This year is the tenth anniversary of the Qinghai-Tibet railway.

The challenging project, part of China's West Development Strategy, has not only played a significant role in accelerating social and economic development in Tibet, but its story has many parallels with Tibet's own development path.

The 1,100km (750-mile) Qinghai-Tibet railway has been built through some of the most difficult terrain on earth, rising to 5,072m (16,600ft) above sea level at one point. It travels through two national nature reserves and 25 migration passages have been built to limit the disturbance to the migration patterns of the plateau's many animals. It is an astonishing feat of engineering, as frozen tundra, high altitude and environmental hazards posed some of the greatest problems faced -- and solved -- by railway engineers.

After the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, from 2006 to 2014, the average annual growth rate of Tibet's GDP exceeded 10 percent.

Over the past ten years, Tibet's tourism has emerged as a pillar industry, supporting development in the region. According to the Tibet Autonomous Region Tourism Development Committee, some 17.5 million tourists visited Tibet in the first nine months of 2015, 36% more than the same period last year. In 2005 Tibet received just 1.8 million tourists, and in the years following the opening of the Tibet-Qinghai railway, tourism revenue has increased by more than ten times.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway facilitates not only the movement of people -- but more importantly to the residents of the roof of the world -- it transports products to and from the region at a fraction of the time and price. It is a main artery ensuring the flow of necessities into the far western region.

It is also a symbol of unity. Both Deng Xiaoping and Hu Jintao understood that economic prosperity would help eradicate separatism. The current leadership, too, champion economic development as a means to unite all ethnic groups in Tibet, fulfilling the goal of Chinese nationalism.

During my week in Tibet, I would like to see and speak to the people whose lives have been elevated by the highest railway in the world.

(Helen Bentley, Expert of Overseas Department in Xinhua News Agency)