西藏發(fā)展道路的歷史選擇(一)

西藏發(fā)展道路的歷史選擇(一)

前言

中華人民共和國(guó)是中國(guó)各族人民共同締造的統(tǒng)一的多民族國(guó)家。在長(zhǎng)期的歷史發(fā)展中，中國(guó)各民族形成了休戚與共的中華民族命運(yùn)共同體。西藏自古是中國(guó)的一部分，藏族是中華民族命運(yùn)共同體的一員。西藏的命運(yùn)始終與偉大祖國(guó)和中華民族的命運(yùn)緊密相連。

歷史上，藏族人民創(chuàng)造了輝煌的歷史和文化，為豐富和發(fā)展中國(guó)歷史、中華文化作出了貢獻(xiàn)。但是，直到20世紀(jì)中期，西藏仍處于政教合一的封建農(nóng)奴制統(tǒng)治之下，生產(chǎn)力水平極其低下，社會(huì)保守封閉、衰敗落后。

西藏真正步入現(xiàn)代文明始于1949年中華人民共和國(guó)成立后。歷經(jīng)和平解放、民主改革、自治區(qū)成立、改革開(kāi)放等重要發(fā)展階段，西藏不僅建立起全新的社會(huì)制度，而且實(shí)現(xiàn)了經(jīng)濟(jì)社會(huì)發(fā)展的歷史性跨越，走上了中國(guó)特色社會(huì)主義道路。

西藏走上今天的發(fā)展道路，是現(xiàn)代文明發(fā)展的客觀要求，順應(yīng)了人類社會(huì)進(jìn)步潮流，符合中國(guó)國(guó)情和發(fā)展實(shí)際，符合西藏各族人民的根本利益。在這條道路上，西藏各族人民當(dāng)家作主，成為國(guó)家、社會(huì)和自己命運(yùn)的主人；西藏實(shí)現(xiàn)了由貧窮落后向富裕文明的跨越，以嶄新姿態(tài)呈現(xiàn)在世人面前；西藏各族人民與全國(guó)人民和睦相處、和衷共濟(jì)，共同創(chuàng)造幸福美好新生活；西藏以開(kāi)放的姿態(tài)面向世界，積極吸納人類文明優(yōu)秀成果。

西藏發(fā)展進(jìn)步所取得的巨大成就，充分說(shuō)明西藏走上的發(fā)展道路是正確的。但是，長(zhǎng)期流亡海外、代表封建農(nóng)奴主階級(jí)殘余勢(shì)力的十四世達(dá)賴集團(tuán)，出于“西藏獨(dú)立”的政治目的和對(duì)舊西藏政教合一的封建農(nóng)奴制的眷戀，在長(zhǎng)期推行暴力“藏獨(dú)”路線遭受失敗后，這些年又大肆鼓吹“中間道路”。“中間道路”貌似“妥協(xié)”、“折衷”、“和平”、“非暴力”，實(shí)則否定新中國(guó)成立以來(lái)西藏走上的正確發(fā)展道路，企圖在中國(guó)領(lǐng)土上建立由十四世達(dá)賴集團(tuán)統(tǒng)治的“國(guó)中之國(guó)”，分步達(dá)到實(shí)現(xiàn)“西藏獨(dú)立”的目的。

一、舊制度必然退出西藏歷史舞臺(tái)

20世紀(jì)50年代，當(dāng)奴隸制、農(nóng)奴制、黑奴制已為現(xiàn)代文明所徹底唾棄之時(shí)，西藏社會(huì)依然處于政教合一的封建農(nóng)奴制統(tǒng)治之下。政教合一的封建農(nóng)奴制粗暴踐踏人類尊嚴(yán)，嚴(yán)重侵犯基本人權(quán)，根本阻礙西藏社會(huì)發(fā)展，完全背離中國(guó)和世界進(jìn)步潮流。

