China will build the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. It will not only reach Lhasa but will also connect
with Nepal and go on to Kathmandu [2]. I can't sleep until the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is
completed.

[1] This is part of Mao Zedong's conversation with King Birendra of Nepal. In 1958, under
Mao Zedong's instructions, the first phase of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway (the Xining-Golmud
section) began construction. Starting from March 1961, due to three consecutive years of
hardship, the construction of the entire Qinghai-Tibet Railway was suspended. In 1974, in
order to implement the spirit of Mao Zedong's conversation with King Birendra of Nepal, in
March 1974 and March 1975, the 10th and 7th Divisions of the Railway Corps, totaling
62,000 people, were ordered by the Central Military Commission to enter Qinghai and begin
construction of the Xining-Golmud section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Tracks were laid to
Golmud in 1979, and the first phase of the project was completed. It was opened to traffic in
1984. Due to the lack of confidence in overcoming the two major challenges of plateau
permafrost and high-altitude hypoxia, the construction of the Golmud-Lhasa section of the
Qinghai-Tibet Railway was suspended in July 1978. It wasn't until 1998 that significant
progress was made in the technical aspects of railway construction in the permafrost region
of the plateau, and the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was once again put on the agenda. On January
11, 2001, Jiang Zemin issued a directive declaring the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet
Railway essential. Construction began on June 29, 2001, on the Golmud-Gol section of the
second phase of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, and the entire line opened to traffic on July 1,
2006. Currently, the third phase of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, from Lhasa to Kathmandu, has
not yet been approved.
[2] Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.