The economy of Tibet is dominated by subsistence agriculture. Due to limited arable land, livestock raising is the primary occupation mainly on the Tibetan Plateau, among them are sheep, cattle, goats, camels, yaks, donkeys and horses. The main crops grown are barley, wheat, buckwheat, rye, potatoes, oats, rapeseeds, cotton and assorted fruits and vegetables. In recent years the economy has begun evolving into a multiple structure with agriculture and tertiary industry developing side by side.
Context Tibetologist states that, according to a Chinese census of 2000, Tibetans remain predominantly rural, with an overall rural Tibetan resident rate of 87.2%, including 91.4% in Qinghai, 90.9% in Gansu, 89.5% in Sichuan, 84.8% in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and 80% in Yunnan. Due to the scarcity of arable land, livestock herding is the primary occupation on the Tibetan Plateau.
According to the Illustrated White Paper published by the central government in 2009 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Democratic Reform in Tibet, a modern industry with Tibetan characteristics has developed, with mining, construction materials, handicrafts, and Tibetan medicine as its pillars, and electricity production, processing of agricultural and livestock products, and food production as auxiliary sectors. Modern commerce, tourism, catering, leisure, and other industries, unknown under the old regime, were booming and constituted the primary industries of the region. From 2001 to 2009, Beijing invested 45.4 billion dollars in the economic development of the Tibet Autonomous Region. This has had beneficial effects on economic growth, living standards, and infrastructure.
Andrew Martin Fischer states that the discourse on growth does not mention the "context of continued political disempowerment of Tibetans," where massive subsidy strategies directly serve the government or Chinese companies based outside Tibetan sectors. This situation enables the appropriation of the local economy by non-Tibetan populations, despite the significance of the subsidies. Fischer notes that the majority of construction projects are awarded to companies outside Tibet, which primarily employ Han Chinese workers. These companies reinvest their profits in their home provinces rather than in Tibet's economy. Sinologist Jean-Luc Domenach considers that "while Tibetans have partially regained control over their religious practices and customs, they have hardly strengthened their economic and social influence. Meanwhile, with economic development, Chinese settlers have arrived in increasing numbers, while the idea that Tibet is merely a charming tourist curiosity has spread in Chinese cities".
Geography
Tibet is a historic country in Asia, consisting of three Tibetan provinces: Kham, Ü-Tsang, and Amdo. Today, it mainly comprises the , including the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Tibet consists mainly of a high plateau, the Tibetan Plateau, surrounded on three sides by the world's highest mountain ranges: the Himalayas to the south, the Karakoram to the west, and the Kunlun Mountains to the north. Often referred to as “the Roof of the World,” Tibet has an average altitude of 5,000 meters, and its highest peak, Mount Everest, rises to 8,849 meters.
The Tibet Autonomous Region covers 1,200,000 km2. The northern plateau (Changtang) comprises high-altitude regions, the central plateau around Lhasa comprises major agricultural regions, and the southeastern plateau (land of gorges) has significant forest resources, being China's second largest forest biomass zone. The majority of Tibetans live in agricultural areas, which account for 2% of the region's total area. There are approximately 500,000 nomadic herders in Tibet. The Tibet Autonomous Region is rich in minerals, some of which are rare in other parts of China. Its chromium and copper deposits are the largest in the country. Tibet has the world's largest borax and uranium deposits and half of the world's lithium reserves. In order to increase mining activities in the northeast and west of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the latter has been classified as a special economic zone. The Tibet Autonomous Region has the largest hydroelectric potential in Asia. Tibet has a rich cultural and ecological heritage, and national parks have been created, including the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary in 1992.
History
17th and 18th centuries
Currency and commerce
Like the Nepalese and the Chinese, Tibetans did not use gold for their currency, unlike Europeans. In 1650, the 5th Dalai Lama signed a treaty with the king of Patan, Siddhi Narasimha Malla, allowing Nepal to mint currency using silver ingots supplied by the Tibetans. The Malla kings received a 12% commission. This currency was used in Tibet until 1792, when the Tibetan government began minting its own currency.
Trade was one of the main activities alongside agriculture and animal husbandry. At the time, Tibet was largely open to the outside world exporting numerous products, except during periods of turmoil. Possessing salt lakes, Tibet used to export salt to India and it sold animals, horses, gold, wool, carpets, incense, musk, salt and animal hides to China. To India and Nepal, it exported iron from the Kutti region, paper from , and quartz from Yarlung.
The country imported large quantities of tea, musical instruments, porcelain, and grains from China. Although itself a producer of silk, Tibet also imported silk for the manufacture of clothing and khatas.
Agriculture and livestock farming Fields were located in the valleys and on the lower slopes of the mountains. Barley, cultivated up to 4,500 meters, was the primary crop. Wheat, buckwheat, maize, turnips, radishes, beans, and also rice were grown in the valleys. Due to the climate, only one harvest per year was possible. Farmers often owned a few animals, such as the dzo. Missionaries reported that vineyards of white grapes, located in Kham, south of Lhasa, and in Batang, enabled them to produce wine for masses.
