Tibetan legislators endorse "Serfs Emancipation Day"

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In 1951, the Central Government signed a "17-article Agreement on the Methods for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" with the regional government.

NPC delaget Gesang Zhuoga, offspring of a former serf, attends  the meeting to vote for a bill Monday to designate Mar. 28 as  an annual Serfs Emancipation Day, to mark the date on which  about 1 million serfs in the region were freed 50 years ago.  (Xinhua Photo)

But some hoped feudal serfdom would continue. An armed rebellion occurred. Toward the end of March 1959, the rebellion was put down by the Central Government. The Dalai Lama and some of his followers fled the country to India. It was then that the broad masses of serfs, along with many patriotic upper-class figures, conducted their democratic reform. Their joint efforts marked the end of feudal serfdom in Tibet. One Million serfs finally became their own masters.

Deqing Zhuoma, a villager from the Kesong manor, lives in Naidong county in the Shannan Area of Tibet. Four generations of her family were Nangzan at the Kesong manor. She belongs to the fourth generation who were born in a cowshed. Today, Deqing Zhuoma's family owns six cows, several farm machines and a single-storey house with 7 rooms. The joys brought about by all these possessions are reflected in her bright smile.

Editor:Liu Anqi