| |
|
Yao Bohua,
Expert on Highway Network Planning
In the office of Yao Bohua, an expert on highway network planning
working in Xigaze, Tibet, one can see blueprints covering the walls,
and the reference materials, books and graphs piled on his desk extend
for three meters.
In June 1999, the Shandong Provincial Transport Bureau dispatched
a group of experts headed by Yao to Xigaze to assist the local people
to work out a 20-year highway network plan. A senior engineer, Yao
had been the director of the planning department of the Shandong Province
Transport Design Institute before he left for Xigaze.
Yao is a native of coastal Shandong Province, and his hometown is
no more than 50 meters above sea level. He suffered a severe altitude
reaction as soon as he arrived in Tibet, the "roof of the world,"
about 4,000 meters above sea level. In spite of this, he threw himself
immediately into hearing reports, reading related data and materials,
getting himself familiar with local conditions and discussing highway
network plans with local officials. He also traveled far and wide
to gather data. Finally, he produced a 300,000-word report, which
was the first written record of Xigaze's highway conditions.
Great progress has been achieved in examining, sorting out, analyzing
and summarizing materials and data related to Xigaze's 20-year highway
network plan, due to the outstanding work of the group headed by Yao
Bohua. The group has finished drawing up the Xigaze Highway Network
Plan, which forms the basis for the five-year plan for highway construction,
and for selecting proper constructiuon projects. To save both monetary
and labor costs, Yao sought advice from his colleagues and friends
in Shandong.
During his stay in Tibet, Yao has experienced all kinds of hardships
and difficulties, which can not be imagined by people who have not
been to the plateau. For instance, stories of altitude sickness are
enough to scare many people away. In July 1999, yao fainted on the
rostrum after delivering a report for two and half hours. Again, in
August of the same year, he fainted and vomited blood at another meeting.
The doctor's diagnosis was that he was suffering from myocardial ischemia
and pneumonectasis caused by altitude reaction. After spending eight
days in a hospital, Yao insisted on returning to work.
Within only one month after arriving in Tibet, Yao had established
connections with more than 20 departments, conducted on-the-spot surveys
of the main roads in seven counties, and consulted materials and documents
containing more than three million words. In this way, he laid a solid
foundation for drawing up detailed work proposals for the group of
experts to follow in the first-stage project of the Xigaze highway
network program.
Yao works more than 10 hours a day in Xigaze. Because of their sustained
efforts, the group members have examined 90 percent of the materials
related to the Xigaze highway network plan and put them on file. Yao
himself has finished drawing up the Tenth Five-Year Highway Construction
Plan of Tibet's Xigaze Prefecture. He spent the 1999 National Day
holidays completing a 20,000-word assignment given to him by the administrative
office of Xigaze Prefecture. Yao has won high praise from the local
people of Xigaze, and been cited as an outstanding expert for his
devoted working style and technical expertise. |
|