——政教合一，神權(quán)至上，神權(quán)政治的典型代表

在舊西藏，神權(quán)至上，政權(quán)庇護(hù)神權(quán)，神權(quán)控制政權(quán)，神權(quán)與政權(quán)融為一體，共同維護(hù)官家、貴族和寺院上層僧侶三大封建領(lǐng)主的統(tǒng)治。據(jù)統(tǒng)計(jì)，1959年民主改革前，西藏共有寺廟2676座，僧眾114925人。僧眾人數(shù)約占男性人口的四分之一，其比例遠(yuǎn)超歐洲中世紀(jì)神職人員，世所罕見(jiàn)。

在神權(quán)政治下，宗教被封建農(nóng)奴制玷污，寺廟并非單純的潛心禮佛的清凈之地，而是集開(kāi)展宗教活動(dòng)、控制一方政權(quán)、實(shí)施經(jīng)濟(jì)剝削、囤積武裝力量、進(jìn)行司法審判等功能為一體的統(tǒng)治堡壘。有的寺廟內(nèi)部私設(shè)公堂，不僅有手銬、腳鐐、棍棒，還有用來(lái)剜目、抽筋的殘酷刑具，懲罰農(nóng)奴手段極其殘忍。現(xiàn)存的20世紀(jì)50年代初西藏地方政府有關(guān)部門(mén)致熱布典頭目的一封信內(nèi)記載，一次，為了給十四世達(dá)賴念經(jīng)祝壽，下密院全體人員需要念忿怒十五施食回遮法，“為切實(shí)完成此次佛事，需于當(dāng)日拋食，急需濕腸一副、頭顱兩個(gè)、多種血、人皮一整張，望立即送來(lái)”。寺廟領(lǐng)主在三大領(lǐng)主中放債最多，約占總額的80%。

由于大量人口不從事生育和生產(chǎn)，并且成為神權(quán)政治壓榨的工具，導(dǎo)致社會(huì)資源嚴(yán)重匱乏，人口增長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)期停滯。據(jù)19世紀(jì)中期成書(shū)的《圣武記·西藏后記》記載，清乾隆二年(1737年)理藩院匯造西藏達(dá)賴、班禪所轄地區(qū)，共有喇嘛31.62萬(wàn)人以上，而當(dāng)時(shí)西藏(不含今昌都地區(qū))共有人口約109萬(wàn)。到20世紀(jì)50年代初，西藏人口依然徘徊在100多萬(wàn)，200多年間幾乎沒(méi)有增長(zhǎng)。

利用宗教加強(qiáng)對(duì)社會(huì)的控制，是神權(quán)政治的突出特點(diǎn)。原國(guó)民政府蒙藏委員會(huì)駐拉薩辦事處官員、20世紀(jì)40年代在西藏工作的著名藏學(xué)家李有義在回憶文章《西藏，神秘的和不再神秘的》中感嘆道：“西藏的農(nóng)奴遭受著如此殘酷的剝削和壓迫，他們?yōu)槭裁床黄饋?lái)反抗呢？我也向農(nóng)奴問(wèn)過(guò)這個(gè)問(wèn)題。不料他們的答復(fù)卻是‘第，賴哉’，意為這是業(yè)果。他們相信今世受苦是前世造了孽，今世受苦才能洗凈罪孽，下世就能轉(zhuǎn)生到更好的境界。這就是喇嘛對(duì)他們的教導(dǎo)，而藏民是堅(jiān)信不疑的?！痹诶钣辛x看來(lái)，正是這種思想控制，使“農(nóng)奴一生一世都是為未來(lái)積累功德，貴族用鞭子抽他們，他們還以為是在為他們洗罪呢”。

