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China to build highway on Mount Everest


JoeGray

21-Jun-2007
5:31:13 PM

"China to build highway on world's tallest mountain"
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-06/18/content_6259691.htm

Not wanting to scare monger (too much) I was going to use the actual title from the article but it wouldn't fit!

China seems hell-bent on making the 2008 Olympics something huge.
I suppose in the greater scheme of things building a paved road right up to Mount Everest Base Camp is a lesser evil than the many other acts environmental damage happening everyday. Still, pretty hard to ignore.
Thoughts?

psd

21-Jun-2007
5:38:16 PM

Will it really make that much difference given there's already an unsealed road all the way to base camp on the Tibetan side?

NCATBS

21-Jun-2007
7:14:07 PM

China's attitude towards all things Tibetan sickens me. This is just another way they can exploit Tibet's natural resources.

userfriendly

21-Jun-2007
7:57:01 PM

On 21/06/2007 NCATBS wrote:
China's attitude towards all things Tibetan sickens me. This is just another way they can exploit Tibet's natural resources.

Here Here NCATBS I totaly agree.. and as if we, the entire world haven't put a big enough foot print on the earth already. just for a f*#king torch!!!.


BigMike

21-Jun-2007
8:25:10 PM

Highway to the base camp, yes, but what about the cable car to the summit? That'd get the punters in...


mousey

21-Jun-2007
9:33:43 PM

is that article a troll? surely the government arent THAT f---ing stupid?????????????????????????????????????

hipster

21-Jun-2007
9:38:49 PM

On 21/06/2007 BigMike wrote:
>
>Highway to the base camp, yes, but what about the cable car to the summit?
>That'd get the punters in...

The punters have been in for a long time on that mountain....I wish I had a buck for every weapon I'd heard say "I'd love to climb Everest one day".


BigMike

21-Jun-2007
10:11:07 PM

On 21/06/2007 mousey wrote:
>is that article a troll? surely the government arent THAT f---ing stupid??????????????????
>??????????????????
>

Oooh I dunno, I spent three years working on newspapers in Hong Kong, and I'd say Xinhua is not a very likely troller...


Sabu

22-Jun-2007
12:19:47 AM

sigh, totally excessive, unneeded and generally just a f--king waste of money that is needed elsewhere.
Did i read correctly in that they are going to *try* take the torch up to the summit.... and we read about guides trying to push people to the top, can you imagine the pressure and possible misjudgments that can take place to get the torch up there and on schedule.

Beyond ridiculous i say!


AlanD

22-Jun-2007
7:58:25 AM

This road is more political than commercial. It's not about getting tourist or climbers to Everest. It's a further attempt by the Chinese government for China to forceably occupy Tibet.

The Chinese government is excessively keen in silencing Tibet and one way they can do it is by arranging the mass migration of Chinese citizens to Tibet, but the reports coming through for the last two or three years have indicated that they need to improve the access to and the infrastucture in the region. One way they can do the access improvement without attracting outside notice is by disguising it as an "tourist road" or for the Olympics flame route.

danbaker

22-Jun-2007
8:25:41 AM

Drive to Everest, ride up the cable car with your kids, get your photo taken at the top..... just the thing the Everest needs (NOT!!!!).....

The more cynical side of me agrees with the Tibetan argument - it is really for China to gain more control over Tibet...Sickening!!!!!!!!! But unlike Iraq unfortuantely, it Tibet doesn't have those oil reserves, so I don't think "liberation" and the set up of democracy there is on the cards. Besides, we can't tick the chinese off....they generate so much money for the western world. Nothing like putting aside morals for the almighty dollar....


steph

22-Jun-2007
8:43:14 AM

This is unbelievably stupid. I really hope that for some reason it can't go ahead. *Sigh*

JohnK

22-Jun-2007
9:27:29 AM

The last bit of that article says:

"Organizers of the Beijing Games have revealed ambitious plans for the longest torch relay in Olympic history -- a 137,000-kilometer, 130-day route that would cross five continents and scale the world's summit, which straddles the border between China and Nepal."

Am I reading this right? Are they planning on taking the Olympic Torch to the summit of Everest?

...and yep, agree, The Chinese have intentionally destroyed Tibetan culture destroying 5,000 monasteries, killing more than 1 million Tibetans. Lhatsa apperently now has a population that is 75% Chinese. The Dalai Lama in a recent interview with George Negus on Foreigh Correspondant basically said that the best they can now hope to achieve is for Tibetans to accept that they are part of China and the Chinese in return to at least allow them to have some sort of cultural autonomy so their culture survives. A very sad state of affairs.


JJ

22-Jun-2007
9:36:36 AM

If anyone is interested go here for a little info


oweng

22-Jun-2007
10:48:53 AM

From the link in the first post, all I can gather is that they are going to seal an existing road and install guard rail.

It hardly sounds like a calamity. Im not sure why people are wringing their hands. (Presumably from the posts its more about the perceived Chinese Imperialism than the actual road itself).

JohnK

22-Jun-2007
11:20:49 AM

Hi Owen,
I think that your observation is partly correct, but there is a lot of sensetivity to what China does in Tibet especially if it means it's easier for Chinese immigrants to move to Tibet and repress their culture.
A bit like the train line they have built to Lhatsa.
I think ecomomic and intrastructure imporevements in Tibet are a good thing, but not if it is at the expense of the Tibetan culture/people which is so aligned to traditional non violent Buddhist values.

John K.


Sabu

22-Jun-2007
12:39:39 PM

On 22/06/2007 JJ wrote:
>If anyone is interested go here for a little info
thanks for that.

Bob Saki

22-Jun-2007
12:58:10 PM

I think in terms of Tibet it's safe to say what China has done ranks up there with the regimes of Pol Pot and Uncle Joe.
i.e. the way they behave flat out sucks


oweng

22-Jun-2007
1:12:13 PM

On 22/06/2007 JohnK wrote:
>Hi Owen,
>I think that your observation is partly correct, but there is a lot of
>sensetivity to what China does in Tibet especially if it means it's easier
>for Chinese immigrants to move to Tibet and repress their culture.
>A bit like the train line they have built to Lhatsa.
>I think ecomomic and intrastructure imporevements in Tibet are a good
>thing, but not if it is at the expense of the Tibetan culture/people which
>is so aligned to traditional non violent Buddhist values.
>
>John K.

Thanks John, I just spent the better part of my lunch hour looking at the link jj provided, and of course wikipedia! Mmmmm messy. Glad I dont live there. In the last 150 years tibet seems to have been invaded and fought over by every country in the region, and by the british and russians. The Chinese population of the Tibet Autonimous Region seems to be pretty low (about 6% in 2000, perhaps its increased significantly since), but they are probably the ruling class so control the society pretty tightly. The arguments about whether surrounding areas should or shouldnt be a part of tibet made my head hurt. Anyway, this has nothing to do with climbing so ill sign off. At least I can say I have learned something today.


GravityHound

22-Jun-2007
2:14:39 PM

chinese f%^king idiots! lets destroy tibetan culture, oppress our own people, kill our own people, kill one of the biggest rivers on the planet, pave a highway through the wilderness.....the list goes on. even if it does go ahead it could be the first torch to be lost - think of the many ways things could go belly up taking a torch to the top of everest and back....

There are 43 messages in this topic.