Sunday 22 November 2009

It pays to be a soldier in Tibet

Soldiers from Guangzhou newly assigned to Tibet will get a “special allowance” of up to 160,000 yuan (HK$182,000) for serving there.

1 comment:

Guanyu said...

It pays to be a soldier in Tibet

Reuters in Beijing
22 November 2009

Soldiers from Guangzhou newly assigned to Tibet will get a “special allowance” of up to 160,000 yuan (HK$182,000) for serving there.

The allowance is paid by local governments to the families of new soldiers to compensate for the loss of their labour, according to China Military Online, a website sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army Daily.

It varies depending on where the soldier is from, and where they are posted.

The Guangzhou Daily News, which reported the good news for the soldiers’ families yesterday, said that of a contingent of 520 soldiers from Guangdong province assigned to the Himalayan region, 240 were from Guangzhou.

“These new soldiers who are going to Tibet are outstanding new soldiers who have gone through a strict selection process,” the paper said.

“The whole province has laid down a preferential policy for soldiers going to Tibet, and soldiers registered in Guangzhou who are posted to Tibet will be able to get a special allowance of up to 160,000 yuan.”

The Guangzhou paper gave no details of other bonuses, but the potential payment for those heading to Tibet is generous even for one of the richest parts of the mainland, and more than many university graduates would hope to earn in a year.

The region was racked by deadly ethnic violence last year and has seen sporadic outbreaks of unrest since then. Besides ethnic tensions, the climate is harsh and the high altitudes can be hard to adjust to.