The West of China is densely populated with Minority ethnic groups. 44 of the 55 minority ethnic groups live in this part of China. After the liberation, the political status of the western ethnic minorities have generally been elevated, their standard of living has been improved. Especially since the reform and opening up, there is a rapid economic development in minority areas, people in some regions have become quite well-off.
Due to various limitations, most of the western ethnic minorities are distributed around the frontier, in the mountainous areas, pastoral areas and paramos areas, their economic development is lagging behind other regions of China, and the gap in-between is large. Some ethnic minority areas still preserved the almost primitive mode of production and living. Their economic development urgently needs to be improved.
Since 2000, the western development strategy has been carried out to speed up the development of the minority areas. The national government takes as the primary task of developing the western region. To enable minority ethnic regions to get tangible profit, the national government takes many preferential policies for their interests, including giving priority to the minority areas in arranging resources exploring projects and the deep processing projects, giving benefit compensations to the areas where the natural resources are exported, encouraging enterprises from the more developed regions to invest in the minority areas. Also, the national government increased greatly the financial input and support to support the regio
nal economic development and strength. Currently, five autonomous regions, 30 autonomous prefectures and 120 autonomous counties are all subsumed under the scope of or reference to the Western Development to enjoy the preferential policies for western development. Western Development Policy brings the visible and tangible benefits for minority areas. The development of the western area has brought unprecedented opportunities to people of all nationalities, and a beautiful and brilliant future of the new West will surely come.
Vast western minority region has abundant tourism resources. Tourism is a powerful driving force to promote the economic development in minority areas of West China. The western minority areas have the resource advantage to develop tourism.
1.The natural resources: The western minority areas are extremely rich in natural tourism resources. The West of China is the area with the heighest altitude of China, the geological conditions are complicated and diverse. There are numerous mountains, beautiful landscape and rich natural resources. It is the birthplace of many rivers, forming many charming natural scenery. Therefore the natural tourism resources of the West of China are large in scale and quantity, full in range, and high in grade. Many scenic areas and attractions are world-renowned, such as the steppes of Inner Mongolia, Turpan and Heavenly Lake of Tianshan in Xinjiang, Mingsha Mountain in Gansu, Mount Everest in Tibet, "Roof of the World", Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Brahmaputra, Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan, Xishuangbanna in Yunan, Cangshan Erhai in Dali, Lunan Stone Forest, Huangguoshu Waterfall in Guizhou, Guilin scenic area in Guangxi, etc., these natural tourism resources are of great significance for the development of tourism in the western minority areas.
2. The cultural resources: The western region has a diverse ethnic spiritual and cultural wealth and the traditional material and cultural achievements. There are many monuments and historical relics. The region also gave birth to colorful cultural tourism resources. Most of China's 55 ethnic minorities are located in the western region. The ethnic minority houses, life styles, folk songs and dances, costumes and culture, etc., in turn gave birth to the unique ethnic conditions and customs. At the same time, the western minority region, like in other parts of China, has a long history and a splendid culture.There are many precious cultural relics. Such as the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Three Pagodas in Dali, Lijiang ancient city, Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang. They all enjoy a high reputation at home and abroad.
The charming natural beauty , colorful ethnic customs and the precious cultural relics are combined perfectly, thus the formation of the tourist attractions full of mystery and a strong attraction in West China. Meanwhile, the tourism infrastructures are developing rapidly. The transportation system is convenient, travelers may come from all corners of the world to their destination. The hotels, the restaurants, the relevant services are all prosperous and capable of receiving thousands of visitors.