Members of a Chinese scientific expedition team take out the sediment core of Lake Yamzhog Yumco in Nanggarze county of Shannan, Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region, July 22, 2019.[Photo/Xinhua]

China's Tibet autonomous region has seen significant progress in science and technology over the past 60 years since the launch of the region's democratic reform in 1959, China Tibet News has reported.

According to statistics released by the region's department of science and technology, investment from central and the regional governments has been increasing steadily ever since the country's reform and opening-up.

The amount of investment in science and technology increased from 873 million yuan ($122 million) during the ninth five-year plan (1996-2000) to more than 1.69 billion yuan during the nation's 12th such plan (2011-15).

Since 2016, more than 1.09 billion yuan has been invested in science and technology by central and regional governments.

During the period 1978-2018, the region completed 4,421 national- and regional-level scientific and technological projects, 52 of which received national-level scientific and technological awards.

Five people won the Science and Technology Innovation Award granted by the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation.

In agriculture, over the six decades, the region has finished the selective breeding of 149 new crops, including 68 highland barley varieties, 53 wheat varieties, 25 oilseed varieties, and three potato varieties.

Improved crop varieties such as Zangqing 320, Zangqing 2000, Zangqing 18, and Himalaya 22 are grown widely across the region.