Tibetan farmer Yongqing fetches water at the foot of Mount Zheduo along the highway linking...

Tibetan farmer Yongqing fetches water at the foot of Mount Zheduo along the highway linking Sichuan and Tibet in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China's Sichuan Province, Oct. 23, 2005. As the most formidable projects in Chinese history, the Sichuan-Tibet and Qinghai-Tibet Highways connecting Tibet with the southwestern Sichuan province and the northwest Qinghai province are 4, 360 kilometers long and were built at an average altitude of over 4, 000 meters. Their opening in 1954 ended the period when no modern highways led to the world's highest plateau. During the past 50 years, more than 20 million tons of goods have been transported into Tibet on the two highways. Meanwhile, the central government has invested 22 billion yuan (about 2.66 billion US dollars) in highway construction and maintenance during the past 50 years.