From NPR:
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China is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but Tibet remains one of its poorest spots. Beijing pumps billions of dollars into Tibet each year, an infusion that’s partly intended to stabilize the Himalayan region.
Tibetans and ethnic majority Han Chinese are constructing a dam on the Lhasa River, which has nurtured Tibetan civilization for centuries.
Once its turbines start spinning later this year, the dam will provide electricity to much of central Tibet, including the capital Lhasa. It’s part of the roughly $2.5 billion that Beijing pumps into Tibet each year, mostly in the form of infrastructure projects. [Full Text]