国内英语资讯:Across China: New innovation improves the lives of Tibetan nomads_时事

国内英语资讯:Across China: New innovation improves the lives of Tibetan nomads

The wheelbarrows will cost 1,000 yuan (148 U.S. dollars) each. The first batch of 1,000 wheelbarrows was produced by Caozhou Xinrui, a chassis panel manufacturer in Hebei Province, thanks to a donation of 1 million yuan from Shanghai Hydraulic Engineering Group.

All 1,000 wheelbarrows have been given to Tibetan nomads with financial difficulties in Nagqu and Damxung counties. To qualify for a free wheelbarrow each family was asked to donate two bags of dung to a local school or kindergarten. The program was organized by Beijing Society of Workers Contributing to Tibet's Development, a non-governmental public welfare organization.

Fan Xiaojian, director of the society, is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He and 20 other political advisors put forward a proposal earlier this year, suggesting the Ministry of Agriculture and other governmental departments support the development of the wheelbarrows.

"It is not a huge invention, but it will significantly assist Tibetan women and help improve the lives of nomadic families," he said.

There are 750,000 nomadic herding families in Tibet and the Tibetan-inhabited areas of Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu provinces. Dung will continue to be their major residential energy resource as moving with their herds will not allow them convenient access to electricity supplies even after China has achieved its goal of building a moderately prosperous society by 2020, Fan said.