“One car, another, one after one…countless vehicles come from afar in columns, carrying commodities such as rice, pork, wheat…” This is the diary written by veteran Wang Xiaoyu of the 18th Army 68 years ago. It recounts the ceremony of Bome opening to traffic on Feb. 8, 1954.

The 17 volumes of diaries by Comrade Wang Xiaoyu

Road construction in the 1950s  

In the early 1950s, over 100 thousand Red Army soldiers came to Tibet. They fought against ice, snow and freezing weather, using the simplest tools, such as iron hammers, shovels and pickaxes, to pave the road on the snowy plateau, creating a miracle in the history of road construction.

Recently, the government of Bome County, Nyingchi, Tibet reached out to veterans of the 18th Army all over China to interview them. Veterans including Wang Xiaoyu, Lhamo, Yan Jiaqi, Lu Chen all gave their fond memories of the grand occasion of the ceremony in 1954. In 2020, Bome County carried out an investigation to find the original ceremony venue, by checking historical records, old photographs, consulting local elders and calling veterans, and confirmed it was beside the 318 state road in Jiaoda Village, Songzong Township, Bome County. To commemorate this historical event, the Bome Open to Traffic Memorial Plaza was built here in April, 2021.

Bome Open to Traffic Memorial Plaza