lhasa under towering mountains cranes and newlybuilt blocks of flats stretch up to blue skies around the tibetan capital of lhasa as a construction boom creates a twotier system of property wealth between state workers and everyone elsea huge infrastructure and building drive in tibet has brought airports roads railways and new flats which beijing says are improving life across the remote mountainous plateaubut the boom is also changing the historic buddhist city and pushing property prices out of reach of many residents tibetans say sharpening divisions in a region wellknown for discontent under chinese controla short distance from the potala palace the former home of the exiled dalai lama construction workers crawl over highend condo towers being built by chinese developer country gardenthey are priced similarly to many major chinese cities despite average tibetan incomes still being among the countrys lowestthe development sits opposite billboards advertising other projects and near a modern new shopping centreafp recently joined a rare and tightly controlled governmentled tour of tibet which has heavily restricted entry for foreign journalists since deadly antichina protests exploded across the region in 2008chinas government says development is the antidote to discontent in tibet where many people still revere the dalai lama the regions spiritual leader and resent an influx of chinese tourists and settlerssince 2008 it has poured investment into the region making tibet one of chinas fastestgrowing regions economically and fuelling rising average incomesmany residents agree such modernisations are welcome but experts have warned lhasas 860000 people are also increasingly polarised between haves and havenotsthe building binge is perhaps the most visible evidence seen as largely benefitting educated government workers while tibetan rural migrants struggle to keep upnearly one million square metres of newlybuilt housing was sold in 2020 up 28 percent from the previous yearreal estate listings show around three dozen new developments currently selling homes in lhasawith prices rising entering the market relies on publicsector jobs because there are very few options outside of that to make the big bucks said andrew fischer a professor at erasmus university rotterdamthe property market opens up only once youve passed that gateway that gateway is what controls peoplerural migrants are moving from other parts of tibet to lhasa to seek better economic and educational opportunities but usually end up on societys lower rungs said emily yeh professor at the university of colorado bouldermany have low mandarin language abilities a prerequisite for many urban jobseven at the higher end competition for top jobs is fierce as employment growth lags the numbers of new graduatesinterviewing locals was difficult under the watchful eyes of government minders but overseas tibetans who are in close touch with those on the ground say a toxic social brew is developingmost people who are educated work for the government but you have increasing numbers of young tibetans who are welleducated and didnt get a government job said an overseas tibetan who spoke on condition of anonymityhe says this is creating a pool of educated