親歷西藏的英國(guó)人查爾斯·貝爾在《十三世達(dá)賴?yán)飩鳌分姓f(shuō)：“你下一輩子是人還是豬，難道對(duì)你沒(méi)什么關(guān)系嗎？達(dá)賴?yán)锬鼙Ｄ阃短コ扇耍?dāng)大官，或者更好一些——在一個(gè)佛教興盛的國(guó)度里當(dāng)大喇嘛?！彼M(jìn)而指出：“毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，喇嘛采用了精神恐怖手法以維持他們的影響和將政權(quán)繼續(xù)控制在他們手中?！?/p>

——等級(jí)森嚴(yán)，踐踏人權(quán)，封建農(nóng)奴制在東方的最后堡壘

1959年以前的西藏，仍然保留著封建農(nóng)奴制。法國(guó)旅行家亞歷山大·大衛(wèi)·妮爾1916-1924年間曾先后5次到西藏及其周邊地區(qū)考察。1953年，她出版了《古老的西藏面對(duì)新生的中國(guó)》，對(duì)舊西藏的農(nóng)奴制有過(guò)這樣的描述：“在西藏，所有農(nóng)民都是終身負(fù)債的農(nóng)奴，在他們中間很難找到一個(gè)已經(jīng)還清了債務(wù)的人?！薄盀榱司S系生活，農(nóng)奴不得不借錢(qián)、借糧、借牲畜，支付高額利息。然而，來(lái)年的收獲永遠(yuǎn)還不完膨脹的利息?！薄霸诤翢o(wú)辦法的情況下，他們只好再借，借口糧，借種子?！绱讼氯?，年復(fù)一年，永無(wú)完結(jié)，直到臨死的時(shí)候也不能從債務(wù)中解脫出來(lái)，而這些債務(wù)就落到了他兒子的身上，可憐的兒子從剛一開(kāi)始種田生涯起，就受到這些祖?zhèn)鞯膫鶆?wù)的壓榨，而這些債的起源早已是遙遠(yuǎn)的過(guò)去的事了，他根本不知道這從什么時(shí)候說(shuō)起?！薄斑@些可憐的人們只能永遠(yuǎn)待在他們貧窮的土地上。他們完全失去了一切人的自由，一年更比一年窮?！?/p>

在封建農(nóng)奴制下，人被劃分為等級(jí)。在舊西藏通行了數(shù)百年的《十三法典》和《十六法典》，明確將人分成三等九級(jí)，將森嚴(yán)的等級(jí)制度法律化。法典規(guī)定：“人分上中下三等，每一等人又分上中下三級(jí)。此上中下三等，系就其血統(tǒng)貴賤職位高低而定”，“人有等級(jí)之分，因此命價(jià)也有高低”，“上等上級(jí)人命價(jià)為與尸體等重的黃金”，“下等下級(jí)人命價(jià)為一根草繩”。

落后的封建農(nóng)奴制以及政教合一的神權(quán)政治，使舊西藏成為一個(gè)貧富分化極其懸殊的社會(huì)。至20世紀(jì)50年代末，占西藏人口不足5%的三大領(lǐng)主及其代理人幾乎占有西藏全部耕地、牧場(chǎng)、森林、山川、河流、河灘以及大部分牲畜。據(jù)統(tǒng)計(jì)，1959年民主改革前，西藏有世襲貴族197家，大貴族25家，其中居前的七八家貴族，每家占有幾十個(gè)莊園，幾萬(wàn)克土地(15克相當(dāng)于1公頃)。十四世達(dá)賴家族占有27座莊園、30個(gè)牧場(chǎng)，擁有農(nóng)牧奴6000多人。十四世達(dá)賴本人手上有黃金16萬(wàn)兩，白銀9500萬(wàn)兩，珍寶玉器2萬(wàn)多件，有各種綢緞、珍貴裘皮衣服1萬(wàn)多件。而占西藏人口95%的農(nóng)奴和奴隸，則一無(wú)所有，處境悲慘，毫無(wú)人權(quán)可言。對(duì)這些人，西藏有民諺稱：“生命雖由父母所生，身體卻為官家占有。縱有生命和身體，卻沒(méi)有做主的權(quán)利?！?/p>

