern engineering. Beijing claims that the railroad, which began operation at the start of July, will help speed up the modernization of Tibet. Many critics, meanwhile, have denounced the railroad as a means for the Chinese authorities to strengthen their hold on Tibet, further settling the region with China’s ethnic majority, the Han Chinese. Tibet holds vast reserves of copper, iron, lead, zinc, and other minerals vital to China’s economic growth.
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