A DVD portraying old Tibet as a feudal serfdom and not as a
"Shangri-la" has been backed by scholars, including those living in
the autonomous region.
"It is ridiculous for some people to depict old Tibet as 'a
beautiful land', completely ignoring what existed at the time -
feudal serfdom, said experts participating in a seminar held last
Friday in Beijing.
They were discussing a newly released documentary Tibet in the
Past, made by the Central News Documentary Film Studio.
According to the experts, the documentary depicts life as it was
in the autonomous region between 1951 and 1959, a period when Tibet
was still under a feudal system.
When Tibet was liberated peacefully in 1951, the "17-Article
Agreement" signed between the central government and the local
Tibet government stipulated that "the local government of Tibet
shall carry out reform voluntarily, and, when the people demand
reform, it shall be settled through consultation with the Tibetan
leaders".
But some of the ruling class were unwilling to give up the
social system that preserved their high lifestyles.
Tibet was, therefore, still under a feudal system until
democratic reform was introduced in 1959.
According to Wang Xiaoyi, professor in Tibetan studies with the
Central University for Nationalities, the society of old Tibet
under a feudal system was similar to that in Europe in the Middle
Ages.
The wealthy class, government officials, nobles and high ranking
monks accounted for less than 5 percent of Tibet's total population
but owned all the farmlands, pastures, forests, mountains and
rivers, and the majority of the livestock.
The serfs and slaves accounted for more than 95 percent of the
population.
They had no personal freedom, and had to depend totally on the
wealthy for their livelihood or act as their slaves from generation
to generation.
According to an old Tibetan saying: "What the serfs and slaves
take away is only their shadow, and what they leave behind are only
their footprints."
These serfs and slaves were also subjected to taxes and high
interest loans, according to Dralo, an expert in Tibetan studies
with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
According to incomplete statistics, there were more than 200
kinds of taxes levied by the Kasha (the former local government of
Tibet). Slaves had to contribute more than 50 percent or even 70 to
80 percent of their labor free to the Kasha and the wealthy, and
more than 60 percent of the farmers and herdsmen were burdened with
similar high-interest loans.
"But the local leadership had no intention of using the tax
revenue for the benefit of the common people, that is why the
infrastructure and education in old Tibet was extremely backward,"
Dralo said.
Dralo added that Tibetan leaders often visited foreign countries
and the central part of the Chinese mainland during 1950s, but they
had no intention of introducing a modern social system in Tibet and
emancipating its people.
"They just wanted to preserve the existing social system," said
the researcher.
The legal system adopted in Tibet was based on its hierarchical
social system.
According to Lhapa Phuntsog, head of the China Tibetology
Research Center, the "13-Article Code" and "16-Article Code" of old
Tibet divided the people into three classes and nine ranks,
enshrining social and political inequality between the different
ranks.
According to the codes, a person belonging to the highest rank
of the upper class was literally worth his weight in gold, while
that of a person of the lowest rank of the lower class was worth
only the price of a rope.
Serfs could be sold, transferred, given away, mortgaged or
exchanged by their owners, who had the power over their births,
deaths and marriages.
Male and female serfs were required to pay a "redemption fee" if
they wished to marry, and their children were doomed to be serfs
for life. Serf-owners could punish them at will. They even
established their own private prisons.
The punishments included flogging, cutting off their hands or
feet, gouging out their eyes, chopping off their ears or tongues,
drowning them and or throwing them off cliffs, Phuntsog said.
"It was an extremely dark era, with no equality, human rights or
democracy as some people have drummed up," Phuntsog said. He is now
in his 70s, and is a descendant of a former slave family, and the
first one in his family that received an education.
"It is necessary to tell the world what a true old Tibet was, to
stop some people from further cheating on more people who have
little knowledge of Tibet in the past," said Phuntsog.
Phuntsog's views are shared by Tendzin Ganpa, a colleague, who
was also the son of a former slave.
Ganpa's forefathers served as slaves for centuries for the serf
master Sampo, the largest estate-holder in Lhasa before 1960.
"Compared with the 1,000 houses the Sampo family owned, our
whole family had no place to live as my father turned older and was
dismissed by the master," Ganpa said.
The Sampo family is also featured in the DVD.
The Sampo couple had already fled to India when the Tibetan
photographer Tashi Wangdul arrived at their mansion to shoot a
previous documentary in the 1950s.
The housekeeper at the time permitted Wangdul to take all the
photos he wanted of the Sampo residence.
"There was a room full of foreign liquor, food and magazines of
Hollywood stars. And clothes were made of various kinds of animal
fur," recalled Wangdul in the new DVD.
"Given the comparisons between the haves and have-nots, how
could anyone describe Tibet as a Shangri-la with democracy and
equality," Ganpa said.
"Millions of the former slaves today won't deny the progress
made in the new Tibet."
However, experts warned against the tendency of gradually
forgetting what had happened in the old Tibet, with the passing of
the elderly and historical records vanishing.
According to Tendzin Lhungrub, also a researcher with the China
Tibetology Research Center, he conducted a survey in six years ago
in Lhasa among 700 local students on the region's past history, and
the results were disappointing. Few knew of the early events.
"Drastic measures must be taken to teach our children about the
region's history," Lhungrub said.
He said he studied for his PhD dissertation on the changes that
took place to a village close to the Potala Palace, which he
believed would best mirror the dramatic changes Tibet has gone
through in the past 50 years.
Hundreds of people used to live in the village serving the monks
in the palace, which stood as a symbol of the supreme power of
religion and politics in Tibet.
Now the residents there and their offspring have all been
relocated and have been given better homes.
"The change has happened everywhere," Lhungrub said. "People are
living totally different, but happy lives today in a new
society."
Lhungrub listed that regional ethnic autonomy has ensured
equality, unity, mutual help and common prosperity among all ethnic
groups in the region.
Economic development, opening up and reform has transformed the
once remote region into a relatively modern one with transport
links to the rest of the world.
Tibetan Buddhism has remained the main religion and its
monasteries well maintained. It is increasingly attracting more
tourists from home and abroad.
(China Daily February 6, 2007)