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China Aims to Build Its Own Yellowstone on Tibetan Plateau

Associated Press

   XINING - There's a building boom on the Tibetan plateau, one of the
   world's last remote places. Mountains long crowned by garlands of
   fluttering prayer flags are newly topped with sprawling steel power
   lines. At night, the illuminated signs of Sinopec gas stations cast a
   red glow over newly built highways.

   Ringed by the world's tallest mountain ranges, the region long known as
   "the rooftop of the world" is now in the crosshairs of China's latest
   modernization push, marked by multiplying skyscrapers and expanding
   high-speed rail lines.

   But there's a difference: This time, the Chinese government wants to
   set limits on the region's growth in order to implement its own version
   of one of the U.S.'s proudest legacies - a national park system.

   In August, policymakers and scientists from China, the United States
   and other countries convened in Xining, capital of the country's
   Qinghai province, to discuss China's plans to create a unified system
   with clear standards for limiting development and protecting
   ecosystems.

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