Chengdu-Lhasa Highway
Topic: World Transport and Communication · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 7 "Transport and Communication"
Meaning
The Chengdu-Lhasa Highway is a long road in China. It links Chengdu in Sichuan province with Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. It is part of China's National Highway 318. The road climbs from the Sichuan basin onto the high Tibetan Plateau. It ties Tibet more closely to the rest of China. This matters to India because the road helps China move people, goods and army supplies close to India's Himalayan border.
Example
Supplies for Lhasa can travel by road from Chengdu in western China, across high mountains, into Tibet. India has answered roads like this by building its own border roads and tunnels, such as Atal Tunnel (2020) in Himachal Pradesh and Sela Tunnel (2024) in Arunachal Pradesh.
Don't confuse with
- China's eastern highway network: those highways link Tsungtso (near Vietnam), Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing in the crowded east. The Chengdu-Lhasa Highway runs west into Tibet.
Related concepts
- Highway
- Trans-Canada Highway
- Alaska Highway
- Pan-American Highway
- Stuart Highway
- Moscow-Vladivostok Highway
- Cairo-Cape Town Highway