Tibetannet

On top of the lofty 5,200 meters Tanggula Mountain alpine pass, with an annual average temperatures of minus 8 DEG C, and winter colds that reach minus 40 DEG C, there are annually 120 days with scraping strong winds that are of magnitude 8 or stronger. Here is known as the " zone that forbids life". However, here indeed lies what is known as "The 1st Highway Below the Sky", that is, Section 14 of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway Bureau’s Amdo Highway. The bureau maintenances the 40 km stretch year round, the very section of road that connects Tibet with inland China.

Despite the harsh conditions of the natural environment, a family of three generations resides on the Tanggula Mountain pass, at its most pivotal point connecting the lifeline of Tibet with inland China. In order to maintain the smooth flow of traffic on this section of the road a man from this family by the name of Babu has expended all his youth. Babu is a second generation road maintenance worker, keeping the road functioning at its best.

29 years ago, when Babu was just in the midst of becoming a young man, he took a heavy pickaxe and gleaming shovel from his father, to become an ordinary road maintenance worker.

Annually, May through September are considered the golden period for highway maintenance, but on the other hand, maintenance equipment is limited, and the bureau mostly relies on manpower to carry out the road top maintenance. During this time of the year, in order to complete more effectively the annual maintenance tasks while also saving resources, Babu taking along all his daily essentials joins his worker friends to complete 12 to 13 hours of work each day.He insists on monitoring the road daily, in order to solve emerging problems in the timeliest manner. Below are a few noteworthy descriptions of their rapid correspondence.

On the 3rd of January, 2013, a freight truck coming from Qinghai broke down at the very top of Tanggula Mountain, Babu and his comrades quickly delivered to them hot water, instant noodles, and medicine.

In 2013, on the 28th of March, three Wuhan friends on vacation were trapped atop Tanggula Mountain due to hail storms, strong wind and other extreme weather. Some workers on patrol found them during monitoring, following they took them to a nearby relief station therein providing free accommodation arrangements, as well as food, water and pharmaceuticals.

On April 15th, 2014, the lives of a self managed tour car from Handan, Hebei Province holding 4 people (including a child) where tested due to high altitude reactions, upon finding the car, the workers quickly sent it to the hospital, thereafter helping them secure high altitude medicine and oxygen bags. Thanks to their assistance the party arrived later safely to Lhasa;

Similar cases of assistance are numerous, and some drivers in the past tried to thank Babu and the other workers by presenting to them monetary remuneration for their efforts. However, they never took the money offered. Nevertheless, their gratitude to the Section 14 Amdo Highway workers is documented elsewhere. For example, at Station 109 where visitors have filled 11 commentary booklets with personalized thank you notes. From these books the indeed high degree of gratitude visitors passing through have for these workers can be felt.

When asked to comment on his work Babu siad that "road work is a glorious tradition where helping others is greatly desired by each worker, this tradition cannot slip away my hands away, I am a Communist Party member, and serving the people is my responsibility".