——封閉落后，遠(yuǎn)離現(xiàn)代文明，絕非想象中的“香格里拉”

20世紀(jì)30年代，英國(guó)作家詹姆斯·希爾頓在《消失的地平線》一書(shū)中，描繪了夢(mèng)幻般美妙絕倫的人間樂(lè)土——“香格里拉”。此后，追尋“香格里拉”成為許多人的夢(mèng)想，有人甚至把西藏視為“香格里拉”的原生地。然而，這只是人們的善良愿望，舊西藏根本不存在“香格里拉”。

舊西藏的落后從以下情況可略窺一斑：直至1951年和平解放時(shí)，西藏沒(méi)有一所近代意義上的學(xué)校，青壯年文盲率高達(dá)95%；沒(méi)有現(xiàn)代醫(yī)療，求神拜佛是大部分人醫(yī)治疾病的主要辦法，人均壽命只有35.5歲；沒(méi)有一條正規(guī)公路，貨物運(yùn)輸、郵件傳遞全靠人背畜馱；僅有一座125千瓦的小電站，且只供十四世達(dá)賴及少數(shù)特權(quán)者使用。

親歷舊西藏的中外人士無(wú)不被其落后的社會(huì)場(chǎng)景所觸動(dòng)，并留下許多身臨其境的描述。1945年，李有義在西藏實(shí)地考察數(shù)月后觀察道：“在沿著雅魯藏布江中下游約1700多英里的旅程中，我所看到的是一派衰敗的景象。在每天的旅程中都能看到幾處人去樓空的廢墟，壟畝痕跡依稀可辨，人煙卻已杳杳。我所經(jīng)過(guò)的這種‘鬼鎮(zhèn)’何止百處……我出發(fā)考察時(shí)正是秋收季節(jié)。這個(gè)季節(jié)就是在內(nèi)地比較落后的農(nóng)村里，你也可以在農(nóng)民的臉上看到收獲的喜悅。但是在1945年的西藏農(nóng)村，我卻不曾看到一副喜悅的面孔。我所看到的是貴族和‘差領(lǐng)巴’(收租人)對(duì)農(nóng)奴的怒吼和鞭打，我所聽(tīng)到的是農(nóng)奴的哭泣和嘆息聲?！?/p>

原英國(guó)《每日郵報(bào)》駐印度記者埃德蒙·坎德勒在1905年出版的《拉薩真面目》中也寫(xiě)道：拉薩“這座城市臟得無(wú)法形容，沒(méi)有下水道，路面也沒(méi)有鋪砌石塊。沒(méi)有一棟房子清潔干凈或經(jīng)常有人打掃。下雨之后，街道就成了一洼洼的死水塘，豬狗則跑到這些地方來(lái)尋找廢物渣滓”。

曾任西藏自治區(qū)廣電廳廳長(zhǎng)的杜泰(藏族)回憶說(shuō)：“當(dāng)1951年我來(lái)到拉薩的時(shí)候，這座城市的貧困和破敗確實(shí)也出乎我的意料。那時(shí)候，拉薩除了大昭寺周圍的八廓街，幾乎沒(méi)有一條像樣的街道，也沒(méi)有任何公共服務(wù)設(shè)施，沒(méi)有路燈，沒(méi)有供水和排水設(shè)備。街頭經(jīng)?？吹絻鲳I而死的人的尸體，還有乞丐、囚犯和成群的狗。大昭寺西面是叫‘魯布邦倉(cāng)’的乞丐村，小昭寺周圍也是乞丐聚合地。當(dāng)時(shí)乞丐竟有三四千之多，占城市人口的十分之一強(qiáng)?！?/p>

