At around 4,800 meters above sea level, Amdo County in northern Xizang Autonomous Region is one of the highest counties in the world. In 2006, it got its first railway station when the Qinghai-Xizang Railway, the world's highest and longest plateau railway, began operations. The county then became the first stop after trains entered Xizang.
Over the past two decades, the railway has transformed both people's lives and the county's landscape. A comparison of photos from around 20 years ago and today offers a clearer look at the scale of those changes.