Under One Roof

Ethnic minority women from Tibet on their duties as Party Congress delegates By Tao Xing

Thirty delegates from Tibet Autonomous Region attended the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing from October 16 to 22.They represented more than 400,000 Party members in the region.

“It’s my great honor to be elected as a delegate,” Sherlok Drolma, a former world champion wrestler from the Tibetan ethnic group, toldon September 30. “I will fulfill my role to the best of my ability.”

The 20th CPC National Congress had 2,296 elected delegates representing more than 96 million CPC members and over 4.9 million primarylevel Party organizations. Women accounted for 27 percent of the total, an increase of 2.8 percentage points compared with the 19th CPC National Congress five years ago, an official of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee said on September 26. Moreover, 264 delegates came from 40 ethnic minority groups.

The electoral process observed strict procedures, from nomination and candidate selection to organizational review and election, Sherlok Drolma said, adding that the CPC committee of the autonomous region provided training sessions in the lead-up to the congress to help those elected better understand their rights and duties.

The first-ever world champion from Tibet expressed her excitement about being in Beijing,a city where she trained, studied and lived for nearly 12 years.

Sherlok Drolma won gold in the Women’s Freestyle 67 kg at the 2011 Wrestling World Championships in Türkiye. She went on to win many titles around the world, competing in the 67- or 63-kg weight divisions.

A content Tibet

“It’s because of the CPC that I, the daughter of a herdsman, could become a world champion,”Sherlok Drolma said. Today, people in Tibet,men and women alike, all have equal opportunities to succeed in life, she explained.

Born into a herdsman’s family in Nyingchi in 1987, Sherlok Drolma was recruited by the region’s sports school and enrolled in its wrestling training course in 2001—when in middle school.Her future had taken shape at that point.

“Without the CPC, there would be no happy lives in the region,” Sherlok Drolma added. She credited the convenience of transportation, such as highways and trains, as well as the provision of universal access to education and medical services in every single village, as “the Party’s doing.”

Yasha echoed Sherlok Drolma’s opinions.Coming from Nanyi Village in Nanyi Lhoba Autonomous Township of Nyingchi City, Yasha is the only Lhoba delegate to the congress.

Sherlok Drolma (second right) discusses local affairs with her colleagues at the villagers’ committee of Qapu Village, Tingri County in Xigaze City,Tibet Autonomous Region, in May

Lhoba is one of the least populous among all of China’s 56 ethnic groups; its roughly 4,200 people mainly reside in southeast Tibet. The Lhobas have their own language, but no script.They use Tibetan for communication and sustain their cultural legacy by passing down the oral legends from their ancestors.

Before the 1950s, the Lhoba people lived a life of slash-and-burn cultivation in mountain valleys and old forests. In 1965, under a government-led program, they were relocated out of their original dwellings and into new settlements where they obtained a better living environment. Yasha’s village is home to five ethnic groups: the Lhoba, Tibetan, Moinba, Han and Hui.

“In the past few years, the lives of the Lhoba people have undergone tremendous change. These gratifying achievements have all benefited from the special concern the Party shows for ethnic minority areas,” Yasha told.

She power

The accomplishments in Tibet under the CPC’s leadership have inspired many to join the Party so as to achieve more together.

Sherlok Drolma became a CPC member in 2013. “Party membership is a source of strength for me to display my values and serve the greater good,”she added. “I hope to help cultivate more exceptional athletes in the future.”

She retired from wrestling in 2017 and began working at the autonomous region’s competitive sports center. She is now head of the center’s training division and responsible for athletes’ logistics support.

In May, Sherlok Drolma was assigned to a village in Tingri County of Xigaze City and embarked on her one-year term as leader of the work team stationed there.

As part of its poverty alleviation program, China has been dispatching work teams to underdeveloped villages from 2013 onward. Team members usually come from government organizations, state-owned enterprises and public institutions. The program continued after China eradicated absolute poverty in late 2020 and has since evolved to serve China’s pursuit of rural revitalization.

“We must ensure the thorough implementation of Party and government policies and help the village’s industrial production develop safely and stably,” Sherlok Drolma said, adding that the whole process is about boosting rural revitalization.

Yasha also devotes herself to fulfilling the Party’s founding mission—to seek happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation.

“I want to do my best to develop my hometown and make everyone’s life better,” Yasha said.

She always tries to help locals increase their income and enthusiastically assists them with their undertakings—big or small. Everyone affectionately calls her “Sister Yasha.” As the village official in charge of women’s affairs,she also does her best to empower female villagers and safeguard their rights and interests.

In 2009, a new scenic spot near the village opened to the public. Yasha led local women to set up four specialty stores, which today can generate an income of over 100,000 yuan ($14,054) every year. “With the state’s solid policies in place, we must rely on our own hands to work hard and make more money,” Yasha said.

Yasha, the only delegate to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China from the Lhoba ethnic group

She also helped the villagers try their hand at the greenhouse planting of strawberries and(an oriental fungus),which both saw good results.

In 2021, the village’s total revenue stood at more than 6.8 million yuan ($960,000), and residential per-capita disposable income came to 30,800 yuan ($4,328). Per-capita disposable income of rural residents in China in 2021 was 18,931 yuan ($2,660), according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Yasha believes she must circulate the Party’s policies among locals and deliver its message to people at the most basic social level.

Yasha has a good command of, or standard Chinese, and has started teaching classes to help more people in the village master the nation’s official language. Seventy-five percent of Nanyi’s villagers today can use. “Now,most people here can watchnews broadcasts—without translation,” she added. BR