It was a simple matter of economics. Herdsman Tseten Dorge comes from a remote village in Damshung county, Lhasa, Xizang autonomous region, and it was financially impossible, decades ago, for him to send all four children to school.
Sequ Zhoima, a 15-year-old from the Xizang autonomous region, regards her classmates, who hail from all corners of the grassland where she was born and raised, as her second "family."
Southwest China's Xizang autonomous region has built 4.3 million mu (about 286,667 hectares) of high-standard farmland, accounting for about 65 percent of its total arable land, said the regional Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Friday.
In an ongoing conservation effort, the Xizang autonomous region has ramped up its measures to protect the habitat of the black-necked crane, resulting in a dramatic increase in the species' population, People's Daily reported.
The per capita disposable income of rural residents in Southwest China's Xizang autonomous region from January to September this year rose to 12,516 yuan (about $1,762), an increase of 8.7 percent year on year, according to local authorities.
