Assuming most of those little structures are inhabited, how does this city sustain itself? The land around it does not appear to be cultivated, and there does not appear to be much of a commercial area. That's a lot of people to feed.
It's seldom known to westerners but many knowledgeable Chinese know that there are financial aid programs for minorities. Similar to that of financial support from Canadian government to the natives in northern Canada.
In other words, the money from tax payers of developed areas in China feeds the people. The purpose of the programs is also quite similar to the Canadian government, (at least in the beginning): the people in those area need support.
Unbelievable? I choose some source which can not be some propaganda from Chinese government to partially collaborate my claim (the source of income):
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB868829960463522500
(BTW, the subjective speculation by the author about the motivation of the financial aid can satisfied the western readers but is far from the truth. These false claims happen all the time in almost all western media. The lies fuels anger and nationalism inside China which is not healthy in my personal view. Nobody in western world are aware of that)
Another policy that is favorable to the minorities is the notorious "One Child Policy": All the Han Chinese can have only one child while the minorities include Tibetans are not restricted by the rule.
Those information were never told by western journalist and Free Tibet Movement because they are opposite to the common belief that Chinese government is oppressive regime. The sprite of "Truth, nothing but truth" exist in science/technology/engineering. In politics and religion lies spread.
"Politics, like religion, is a topic where there's no threshold of expertise for expressing an opinion. All you need is strong convictions."
--Paul Graham
http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html
Why should an entire nation of people be satisfied with 'minority' status? There's a much simpler solution: 'self determination'. Furthermore, in this instance, it has a compelling precedent: Tibet, which China invaded in 1950.