1950年，原西藏地方政府噶倫、后來(lái)?yè)?dān)任過(guò)中國(guó)全國(guó)人大常委會(huì)副委員長(zhǎng)的阿沛·阿旺晉美向噶廈發(fā)電反映昌都地區(qū)情況時(shí)說(shuō)：“因時(shí)世混濁，民不堪命，這里有的宗(相當(dāng)縣)內(nèi)僅有七、八戶還有糌粑，其余全以食元根(即蔓菁)為生，乞丐成群，景象凄涼。”

大量事實(shí)證明，到20世紀(jì)中葉，西藏的舊制度已經(jīng)走到了盡頭。阿沛·阿旺晉美曾回憶說(shuō)：“記得在40年代，我同一些知心朋友曾多次交談過(guò)西藏舊社會(huì)(制度)的危機(jī)，大家均認(rèn)為照老樣子下去，用不了多久，農(nóng)奴死光了，貴族也活不成，整個(gè)社會(huì)就將毀滅。”

20世紀(jì)50年代，世界上大多數(shù)國(guó)家和地區(qū)已實(shí)現(xiàn)了政教分離，此時(shí)的西藏仍然實(shí)行著這種落后的制度，嚴(yán)重阻礙著西藏社會(huì)的發(fā)展進(jìn)步，使西藏與現(xiàn)代文明漸行漸遠(yuǎn)。19世紀(jì)后，世界許多國(guó)家和地區(qū)掀起廢奴運(yùn)動(dòng)，英國(guó)、俄國(guó)、美國(guó)等國(guó)紛紛廢除奴隸制度。1807年，英國(guó)議會(huì)通過(guò)法令禁止本國(guó)船只參與奴隸販運(yùn)交易。1861年，俄國(guó)皇帝亞歷山大二世正式批準(zhǔn)了廢除農(nóng)奴制度的“法令”和“宣言”。1862年，美國(guó)總統(tǒng)林肯發(fā)表《解放黑人奴隸宣言》；1865年，美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)通過(guò)《憲法第13條修正案》，正式廢除奴隸制。1948年，聯(lián)合國(guó)大會(huì)通過(guò)的《世界人權(quán)宣言》規(guī)定：任何人不得使用奴隸或奴役；一切形式的奴隸制度和奴隸買賣，均應(yīng)予以禁止。在農(nóng)奴制近乎絕跡的20世紀(jì)中葉，世界上最大的農(nóng)奴制堡壘依然盤(pán)踞在中國(guó)的西藏，這不僅阻礙著中國(guó)社會(huì)發(fā)展進(jìn)步，也是對(duì)人類文明、良知和尊嚴(yán)的羞辱。

隨著新中國(guó)的建立及中國(guó)社會(huì)的發(fā)展進(jìn)步，在20世紀(jì)50年代末60年代初，西藏舊制度被徹底廢除。然而，十四世達(dá)賴集團(tuán)卻逆歷史潮流而動(dòng)，非但不反思舊西藏政教合一制度的黑暗殘暴，反而留戀不舍，夢(mèng)想著有朝一

日把這種制度重新搬回西藏。對(duì)此，十四世達(dá)賴集團(tuán)的有關(guān)文件有著清楚的記載。1963年制定的《西藏未來(lái)民主憲法(草案)》中稱：“西藏以佛祖所教誨之佛法精神為基礎(chǔ)，建立一個(gè)民主統(tǒng)一的國(guó)家?！?1991年制定的《流亡藏人憲法》規(guī)定：“未來(lái)西藏的政治是在堅(jiān)持非暴力原則的基礎(chǔ)上建立一個(gè)政教合一、自由安定的民主聯(lián)邦共和國(guó)?！?992年制定的《西藏未來(lái)政體及憲法要旨》將“政教相輔”規(guī)定為未來(lái)西藏的政治性質(zhì)。2011年修訂后的《流亡藏人憲法》規(guī)定：未來(lái)西藏政治是“政教結(jié)合”。(待續(xù))

Tibet’s Path of Development Is Driven by an Irresistible Historical Tide(Ⅰ)

Foreword

The People’s Republic of China is a united multiethnic country created through the joined efforts of the peoples of all the ethnic groups in China.Over the long course of history,these ethnic groups have grown into a single community that responds to each and every challenge under the single name of the Chinese nation. Tibet has been a part of China’s territory since ancient times,and the Tibetans have been one communal member of the Chinese nation.The destiny of Tibet has always been closely connected with the destiny of the great motherland and the Chinese nation.

