New life for monks in rebuilt monasteries (2)

Dontson, like other monasteries in the prefecture, used to be financed by donations from residents in the neighborhood. The government has implemented a policy under which lamaseries are financially independent.

But being located in Small Surmang, a remote and scarcely populated town in Yushu County, Dontson received only 40,000-80,000 yuan (about 6,416-12,832 U.S. dollars) annually before the earthquake.

Dechen said it was "a far cry from the amount needed for rehabilitation."

He was surprised when the government announced to invest 990 million yuan in renovating the damaged monasteries and housing the homeless after the earthquake.

By the end of October, construction on around 8,000 dormitories for monasteries had been completed, according to Wen Guodong, deputy secretary of the prefecture committee of the Communist Party of China in Yushu. More than 3,000 monks and nuns have moved into new homes.

Around 280 million yuan from a special fund has helped to build 20 communications stations, 445 km of new roads and 25 photovoltaic power stations. Added to this, there is now water supply for 84 monasteries where people used to have to fetch it by themselves.