Souvenirs issued to mark opening of Qinghai-Tibet Railway
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-07-03 09:27 China has issued a series of
souvenirs to mark the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's longest
plateau railroad.
The series, including a stamp album, a gemmy gold plate, a watch, a
paperweight, an engine model of the inaugural trains and a silver medal, are
issued by the National Museum of China, the China National Philatelic Corp. and
the All-China Philatelic Federation.
The souvenirs combine both Han and Tibetan ethnic cultural elements,
designers say.
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, opened on Saturday, stretches 1,956 kilometers
from Qinghai's provincial capital of Xining to Lhasa. The section of 814 km from
Xining to Golmud began operation in 1984 and the Golmud-Lhasa section started
construction on June 29, 2001.
The project is dubbed an "engineering marvel" because people used to think
the perennial ice and slush along the route could never support tracks and
trains.
The railway is projected to help double tourism revenues by 2010 and reduce
transport costs for goods by 75 percent in Tibet, Chinese officials said.
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