Down through the ages,the Tibetan people have created a brilliant history and culture,and contributed to the enrichment and development of Chinese overall history and culture.However,the social system of Tibet remained one of theocratic feudal serfdom until the mid-20th century,with an economy that was extremely underdeveloped,and a society that was conservative,closed and backward.

Tibet fi rst began to embrace modern civilization only after the People’s Republic was founded in 1949. Having going through such important phases as peaceful liberation,democratic reform,establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region,and introduction of reform and opening up,Tibet has not only established a new social system,but also witnessed great historical leap forward in its economy and embarked on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Tibet’s continual progress on its present path of development is one of the objective requirements of modern civilization.It accords with the progressive trend of human society,the prevailing conditions and the current reality in China,and the fundamental interests of all ethnic groups in Tibet.While following this path,the people of the numerous ethnic groups in Tibet have become masters of their country and their society,and critically,masters of their own destiny. Along the way,Tibet has been transformed from a poor and backward society to one that is advanced in botheconomy and culture.Along the way,the people of Tibet have found harmony and the means of working together with the people of other parts of China to create a better and happier life.And along the way,Tibet has opened to the rest of the world and begun to absorb the outstanding achievements of human civilization.

Tibet’s tremendous progress in its development serves as eloquent evidence that the path it is now following is the correct one.However,there is a party who cluster around the 14th Dalai Lama,representatives of the remnants of the feudal serf owners who have long lived in exile,driven by a political goal of “Tibetan independence” and a sentimental attachment to the old theocratic feudal serfdom.In recent years,having seen the failure of their attempts to instigate violence in support of their cause,they have turned to preaching a “middle way”. This “middle way” purports to advocate “compro mise”,“concession”,“peace” and “non-violence”;in reality it negates the sound path of development that Tibet has followed since the founding of the People’s Republic,and attempts to create a “state within a state”on Chinese territory,to be ruled by the 14th Dalai Lama and his supporters,as an interim step towards the ultimate goal of full independence.

I.The End of the Old System Was a Historical Inevitability

In the 1950s,when slavery and serfdom had long since been abandoned by modern civilization,Tibet still remained a society of theocratic feudal serfdom.This system trampled on human dignity,infringed upon human rights,and impeded development in Tibet,all of which went completely against the progressive trend in China and the rest of the world.

——Political and religious powers combined,with absolute supremacy held by religious power—a typical manifestation of theocracy

In old Tibet,religious power enjoyed absolute supremacy.Religious power prevailed over political power while the latter protected the former.The two combined to defend the interests of the three major stakeholders:local officials,aristocrats and higherranking lamas in the monasteries.Before Democratic Reform in 1959,there were 2,676 monasteries and almost 115,000 Buddhist monks and their acolytes in Tibet.Active monks accounted for one quarter of the local male population,a total that far exceeded the proportion of clergy in Medieval Europe,and was highly unusual throughout the world.

In this theocratic society religion had been distorted by feudal serfdom,and monasteries were no longer places of purity to study Buddhism and worship the Buddha,but fortresses from which the local rulers organized religious activities,exercised administration and exploitation,built up their armed forces,and passed judicial adjudication.Some monasteries even had private jails,with instruments of torture used for eye gouging and hamstringing,in addition to handcuffs,chains and clubs.A letter from the Tibetan local government department to the head of a Rabden(a theocratic and administrative organization at a lower level) in the early 1950s contains instructions in relation to the celebration of the 14th Dalai Lama’s birthday,which said that all the staff of Lower Tantric College would chant the sutra on the occasion,and “during the service,food will be offered to the hungry ghosts,for which a corpus of fresh intestines,two skulls,some mixed blood and a whole human skin are urgently needed.Please have these delivered without delay”.Among the three major stakeholders,the upper-ranking lamas were the biggest money-lenders,controlling 80 percent of all loans.

