Tibet sets "Serf Emancipation Day"

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Source: CCTV.com | 01-20-2009 08:53

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The Tibetan legislature has decided that March 28th will commemorate the end of feudal serfdom in the autonomous region.

File photo taken on Jan. 14, 2009 shows Awang, once a serf,  enjoys his life in a welfare institution in Lhasa, capital  of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.(Xinhua/Chogo)

Monday's session of the regional legislature endorsed a proposal for setting up the annual "Serfs Emancipation Day".

On March 28, 1959, the central government announced it would dissolve the aristocratic local government of Tibet, and replace it with a preparatory committee for establishing the Tibet Autonomous Region.

The move came after the central government foiled an armed rebellion staged by the Dalai Lama and his supporters, most of whom were slave owners attempting to maintain serfdom. That meant the end of serfdom and the abolition of the hierarchic social system characterized by theocracy.

About 1 million serfs and slaves, accounting for 90 percent of Tibetan population in the 1950s, were then freed.

Editor:Zhang Ning