At the dinner table, three generations of people were discussing several trees.

"Those trees have grown so thick for several years," said Wang Yue, 66, as he gathered his hands together to form a table tennis ball.

"When I was there, I was as thick as a bowl," said Gao Shengmin, 58.

"Now those trees are still alive. They are so tall that they almost touch the roof, so they cut their branches and leaves," said Gao Shuai, 44.

Wang Yue, Gao Shengmin and Gao Shuai all had or had a status as a Tibetan aid cadre in Nima County, Naqu City, Tibet Autonomous Region.

The average altitude of Nima County is more than 4800 meters. Because of the cold and oxygen deficient climate, dry climate and strong sandstorms, Nima County has no natural trees. "Those trees survived because they were planted in the 'sun' shaped government office building, which is equivalent to a sunshine room," said Wang Yue.

Thirty years ago, the Third Tibet Work Forum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China determined the policy of "responsibility in different areas, counterpart support, and regular rotation" to help Tibet. One group after another of Tibetan aid cadres went to the snow covered plateau, making outstanding contributions to the development of Tibet.

The 12 green willows witnessed the leap forward development of Nima County and the hard work of Tibetan aid cadres behind the development.

Wang Yue was one of the first batch of cadres sent by CNOOC to Nima County to assist Tibet, and was temporarily appointed as the executive deputy county head. In 2002, when he arrived in Nima County, he participated in the construction of the county main road, government office building and Nima Hotel with the support of the aid funds. Green willows were planted after the office building was built and gradually developed with Nima County.

Wang Yue recalled that in order to build Nima Hotel into a benchmark project, they specially designed the elevator structure. However, the high altitude of Nima County has "scared off" many elevator companies.

"No one can ensure that all parts of the elevator can operate normally in the cold and oxygen deficient environment," he recalled. After everyone's efforts, a company finally accepted the "challenge" and successfully installed the first elevator in northern Tibet at that time.

In 2004, Wang Yue ended his term of office in Tibet aid, and Lv Ming, an offshore oil man also from the Bohai Sea, took over the baton. He said that it took two days to drive from Lhasa to Nima. Because there is no obvious way on the grassland, getting lost is common.

"Once, we accidentally drove into the river. Fortunately, a car passed by and pulled us out of the mud," said Lv Ming.

During Lv Ming's term of office, Nima County was connected to the national grid. With the network, he ended the days when he could not call his family.

In 2010, Gao Shengmin, who had served as a soldier and studied medicine, began his term of office in Tibet, and became the executive deputy secretary of Nima. At that time, the infrastructure level of Nima County had been greatly improved, and the focus of Tibet assistance was also shifted from improving "hardware" to "software" such as training talents and driving industrial development.

"In the first year after we organized local medical staff to train outside the district, the local neonatal mortality rate dropped to zero," Gao Shengmin said cheerfully.

Fu Xiaoyu, a "post-80s generation", describes the succession of cadres who helped Tibet from generation to generation with the words "predecessors plant trees and later generations enjoy the cool". In August 2019, he arrived in Nima County to take the temporary post of Deputy Chief Executive. In December of the same year, he witnessed the poverty eradication of Nima County.

In the past three years, starting with the development of animal husbandry, tourism and other industries, they built a rural revitalization complex and tourism hotel for Nima County, laying the foundation for local economic development and income increase of herdsmen. At the same time, they also made efforts in employment assistance to Tibet. A group of college graduates from Nima County came to work in large central enterprises, laying precious seeds for local youth to find jobs outside the region.

Born in 1995, Qiangba comes from Zhuoni Township, Nima County. After graduating from the Zhuhai Branch of Beijing Normal University, he came to Qinhuangdao, Hebei, an offshore oil field and became an operator, with a maximum monthly income of more than 17000 yuan.

"Influenced by me, several of my fellow villagers have left their hometown and found good jobs," said Qiangba with a smile.

Gao Shuai, who succeeded Fu Xiaoyu in assisting Tibet, is the father of two children. Erbao was only one year old when he left home.

Upon arrival in Nyima, Gao Shuai, acting as the executive deputy county head, and Sun Peng, acting as the deputy secretary of the county party committee, continued the unfinished work of the previous Tibetan aid cadre, ensuring that the aid project was completed on schedule and produced practical benefits.

"We should spend every penny on cutting edge to bring substantial changes to the development of Nima County and the life of local people," said Sun Peng.

In the 22 years since the construction of Nima County, CNOOC has selected 8 batches of cadres to assist Tibet, totaling 16, with a total of 570 million yuan of assistance. From 2002 to 2023, the GDP of Nima County has increased 10 times, and the incidence of poverty has dropped from 25.26% to zero.

According to the data, from 1994 to 2020, the corresponding provinces and cities, central state organs and central enterprises supported 6330 economic and social construction projects in Tibet in nine batches, with a total investment of 52.7 billion yuan.

Today, the 10th batch of Tibetan aid cadres, including Gao Shuai and Sun Peng, are working together with cadres and masses of all ethnic groups in Tibet to contribute wisdom and strength to the construction of a new socialist modern Tibet.

The 12 green willows bathed in the sun are also growing stronger and stronger.

(From Lhasa, Xinhua News Agency)