"What I am most concerned with after the operation of Qinghai-Tibet railway is environmental protection," said Quji Angxiu recently, a 36 year-old Buddhist monk of Temple Ta'er in Qinghai.

Temple Ta'er is the birthplace of Zongkaba who is the founder of the Gelu sect of Tibetan Buddhism (commonly known as "Yellow Sect") as well as one of the six Yellow Sects in Tibetan areas, and is 2,000 kilometers away from Lhasa, capital city of Tibet in West China.

Quji Angxiu living in Temple Ta'er for 26 years has been to Tibet three times by truck or long-distance bus. He drove to Tibet last year during his third time.

"It will be more convenient to pilgrimage in Tibet after the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway," said Quji Angxiu.

Quji Angxiu still remembers his first time to Tibet was in the 1980s. His master took him there by truck, and they arrived in Lhasa after suffering bumps all the way. Although the traveling was hard, what was most exciting and unforgettable, were the many wild animals he saw on both sides of the road in addition to the Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple.

Regrettably however, he could hardly see those lovely plateau smarts seven years later when he went to Tibet during his second trip via a long-distance bus.

"Some people hunt massive wild animals in Kekexili, such as Pantholops hodgsoni, because the skin of Pantholops hodgsoni is precious and they can make a lot of money from it," said Quji Angxiu painfully. He also said that the number of wild animals along the road had obviously decreased, the grassland had degenerated, the desertification was serious and the ecological environment had worsened from before when he came to Tibet during his second trip.

When he heard the news about the construction of Qinghai-Tibet railway in 2000, what worried Quji Angxiu most was whether the project would harm the ecological environment and threaten the survival of wild animals.

Last year, the fifth year of the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, Quji Angxiu went to Tibet for the third time by his own Jetta car. However what he had seen this time was beyond expectations, "I thought it was more difficult to see wild animals after the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet railway. But it is unexpected that I saw hundreds of Pantholops hodgsonies all the way as well as groups of wild donkeys appearing on both side of road," said Quji Angxiu delightedly.

He added that it seems the Qinghai-Tibet railway doesn't bring too much disturbance to the wild life and doesn't destroy the ecological environment in the process.

By People's Daily Online