(2) Secondary Industry and Local Economy

    Before the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, industry in Tibet consisted of only a 125-kw small hydropower station built around 1931, a small mint and a small machinery factory. Owing to poor management and a shortage of auxiliary equipment, the hydropower station supplying electricity to a minority of senior officials and aristocrats had to close shortly after going into operation. At that time Tibet had only 120 people working in industry, with a negligible industrial scale and output.

    Since the democratic reform in 1959, with the support of the central government, Tibet has begun to establish its own modern industrial enterprises, from scratch to a certain scale, later growing into a major force in the region's economic development. Currently, Tibet has set up a modern industrial system of over 20 sectors with distinctive local features, including energy, textiles, machinery, timber, mining, building materials, pharmaceuticals, printing, food processing, light industry and chemical industry.

    Continual improvements in Tibet's industrial system strongly promote secondary industry and the region's economy. In 2008, the added value of Tibet's secondary industry reached 11.576 billion yuan, making up 29.2 percent of Tibet's GDP, in which industrial added value of Tibet totaled 2.968 billion yuan, accounting for 7.5 percent of Tibet's GDP. Tibet has formed a system consisting of new types of energy resources, with hydropower as the backbone, supplemented by other energy resources such as geothermal, wind and solar power. In 2008, Tibet generated 1.812 billion kwh of electricity, nearly eight times the 227 million kwh in 1984. Over the past two years, Tibet has had a total installed power capacity of over 600,000 kw, with nearly 2.1 million electricity consumers, by implementing the "Brightness Project," "Sending-electricity-to-villages Project" and a rural power network project. Electric power has become a reliable guarantee for people in Tibet to enjoy the benefits of modern civilization.

    In 2008, Tibet produced 116,900 tons of chromium ore and greatly intensified the exploitation of ordinary building materials such as stone for the purpose of construction, with an annual output amounting to five million cu m and an output value exceeding 100 million yuan. In 2008, Tibet's building sector recorded 8.608 billion yuan in terms of added value, accounting for 21.7 percent of the region's GDP. With the growth of the construction sector, there are now more than 30,000 former farmers or herdsmen working in this sector in Tibet, with an increase of over 100 million yuan in revenue. In recent years, with the deepening reform of the housing system, real estate sector is gradually becoming a new growth point for the region's economy.

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