CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Thursday, March 28, 2019 | 7 CHINA Tibet Region rises from serfdom to self­determination Sixty years ago, the old government of Tibet was dismissed. The date was later named ‘Serf’s Emancipation Day’. Cui Jia and Palden Nyima report from Shigatse, Tibet autonomous region. Editor’s note: This is the first of a tion and social system, which made series of stories about the Tibet it extremely difficult to disseminate autonomous region, focusing on the progressive ideas, he said. area’s history, poverty­alleviation In 1951, Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme measures and the cultural and busi­ was the Tibetan government’s chief ness sectors. negotiator during the process of signing the Agreement of the Cen­ hurbu Tsering was born in tral People’s Government and the Phalha Manor in Gyalze Local Government of Tibet on county, Tibet autonomous Measures for the Peaceful Libera­ region. The house, in Paljor tion of Tibet. PLhunpo village, was once owned by The agreement acknowledged the the aristocratic Phalha family. necessity of reforming Tibet’s social Before 1959, the family owned system and stressed that “the local much of the land in the county, government of Tibet should carry which is renowned for its fertility out reform voluntarily”. and boasts perfect conditions for Zhang said: “The central govern­ the cultivation of highland barley. ment was very patient toward the The Phalhas also owned Phurbu reform out of consideration for the Tsering’s parents, who were “house special circumstances in Tibet. It slaves”, nangzan in the Tibetan lan­ didn’t want to create any conflict. guage, the lowest social class. “The central government focused Prior to democratic reform in on improving the transportation 1959, Tibet had long been a theo­ infrastructure, including construct­ cratic feudal serfdom, a society char­ ing a road connecting Tibet and acterized by a combination of neighboring Qinghai province. political and religious power. It was “Also, it invited groups of local the last region in the world to end a officials and aristocrats to travel social system based on oppression outside Tibet to see social develop­ and the economic exploitation of ment in other parts of China.” serfs and slaves. As calls for democratic reform The Phalha family owned 37 man­ grew, some members of the ruling or houses across Tibet, along with class staged an armed rebellion on more than 3,000 serfs and house March 10, 1959, in an attempt to per­ slaves. The room in which Phurbu petuate theocratic feudal serfdom. Tsering was born belonged to the The rebellion triggered the start of housekeeper of Phalha Manor, the democratic reform. best­preserved manor house in “Originally, the central govern­ Tibet. Badro, an emancipated serf, celebrates his 99th birthday with primary school students in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region, ment planned to maintain Tibet’s “I always have mixed feelings earlier this month. PUBU TASHI / XINHUA old system until 1962, but the rebel­ when I enter the room,” said the lion moved the reform forward,” 37­year­old from the village in Shi­ “To punish them, cruel torture Zhang said. gatse city. “It’s where my mother methods were introduced, such as On March 17, 1959, after the rebel­ gave birth to me, but also where she skinning people alive and gouging out lion had been foiled, the 14th Dalai had been punished by the house­ their eyes. Such cruelty is rare in the Lama, who was a leader of the Gelug keeper in the past.” world,” he said. “What’s more, these Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, head of The residents of about half the punishments were often ordered ran­ the Tibetan local government and 104 households in the village are domly by the serfs’ owners.” the chief representative of serf own­ descended from the serfs and slaves The population declined in some ers, fled to India. of Phalha Manor. parts of Tibet. A document from Many aristocrats also fled, includ­ After the manor’s last master, Khesum village in Lhokha city, ing Tashi Wangdu, the master of Tashi Wangdu, fled to India in 1959, where Khesum Manor once stood, Phalha Manor. Phurbu Tsering’s parents moved shows that when the Surkhang fam­ into the manor from the house ily built the house in the 17th centu­ Dismissal slaves’ dwellings located diagonally ry, 606 serfs belonged to the manor. On March 28, 1959, the central opposite. About 300 years later, the number government dismissed the old had fallen to 302. Tibetan government. In 2009, the Slavery Dewa, 82, was born a tralpa of Tibet regional government decided Sixty years ago, serfs accounted Khesum Manor. She started working to name the date “Serfs’ Emancipa­ for about 90 percent of Tibet’s pop­ on the farmland when she was just 8 tion Day”, and it has since been cele­ ulation. They had no means of pro­ Phurbu Tsering, a son of house slaves, explains the history of serf­ A slave is forced to work in years old. “My family had to give brated annually. duction or personal freedom, and dom at Phalha Manor, Gyalze county, Tibet. ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY chains in the age of serfdom. almost everything we harvested to “The first step of democratic their survival depended entirely on XINHUA the manor. We starved most of the reform is to give people freedom. working for officials, aristocrats time. If we didn’t hand in enough That reform wasn’t achieved until and high­ranked lamas in monas­ highland barley, our land would be 1962, when the land and other teries. taken back and we would become means of production were allocated The upper classes owned farm­ house slaves or have to beg,” she said. to the people,” Zhang said. land, grassland and even whole The mother of seven still feels When Dewa’s family received 1.26 mountains. House slaves, aka “talk­ My father heartbroken when she remembers hectares of land, they burned the ing tools”, accounted for 5 percent of had no the moment the master took her leases they had signed with the old the population, according to Zhang control over brother away and sent him to anoth­ master. They were told that every­ Yun, head of the history department er manor: “We could do nothing but thing they harvested belonged to at the China Tibetology Research his fate. All he could cry inside.” them, and all the serfs and house Center in Beijing. ever do was to Guo Kefan, a researcher at the slaves of Khesum Manor became The contrast between the lives of Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences residents of Khesum village. the aristocrats and their retainers is survive. It’s really in Lhasa, said most Tibetans had “Being freed may sound easy, but illustrated perfectly at Phalha Man­ hard to imagine life in experienced severe oppression for a for some it was pretty hard to adjust,” or, where the items on display and very long time, but they showed lit­ said Guo, from the Tibetan Academy the architecture tell the stories of such a society.” tle resistance, largely because of of Social Sciences. “Many house their very different owners. Pagor, resident of Paljor Lhunpo their religious beliefs. slaves didn’t know how to farm or While the master wore an Omega village in Gyalze “They believed their current life make a living, so people formed aid wristwatch and his friends sipped was a punishment for bad behavior groups to help each other.” Scotch whisky and played mahjong Nyima Tsering, from the Tibet Archives in Lhasa, checks docu­ in a previous life, so they deserved to Sixty years on, almost all the man­ in the sunroom at the top of the ments from the former government of Tibet. PALDEN NYIMA / CHINA DAILY In the Tibet Archives in Lhasa, serve the masters. If they weren’t or houses in Tibet have been demol­ three­story house, Phurbu Tsering’s the regional capital, China Daily willing to endure the hardship, they ished. However, people can still parents lived in a tiny, windowless reporters saw several documents would continue to receive punish­ distinguish the descendants of the adobe house, which was just 1.4 from the former government of ment in the next life,” he said. aristocratic families from their fam­ meters high and could only be Tibet that recorded such trades, “Reform in Tibet had to come ily names and the way they speak. entered by bending down. along with several petitions from from the top. With the exception of a “A descendant of an aristocratic While the master’s wife tried to serfs begging for their taxes to be few aristocratic families who accu­ family once told me that his family decide which Louis Vuitton bags she reduced and a list of people mulated their wealth by becoming name is no longer associated with would take on outings, Phurbu Tser­ required to provide free labor. involved in trade with India in the any privilege. Still, people are curious ing’s mother was given just one item “My father had no control over his early 20th century, the others had to about his family history whenever of clothing a year. fate. All he could ever do was to sur­ exploit the serfs ever harder to his name is mentioned,” Guo said. “My parents often talked about vive. It’s really hard to imagine life in maintain their lifestyle.” Sipping tea in a courtyard in front how the housekeepers punished the such a society,” Pagor said. of Phalha Manor, Palo, head of Pal­ house slaves and serfs whenever Zhang, from the China Tibetology Change jor Lhunpo village, said, “If not for they liked.