Tibetan antelope, regarded as barometers of the environmental health of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, run along Siling Lake in Nagchu city, Tibet autonomous region. [Photo/VCG]

Doctoral programs

Ten years after he submitted a proposal to launch a doctoral degree program in the region, three programs－offering doctorates focused on the regional economy, Tibet's environment and the Tibetan language－were opened at Tibet University in Lhasa, the regional capital, in 2013.

His proposals did not come from wild thinking in the office, but were based on the stories he heard from ordinary Tibetans and a large amount of data collected by his field research team.

To obtain the latest data on living conditions in Tibet, Thubten Khedrup has visited countless households, temples and monasteries in almost every county in the region.

He also submitted a proposal to the CPPCC calling for the greater promotion of Tibetan medicine. The proposal followed an auto accident in 2002 in which he almost lost his life.

After the accident, Thubten Khedrup was in a coma having sustained blood stasis, or blood stagnation, in his head. However, he miraculously regained consciousness after his mother gave him Tibetan medicine.

After five years' treatment with Tibetan medicine, he recovered and returned to work.

As a CPPCC member at the national level, he has observed the nation's development from the Tibetan perspective, and has come up with proposals that allow the region to learn from the experiences of other parts of China.

To write a proposal on how Tibet could woo tourists in the low winter season, Thubten Khedrup visited Hainan, China's southernmost province, and Harbin, the famous "ice city" in the northeast, to gain experience.