Brief Introduction to Tibet

The Tibet Autonomous Region, situated on the southwestern part of the Qingzang Plateau in the southwestern border area of China, covers an area of 1.2284 million square km. accounting for roughly one eighth of China’s total land area. The Region stretches 1,000 km. from north to south and 2,000 km. from east to west. With an average elevation exceeding 4,800 metres, Tibet is the largest and highest plateau on earth and has been metaphorically called the “roof of the world”. It abuts the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the north, Qinghai Province in the northeast, Sichuan Province in the east and Yunnan Province in the southeast, and borders on Myanmar, India, Bhutan and Nepal in the south and the west.

The Tibet Autonomous Region is an administrative region with the smallest population and the lowest population density in China. It registered a population of 2.8708 million at the end of 2008. In addition to Tibetans, there are other minority ethnic groups such as Monba, Lhoba, Hui and Naxi. Together they make up more than 95% of the total population of Tibet. The Tibetan ethnic group is one of the ancient Chinese ethnic groups. Half of the Tibetans live in Tibet, with the other half scattered in Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.

Religion has exerted a profound and far reaching impact on Tibet. Most of its inhabitants (except the Hans) hold religious beliefs. Among them, the Tibetans, the Monbas and the Lhobas believe in Tibetan Buddhism while the Huis believe in Islamism. With a history of more than one thousand years, the Tibetan Buddhism is the most influential religion in the region. Starting from the 16th century, Tibet adopted a system of integrated political and religious powers. Religious activities became an integral part of the life of the vast majority of its inhabitants.

Tibet has been part of the Chinese territory since ancient times. During the early 7th century, a Tibetan hero Songtsen Gampo unified Tibet, and established the Tubo Kingdom. By the mid 13th century, Tibet was officially included in the territory of the Chinese Yuan Dynasty. Tibet was divided into 13 wanhus (an administrative designation which literally means “ten thousand households”), and the heads of these wanhus were directly appointed by the imperial court. During the nearly 300 years’ reign of the Ming Dynasty, the Tibetans and the Hans co-existed in harmony. Governance of Tibet was further strengthened during the ensuing Qing Dynasty. After the 1911 Revolution, the then Chinese government proclaimed the policy of peaceful co-existence among the five major ethnic groups of Han, Manchu, Mongol, Hui and Tibetan and territorial unification and integrity. In the Interim Constitution of the Republic of China it was stipulated that Tibet was part of the Chinese territory. Any actions to support Tibet’s independence should be opposed and resisted. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China the Central People’s Government decided to liberate Tibet peacefully.

Tibet has 5,766 varieties of higher plants. Its main grain crops include highland barley and wheat, legume crops broad beans and peas, oil-bearing crops rape seeds, and cash crops walnuts and tea.

Sitting on the roof of the world, Tibet is not only endowed with spectacular geological landforms and unique natural sceneries, but also has distinctive social and humanistic landscape. During its flourishing period in history, it boasted more than 2,700 monasteries, and many other historical sites such as palaces, gardens, castles, fortresses, ancient tombs and tablets. Some of the well-known sites include the Potala Palace, Tashi- lhunpo Monastery, Sakya Monastery, Xialu Monastery, Palkor Monastery, Yumbulhakang Palace, Samye Monastery, Changzhug Monastery, Tombs of the Tibetan Kings, Guge Kingdom ruins, Ganden Monastery, Drepung Monastery, Sera Monastery and so on.

Old Tibet

Prior to its democratic reform in 1959, Tibet had long been a society of feudal serfdom under theocracy, a society characterized by a combination of political and religious powers. Its darkness and cruelty were even worse than that of the slave society of medieval Europe.

Relevant historical data show that serf owners such as administrative officials, aristocrats and upper-ranking lamas in monasteries, though comprising less than 5% of the population in Tibet, possessed almost all the farmland, pastures and most of the livestock, while serfs taking up more than 90% of the population were regarded as personal properties of their owners and subject to be sold, transferred, donated, mortgaged and swapped by their owners at will. Of the one million people in Tibet in 1950, 900,000 were without housing.

Serf owners cruelly exploited the serfs through corvee labour and usury lending. The local government of Tibet alone levied more than 200 kinds of taxes. Serfs had to contribute more than 50 percent or even 70 to 80 percent of their labour, unpaid, to serf owners.

Serfs toiled all the year round, yet they could not even get enough food and clothing. They often had to borrow from usurers at high interest rates of 20-30% in order to survive. The serfs were burdened with debts passed down from previous generations that could never be repaid by succeeding generations and debts resulting from joint liability which finally resulted in the bankruptcy of both the borrower and the guarantor.

Local Tibet rulers enacted a series of laws to safeguard the vested interests of the serf owners. The “13-Article Code” and the “16-Article Code” which had been enforced for hundreds of years in Tibet divided Tibetans into three classes and nine ranks, explicitly stating that human beings were unequal by law. Serf owners applied the written law or customary law to set up prisons or private jails. The local government had courts and prisons. So did large monasteries. Serf owners could also set up private jails in their manors. Punishment was extremely barbarous and cruel, including gouging out of the eyes, cutting off the ears, severing the hands, chopping off the feet, pulling out tendons, drowning, etc.

In 1959, with the introduction of the democratic reform in Tibet, one million serfs were emancipated and gained their rights to personal freedom.

