Tibetan resident Dorjee， 63， is pleased with his new home. Last September， he moved into the 200-square-meter property located in Zhejiang Residential Compound in Nagqu Prefecture， Tibet Autonomous Region. This August， the area was battered by a heavy torrential rain. Yet his house， along with other new ones in his neighborhood， survived the storm unscathed， while quite a number of old adobe houses not yet renovated were literally washed out.
　　The new houses， built with aid from China’s eastern Zhejiang Province， were designed to resist magnitude-8 earthquakes. Dorjee is a low-income resident receiving a minimum living allowance from the government. He was granted a total of 85，000 yuan（$13，600） in subsidies for tearing down his old adobe house and replacing it with the new one.
　　“To be able to live in such a fine house， I am very grateful to the government for carrying out the paired assistance project，” he said.
　　In 1994， the State Council made the stra- tegic decision to extend paired assistance to Tibet. Under the policy， economically developed provinces were required to pair up with Tibetan counties， cities or prefectures and support local development.
　　In the past two decades， 17 central and eastern provinces and municipalities， and 17 state-owned enterprises as well as government ministries have carried out more than 7，600 assistance projects， and sent 5，965 cadres in seven batches to work in Tibet. The focus of the aid used to be on infrastructure construction such as paving roads and erecting bridges. Now it has been shifted toward education， healthcare and other initiatives to boost farmers and herders’ income and increase their livelihoods.
　　Paired assistance projects have spurred economic growth in the autonomous region. According to official statistics， Tibet’s GDP surged from 5.61 billion yuan （$913.31 million） in 1995 to 80.2 billion yuan （$13 billion） in 2013 after a 13-fold growth.
　　 Accessible education
　　Thirteen-year-old Gunxujua is a student at Zhejiang Middle School in Nagqu Prefecture. During the summer holiday， he usually returns to his hometown in Qinghai Province with his father or goes to Shannan and Xigaze prefectures to pay religious homage.
　　He will enter senior high school in two years. Talking about his future plans， he said he hopes to be lucky enough to be admitted into a senior high school recruiting Tibetan students in central and eastern parts of China. 　　The Zhejiang Middle School in Nagqu is a junior high school constructed with more than 76 million yuan （$12.37 million） from the Zhejiang Provincial Government. It was officially opened on August 20， 2013. Currently， 568 students are enrolled in the school， 70-80 percent of whom are children of Tibetan farmers and herders.
　　Logden， a 32-year-old Tibetan music teacher， serves as the school’s headmaster. He said that the school is a good choice for local residents because it is affordable， well-equipped and has teaching quality close to that of schools in other parts of China. As a result， this year， a good number of students in Nagqu who were admitted by junior middle schools in central and east China eventually chose Zhejiang Middle School instead.
　　The school gives children an opportunity to receive quality education without leaving their hometown.“Although most of the children leaving their parents at such young age to study in more developed areas of China can grow up well， some students are not accustomed to the climate and diet there. Besides， without the company of their parents， they may suffer psychologically，” said Logden.
　　But he confessed that currently some teachers in the school have not received adequate training， and the school’s advanced equipment has not been used efficiently either. He said that the school plans to send some teachers to receive training out of the region and invite teachers there to teach in his school.
　　According to Du Jiangong， Deputy Director of the Education Department of Tibetan Autonomous Region， since the Central Government launched paired assistance to Tibet in 1994， partnership provinces and municipalities have invested 295 million yuan （$47.2 million） to develop Tibet’s education by the year 2000. After the turn of the 21st century， paired assistance to Tibet became more vigorous. Incomplete statistics show that from 2002-13. A total of 1，823 assistance projects have been carried out， under which 6，829 people in Tibet have received training， 3，585 people have been offered education assistance to Tibet， and 530，000 square meters of educational facilities have been constructed.
　　The Beijing Municipal Government has invested 182 million yuan （$29.63 million） in building Lhasa Beijing Experimental Middle School， which is scheduled to open September 1. With a total construction area of 47，000 square meters， the school has classroom buildings， dormitories， dining halls and a gymnasium. The school’s management team and some faculty members are from Beijing. 　　Zhang Zhihong， the school’s deputy headmaster in charge of ethical education， arrived in Tibet in June. Zhang said the school’s equipment is first rate in Lhasa， and it is even better than many schools in Beijing. The school planned to enroll about 3，000 students and hire 268 faculty members， including 50 outstanding teachers from Beijing.
　　“Inadequate education once hampered Tibet’s social and economic development. Educational aid promises great hope， and is a valuable assistance，” said Lozang Tenpa， Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of China Lhasa Municipal Committee.
　　 Aiding agriculture


　　Lines of potato starch noodles were airing outside of spacious factories， rows of tomatoes and marigold flowers interlaced each other in huge vegetable greenhouses， and busy workers were packaging stickered eggs inside workshops. These were scenes at Tianrui Industry and Trade Co. Ltd.， an agricultural product planting and processing base in Gonggar County of Shannan Prefecture.
　　The company’s Chairman of the Board， Wang Qinggui， who majored in animal husbandry， was sent by Hunan Province to work in Tibet in 2003. His first assignment was to tackle the low hatchability of Tibetan chickens.
　　With business acumen and a strong interest in animal husbandry， Wang later quit a local government position and entered business. In 2007， he brought products of Tianrui back to his home province of Hunan. His company participated in an international agricultural exposition held there， and the products of the company won the gold prize， a title they have successfully defended for seven consecutive years. The company had set up sales outlets in 10 provinces in the country， which brought in sales revenue near 100 million yuan （$16 million）， Wang said.
　　The company has contracted 15，000 households in Tibet to raise Tibetan chicken and yaks and plant red potatoes. Nima Dolma， 31， is one of them. She feeds 60 chickens at home， each of which can produce eggs and meat worth 50 yuan （$8）. Every year， she can make 3，000 yuan（$462） from raising chickens. In addition， she works in the egg packaging plant of Tianrui， and earns a monthly income of more than 2，000 yuan （$308） there.
　　 Expanding medicare
　　With assistance from Northeastern Liaoning Province， the Nagqu Prefecture Tibetan Hospital has been expanded to more than 3.5 times its original scale. It has also acquired medical equipment such as CT and color ultrasound machines. 　　“The hospital has achieved leapfrog development，” said Gonpo Wangdu， the hospital’s president. “Assistance from Liaoning has greatly improved our diagnostic ability. Now we receive more than 300 patients daily on average.”
　　In addition to funding hospitals， a number of provinces have also sent doctors or set up charitable foundations to provide medical assistance to the Tibetan people.
　　Saizhoin， a 6-year-old girl living in a village in Maizhokunggar County， has had a foot problem since she was 2 years old. Due to poverty， her parents did not bring her to see a doctor until her condition became very obvious.
　　At the county hospital， Saizhoin met a doctor from Nanjing. The doctor arranged an operation for the little girl in Children’s Hospital in Nanjing， coastal Jiangsu Province. Saizhoin’s family received 20，000 yuan （$3，200） of donation money from a charity foundation set up by cadres assisting Tibet. After undergoing the operation in June， the girl returned to Tibet and is recovering quickly.