Democratic Reform a historic stride for social system in Tibet: scholar

In 1951, the central government signed a 17-article Agreement with the local government of Tibet, which marks the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

In 1954, late Chinese leader Chairman Mao Zedong told the Dalai Lama, who was then a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, that the central government was not eager to implement the Democratic Reform in Tibet, though the reform had been underway in other minority areas.

"It needs the consent of the Tibetan people and the will of the Han people must not be forcibly given to the Tibetan people," said Mao, who indicated that the central government was patient enough on the issue of Democratic Reform in Tibet, though "some Han officials might be" eager to carry out the reform.

The scholar explains that "some Han officials", who were not as patient as the central government, came to the idea to start the reform at an early time, because they witnessed that the Tibetan people were increasingly eager to end the serfdom, under which, the Tibetan serfs were living in an abyss of suffering.

Between 1952-58, the local government of Tibet had a financial income of 392.9 million yuan (about 52 million U.S. dollars), but 357.17 million yuan, or 91 percent, came from the central government. Meanwhile, the central government had invested a lot of money to build highways in Tibet. By 1957, the length of Tibetan highways topped 6,000 kilometers.