Skip to Content Facebook Feature Image

A new nightlife in Tibet

China

A new nightlife in Tibet
China

China

A new nightlife in Tibet

2017-10-10 16:38 Last Updated At:18:33

From the Milky Way to meteor showers, the region is a stargazer's paradise.

The sunset glow on the snow-covered plateau is an enchanting opener for Tibet at night-a stargazer's paradise.

A Milky Way arch over Namtso Lake. (Photo/Xinhua)

A Milky Way arch over Namtso Lake. (Photo/Xinhua)

Xiao Bei, a tour guide in Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region, takes out his mobile phone and opens an app of star charts to find where the Milky Way will appear. Then he takes his tour group to the best place to set up their cameras, waiting for the stars over the Himalayas.

The previous night, they knelt by a puddle to capture the reflection of stars and Mount Kailash, regarded as a sacred mountain by Tibetans. This night, they lie on the ground to see the occasional meteors flying over the ruins of the mysterious 1,000-year-old Guge Kingdom in Ngari Prefecture, in western Tibet.

Xiao Bei and his partners run an outdoor club, which has run stargazing tours for the past three years.

A Milky Way arch over Kangrinboqe Peak. The peak is said to be the center of the world in Buddhism. (Photo/Xinhua)

A Milky Way arch over Kangrinboqe Peak. The peak is said to be the center of the world in Buddhism. (Photo/Xinhua)

The Perseid meteor shower in August attracted about 70 clients. Most of them come from large cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, where stargazing is a luxury. In Tibet, many of them see the Milky Way for the first time in their lives and take their first photos of a starry sky.

In 2014, Xiao Bei accompanied experts from the Guangzhou Astronomical Society around Tibet to take photos of the starlit night. That was the first time he was astonished by the brilliance of the stars.

The experts told him they couldn't predict what the camera would capture.

Starlit sky over Yamdrok Lake. (Photo/Xinhua)

Starlit sky over Yamdrok Lake. (Photo/Xinhua)

"That drew me in. It's a kind of exploration of the unknown. Although I spent a lot of time outdoors before, it was the first time I realized I should look up at the sky," he says.

It brought back childhood memories of lying in his grandma's arms looking at stars over the wheat fields in his hometown in East China's Shandong province.

"In my hometown, economic growth has improved living standards, but brought serious pollution. It's hard to see stars there now."

Stargazing at an astronomy lover camp near Yamdrok Lake. (Photo/Xinhua)

Stargazing at an astronomy lover camp near Yamdrok Lake. (Photo/Xinhua)

He began driving to dark places on clear nights to enjoy the splendor of the stars and had the idea to add astronomical aspects to his tours. "If tourists from economically developed regions enjoy the starry nights of Tibet, that's great."

He teaches the tourists how to recognize the constellations, take photos of the Milky Way, and tells the stories behind the stars.

He and his partners also run a small astronomy-themed hotel in Lhasa, capital of Tibet. Guests can observe the moon and planets through telescopes on the roof terrace.

Kou Wen, a senior engineer with the Beijing Planetarium, helped Xiao Bei to promote astronomy activities in Tibet. He says Tibet, with its high altitude, beautiful scenery, lack of air and light pollution, is an international attraction for stargazers.

As Chinese become richer and can afford high-end camerasand astronomical equipment, stargazing has grown in popularity, Kou says.

Traditionally, only high-ranking monks in Tibet were qualified to study astronomy. They believed that celestial bodies had mysterious influences on the earth. These were revealed through observing the stars.

Xiao Bei's activities also attract ordinary Tibetans. Once he set up a telescope near his home and was soon surrounded by dozens of people who were surprised to see the moon through the telescope.

Phuntsog, a commissioner of Ngari Prefectural Administrative Office, says the dark sky park will help the development of tourism.

"Poverty relief depends on education. A nation has no future if it is only concerned about things underfoot," Phuntsog says.

The bright clear sky of Tibet is also precious to scientists.

China has launched a project to detect primary gravitational waves in Ngari. Scientists also plan to conduct high-precision detection of cosmic rays and build China's largest optical telescope there.

Xue Suijian, deputy director of the National Astronomical Observatories of China, says China should utilize the unique geographical advantage of the "roof of the world" to build an astronomical base in Ngari.

Fascination with the stars is universal.

At the end of 2016, Xiao Bei accompanied a British documentary crew to shoot the night sky at Yamdrok Lake. The freezing cold made the British crew stamp their feet. But when a meteor flew overhead, they all jumped and gasped with joy.

Hong Kong resident Stanley Chow and his wife, carrying a lot of photographic and astronomical equipment, come to Tibet to photograph the Milky Way.

"In Hong Kong, we cannot see so many stars," Chow says.

Deng Junjie, a college student from South China's Guangdong province, suffered from altitude sickness on arriving in Tibet. But when he saw the countless stars in Ngari, he says, he felt his soul was cleansed.

Xiao Bei says stargazing, and recognizing the size of the universe, has calmed his irritable personality and made him want to learn more.

In poverty-stricken Ngari Prefecture, a dark sky park has been set up to protect the night sky for stargazers.

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country’s mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.

Wang Xiangnan was driving Wednesday along the highway in Guangdong province, a vital economic hub in southern China. At around 2 a.m., Wang saw several vehicles moving in the opposite direction of the four-lane highway and a fellow driver soon informed him about the collapse, local media reported.

Reacting swiftly, Wang, a former soldier, positioned his truck to block the highway, effectively stopping dozens of vehicles from advancing into danger, Jiupai News quoted Wang as saying. Meanwhile, his wife got out of the truck to alert other drivers about the situation, it said.

“I didn’t think too much. I just wanted to stop the vehicles,” Wang told the Chinese news outlet.

Wang’s courageous actions not only garnered praise from Chinese social media users but also recognition from the China Worker Development Foundation.

The foundation announced Friday that in partnership with a car company it had awarded Wang 10,000 yuan ($1,414). A charity project linked to tech giant Alibaba Group Holding also gave an equal amount to Wang, newspaper Dahe Daily reported. Wang told the newspaper he would donate the money to the families of the collapse victims.

Local media also reported that another man had knelt down to prevent cars from proceeding on the highway.

The accident came after a month of heavy rains in Guangdong. Some of the 23 vehicles that plunged into the deep ravine burst in flames, sending up thick clouds of smoke.

About 30 people were hospitalized. On Saturday, one was discharged from the hospital, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The others were improving, but one remains in serious condition.

On Saturday, the Meizhou city government in Guangdong said in a statement that authorities would conduct citywide checks on expressways, railways and roads in mountainous areas. A team led by the provincial governor is investigating the cause of the collapse, Southcn.com reported.

The Chinese government had sent a vice premier to oversee recovery efforts and urged better safety measures following calls by President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party’s No. 2 official, Premier Li Qiang, to swiftly handle the tragedy.

The dispatch of Zhang, who is also a member of one of the ruling Communist Party’s leading bodies, illustrates the concern over a possible public backlash over the disaster, the latest in a series of deadly infrastructure failures.

In this aerial photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers at the site of a collapsed section of a highway on the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway in Meizhou, southern China's Guangdong Province on May 2, 2024. (Wang Ruiping/Xinhua via AP)

In this aerial photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers at the site of a collapsed section of a highway on the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway in Meizhou, southern China's Guangdong Province on May 2, 2024. (Wang Ruiping/Xinhua via AP)

Recommended Articles