The “17-Article Agreement”

The “17-Article Agreement” is the abbreviation for Agreement of the Central Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet.Signed on May 23, 1951 in Beijing, the Agreement proclaimed the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

In April 1951, the local government of Tibet sent Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme and four others as plenipotentiary representatives to Beijing to negotiate with the Central Government on issues pertaining to the peaceful liberation of Tibet. The Tibetan delegation arrived in Beijing on April 26. The Central Government appointed Li Weihan as the chief delegate to negotiate with the Tibetan delegation.

During the negotiation, because the Central People’s Government took consideration of the policy towards ethnic groups, and fully solicited the views of the Tibetan delegation, and the Panchen Lama also made his efforts, the negotiation was held smoothly. The two sides signed the “17-Article Agreement” on an equal and voluntary basis.

The Agreement contains 17 key points, chiefly reflecting two categories of issues: one is the requirement of the Central People’s Government on the local Tibetan government, the main points of which are: the local government in Tibet must firmly break off from the influence of imperialists and actively assist the People’s Liberation Army to enter Tibet; all of Tibet’s external affairs shall be handled by the Central People’s Government, and the existing troops in Tibet shall be gradually re-organized and merge into the People’s Liberation Army. On the other hand, while addressing Tibet’s internal affairs, the Central People’s Government shall take into consideration the set policies towards ethnic groups as well as the reality of Tibet, and adopt a very flexible approach. For instance, all expenditures for the People’s Liberation Army troops and the staff dispatched to Tibet shall be provided by the Central Government instead of the local Tibetan government. No changes shall be imposed by the Central Government on the current political system of Tibet; the status, functions and powers of the Dalai Lama shall remain unchanged; the freedom to religion of the Tibetan people shall be fully protected; and no changes shall be made by the Central Government with respect to the income of monasteries.

Democratic Reform in Tibet

The democratic reform in Tibet, started in March 1959, overthrew the feudal serfdom system, and the serfs henceforth gained personal freedom. This was an epoch-making revolution in the history of Tibet.

In 1951, the Central People’s Government signed the “17-Article Agreement” with the former local government in Tibet, marking the peaceful liberation of Tibet. However, Tibet remained a feudal serfdom society of combined political and religious powers under the rule of theocratic aristocrats. The three major estate-holders (local administrative officials, aristocrats, upper-ranking lamas in the monasteries) who comprised only 5% of the total population in Tibet occupied almost all the farmland, pastures and livestock in Tibet and owned large numbers of serfs and slaves who led a miserable life and were worked as if they were beasts of burden and killed at will by the serf owners.

In March 1959, the former upper class reactionary clique in Tibet broke the “17-Article Agreement” and launched an armed rebellion. Under the pretext of “anti-Hans” they plotted to split the country and sabotage the social reform which was strongly desired by the millions of serfs in Tibet. The armed rebellion was quickly quelled by the People’s Liberation Army, with support and collaboration from the serfs. This created favorable conditions for carrying out the ensuing democratic reform in Tibet.

The democratic reform formally started in the second half of March 1959. It was carried out by stages and steps. During the first stage the reform focused on the campaign against rebellion, corvee labour and slavery, and for reduction of rent for land and of interest on loans. In the rural areas, a policy of “those who tilled the land would get the harvest” was applied to the manor lords who took part in the armed rebellion; as to the manor lords who did not take part in the armed rebellion, a policy of reduced land rents (20 percent of the harvest for the manor lords and 80 percent for the tenants) was applied. Meanwhile, house slaves were set free and the bondage of the serfs to their feudal masters was abolished. In the pastoral areas, the livestock of the owners who were involved in the armed rebellion would be grazed by the original herdsmen and the income would also go to the herdsmen, while the livestock of the owners who were not engaged in the armed rebellion would still be kept by the owners, but their exploitation of the herdsmen must be reduced and the income of the herdsmen increased.

During the second stage of the reform, the means of production of the feudal manor lords who were involved in the armed rebellion were confiscated and redistributed to poor farmers and herdsmen. As to those manor lords who were not involved in the armed rebellion, a redemption policy was applied. The state redeemed their means of production, and distributed them to poor farmers and herdsmen free of charge. These former manor lords and livestock owners also got their due share in the distribution.

Because these policies, methods and measures were formulated in the light of local conditions, they were warmly received by people of all social strata, first and foremost, from the poor serfs and slaves. These policies also won understanding and cooperation from Tibet’s upper class personages, and thus guaranteed the smooth implementation of the democratic reform in Tibet. By the end of 1960 the land reform was basically completed. Mass organizations such as farmers association, committees for suppressing rebellions and protecting livestock under the leadership of the Communist Party of China were set up in various places, and on the basis of this, people’s governments at different levels were also set up.

The democratic reform in Tibet thoroughly abolished the feudal serfdom system, and established an individual ownership system by farmers and herdsmen. The vast number of former serfs got their share of land and other means of production, and the bondage of serfs to their owners was done away with. Breaking their fetters and shackles, the serfs and slaves who had been treated as “speaking livestock” for thousands of years became for the first time “men” in the true meaning of the word and masters of their own destiny and the society of Tibet.

Tibet in Figures

What changes have taken place in Tibet since 1951 when Tibet was liberated peacefully, especially since the democratic reform in 1959? And what improvements have been made in the Tibetan people’s livelihood?By comparing figures in the economic, cultural, medical and health, social life and educational aspects, we can clearly see the rapid development of Tibet during the past more than fifty years.

Economic Development