Nomadic herders raised horses, goats, yaks, sheep and dzo. They used one campsite in summer and another at higher altitude in winter. Sheep provided meat highly valued by Tibetans. Pig farming was associated with poultry farming. Animal slaughter took place in autumn when the animals were fattest. When possible, herders had animals slaughtered by someone else to avoid the demerit of killing a living being. Amdo and Kongpo were renowned for horse breeding.
Despite Buddhist precepts, Tibetans hunted for economic reasons. They hunted for the meat of wild yaks and for the fur of snow leopards, wolves, foxes, otters, and other animals. When necessary, they killed predators of their herds, which also allowed them to sell the fur, hides, or musk of these animals. In Amdo, ritual hunts targeting deer and wild sheep were organized. These hunts had no significant impact on wildlife conservation due to the vastness of the Tibetan territory, the very low population density, and the rudimentary weapons used (bows, spears, knives, etc.).
Mining operations
Tibetans developed mines despite religious precepts that hindered such exploitation. Thus, in the 15th century, Thang Tong Gyalpo obtained iron from the mines of Kongpo, enabling the construction of suspension bridges with steel chains (Tibetans built chain bridges as early as the sixth century). Similarly, in 1445, Chökyi Drönma, princess of Gungthang, traveled to this region to acquire a large quantity of iron. Mines of copper, borax, sulfuric acid, rock salt, iron, and gold were reported by the missionary Francesco della Penna. These mines were located in central Tibet, Dakpo, Kham, and Kongpo. The explorer Samuel Turner mentioned mines of gold, lead, and cinnabar. Tibet was then renowned for its wealth in gold, which came from gold prospecting and mines. Furthermore, the export of gold was permitted by Tibetan authorities.
19th century to the 1950s
At the end of the 19th century, the Japanese visitor Ekai Kawaguchi noted that trade in Lhasa was active, as markets sold goods from China and India. Payments were made in gold, which was weighed in Indian rupees, or using Tibetan currency. Monks held a monopoly on the trade of tea and religious images while Chinese merchants operated numerous restaurants.
Heinrich Harrer, who resided in Lhasa from 1946 to 1951, wrote in his book Seven Years in Tibet that coins were made of gold, silver, or copper. They bore Tibetan emblems: the snow lion and mountain, also depicted on the national flag alongside the rising sun.
According to the Chinese government, apart from a 92-kilowatt power plant in Lhasa, a small armaments factory and a small mint established by the 13th Dalai Lama, there was no industry in old Tibet.
According to Li Sha from Shenyang University, there was, in Lhasa, south of the Jokhang Temple, a beggars’ village called Lu Bu Band Cang, and these beggars gathered around the Ramoche Temple. In 1951, there were between 3,000 and 4,000 beggars, representing about one-tenth of the city's population.
In 1947, the Kashag sent a Tibetan delegation led by Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa as Tibet's finance minister to the United States, among other places, for trade negotiations. He also received a visa on his passport in 1947 for trade purposes and traveled to China, India, England, the United States, Italy, Switzerland, and France. participated as an interpreter in the trade delegation. The economic objective of the mission was to introduce machinery for , as well as for wool processing, and to secure the relaxation of Indian control over Tibet's exports and the purchase of gold for Tibetan currency. Politically, the mission aimed to emphasize Tibet's independence abroad, as information about Tibet at the time was primarily sourced from Chinese accounts. According to Thubten Samphel, a spokesperson for the Dalai Lama and representative of the Tibetan government in exile, “This indicates that wherever Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa traveled, the passport issued by the Tibetan government was recognized.”
Democratic reforms (1959–1969) Following the failure of the 1959 Tibetan uprising (referred to as the "armed rebellion" in Chinese historiography) and the exile of part of the population, the Chinese government declared that it was no longer obligated to delay reforms, as the 17-Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet of 1951 had been breached. It decreed and implemented what it calls the "democratic reforms."
According to Jiawei Wang and Nyima Gyaincain, in May 1959, the central government approved the democratic reforms prepared by the Tibet Work Committee. These were carried out in two stages:
The first stage focused on abolishing compulsory corvée (ulag) and slavery, as well as reducing rents and loan interest rates. The second stage concentrated on land distribution.
The goal was the elimination of the feudal system. Owners of large estates who did not participate in the revolt had their properties purchased by the state, while others were expropriated.
The cultural revolution (1966–1976) During the decade ending in 1975, the organization of people's communes was gradually established in most rural areas of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
During the , industrial production and economic activity in the Tibet Autonomous Region and the rest of China experienced a decline or even came to a halt. The situation began to change following the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976, shortly after the death of Chairman Mao.
The era of reforms and openness (1980s) When Deng Xiaoping returned to power in 1978, China entered a new era of “reform and opening up.” Communes were dismantled, and the private initiative was legalized and even encouraged in the early 1980s. Like other groups, Tibetans benefited from the new policy.
Hu Yaobang in Tibet (1980): observations and measures taken