The Potala Palace in Lhasa, Xizang Autonomous Region Photo: VCG

"When you arrive in Xizang, you realize that everything is different from what you have heard in the media," said Abdilahi Ismail Abdilahi from Somalia, a teacher at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, who was impressed by the green mountains and modern buildings during his visit to Nyingchi and Lhasa in Xizang earlier this month.

"As long as you see it with your own eyes, you realize what is going on in Xizang," he told the Global Times, noting that the experience of Xizang's development could also inspire African countries.

Ahead of the 2023 Forum on the Development of Xizang, which was held in Beijing on Tuesday, a group of foreign diplomats, scholars and experts paid a one-week trip to Xizang, learning about the traditional cultures, ecology and the life of the herdsmen and farmers there.

The visitors were impressed by the plateau landscapes in Xizang, as well as the fast development in the region.

"I am fascinated by the scenery, by the mountainous terrain, and the people on the Tibet plateau," Manasa Tagicakibau, Ambassador of Fiji to China, told the Global Times during the event.

"We listened to stories that the villages have been lifted out of poverty and their lives have changed greatly in the past decade, thanks to the assistance of the government," he said.

"They are now enjoying a more prosperous life with modern infrastructure - the road networks, the railways, the airport," the ambassador said. "I'm impressed with the work that the government has done to reach out to these places that are very remote and high to carry out modernization and development, while still maintaining and preserving the ecology and the environment."

Maria Gustava, Ambassador of Mozambique to China, said that Xizang's development can inspire other countries like her own in terms of poverty reduction and development.

"I was impressed that they have energy, even very remote areas, and with how they are expanding the agriculture in such harsh conditions. They are preserving their own culture, beliefs, language, and the ecology, she noted.

Alexander Birle from the Hanns Seidell Foundation, a Germany-based NGO for education, told the Global Times that he was surprised with the development of high-quality education. "We visited two schools, one elementary school in Lyingchi and one high school in Lhasa. The schools are very open minded and want to get in contact with outside world," he said.