It's a description of how China does farming at scale. Some interesting points: seafood farms (floating in the sea) instead of fishing, sensible sustainable (or "sustainable") cycles (e.g. fish -> fertilizer -> mulberry trees -> silkworm -> fish) (they also need aerators so the fish don't suffocate, and solar panels to power the aerators), massive amounts of greenhouses (including in places where it was previously impossible to grow vegetables due to climate), drip irrigation (Israeli technology for growing vegetables in the desert, saves a lot of water), returning farmland to the forest (to prevent mudslides).
> You know that most Tibetans historically only eat yak meat, milk, cheese, and bread? They couldn’t grow anything in such a harsh climate. Only monks could have the luxury to eat vegetables. Now it is the solid proof that the Chinese government didn’t just destroy temples in Tibetan culture but helped them eat vegetables and fruits.
Rye, barley, and certain amaranth species are better suited for brutal climates and inferior soils. Tibet mainly grows a strain of barley adapted to the poor agricultural conditions, AFAIK.
You can process almost any powdered food item flour into something resembling bread, if you expend enough effort on it. You can make bread with cricket flour. Even meatloaf could be considered a type of "bread", if you massage the definitions long enough.
But I'd guess that Tibetans mainly eat barley bread. Rye and barley aren't as good as wheat is for making leavened breads, but they can make a loaf that isn't entirely brick-like, if the baker keeps a good sourdough starter and it gets a lot more rise time.
In all seriousness, you can make "bread" from damn near any grain if you're persistent enough and grains of various types (and small fruits, i.e. berries) can grow basically anywhere. It's large fruit and vegetables that tend to require easy mode to grow (which makes sense since they spend proportionally more resources growing that the fruit they produce). I'm not sure what's native to tibet but I assume they have some sort of wheat-like grass that can be farmed and provides grain for bread.
Well, the did CCP dismantle the Tibetan theocratic state. A state that practiced serfdom and slavery. Possibly not out of the kindness of their hearts, but results do matter.
And replaced it first with a authoritarian state that strived to be communist (i.e. collectivization, banning private businesses, etc.) but is now simply authoritarian. Optimal? Of course not. Are Tibetans discriminated against in their own lands? It seems so. Is the typical people worse off than before? Only if you have a rather odd world view and definition of "worse off".
We have a massive number of those greenhouses here in The Netherlands too. Fruit here is fairly cheap - it's cheaper to cook yourself than it is to buy read meals as long as you get the portions right and cook whatever is in season.
https://www.quora.com/How-is-China-able-to-provide-enough-fo...
It's a description of how China does farming at scale. Some interesting points: seafood farms (floating in the sea) instead of fishing, sensible sustainable (or "sustainable") cycles (e.g. fish -> fertilizer -> mulberry trees -> silkworm -> fish) (they also need aerators so the fish don't suffocate, and solar panels to power the aerators), massive amounts of greenhouses (including in places where it was previously impossible to grow vegetables due to climate), drip irrigation (Israeli technology for growing vegetables in the desert, saves a lot of water), returning farmland to the forest (to prevent mudslides).