Since a large proportion of the population were not engaged in economic activity and reproduction,but were used as tools of oppression by the religious power,there was an acute shortage of social resources,and demographic growth had remained stagnant for a long period of time.According to“Tibet” from Annals of Military Events in Qing Dynasty written by Wei Yuan(1794-1851) in the mid-19th century,the Department of Minorities Affairs in 1737(the second year of Qing Emperor Qianlong’s reign) produced a report on the areas under the jurisdiction of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Erdeni,which found that there were more than 316,200 lamas in Tibet,from a regional population(excluding present-day Qamdo) of only 1.09 million.By the early 1950s,the local population still stood around 1 million,having seen hardly any increase in 200 years.

Using religion to maintain a tight control over society was a prominent feature of theocracy. Li Youyi,an official stationed in Lhasa by the Commission for Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs of the Nationalist Government,and a Tibetologist who worked in Tibet in the 1940s,lamented the fact in his essay “Tibet,the mysterious and the unmysterious”:“Why didn’t the serfs rise up and rebel against such cruel oppression and exploitation in Tibet?I asked them this question,and was shocked by their answer.They said,‘This is the result of karma’. They believed they had done evil in a previous life,and had to suffer in this life in order to wash away their previous sins and reincarnate into a better next life. This was what the lamas preached to them,and what they fi rmly believed.”In the words of Li Youyi,it was such thought control that made the serfs “willing to toil all their life to accumulate merits for the future,and when the aristocrats whipped them,they thought it was helping them wash away their sins”.

Charles Bell,a Briton who lived in Tibet,wrote in his book Portrait of a Dalai Lama:The Life and Times of the Great Thirteenth,“Does it not matter to you whether you are reborn as a human being or as a pig?The Dalai Lama can help to ensure that you will be reborn as a human being in a high position,or,better still,as a monk or nun in a country where Buddhism fl ourishes”.He fi rmly believed that the lamas had used spiritual terrorism to maintain their influence and to hold the power in their hands.

——Rigid hierarchy and trampling on human rights—the last fortress of feudal serfdom in the East

Feudal serfdom dominated Tibet until 1959. The French traveler Alexandra David Neel visited Tibet and its surrounding areas five times between 1916 and 1924.In 1953,she published Le vieux Tibet face a la Chine nouvelle,in which she described Tibet’s serfdom as follows:In Tibet,all the peasants spent their whole lives as debt-laden serfs,and hardly any one of them could be found to have paid off their debts...To survive,the serfs had to borrow money,grain and cattle,and pay high rates of interest. But their harvests were never enough to cover their swelling interest...They had no other option but to borrow again,borrow grains and seeds...So on and so forth,year in and year out,the cycle continued on and on.They would be burdened with debts until the day they died,debts which would be passed on to their sons.From the day they started to toil in the fi elds,the poor boys would be oppressed by these ancestral debts,of whose origins he knew nothing...The poor could do nothing but toil indefinitely on the barren land,deprived of all freedom as human beings,and becoming poorer with every year that passed.

Under the feudal serfdom,there was a rigid hierarchy.The 13-Article Code and the 16-Article Code,which had been practiced for centuries in Tibet,divided people into three classes and nine ranks,enshrining the rigid hierarchy in law.According to these documents,there were three classes by blood and position,each class was further divided into three ranks...As people were divided into different classes and ranks,the value of a life correspondingly differed...The bodies of people of the highest rank of the upper class were literally worth their weight in gold,while the lives of people of the lowest rank of the lower class were only worth a straw rope.

This backward social structure led to a chasm of wealth in old Tibet.By the late 1950s,the three major stakeholders and their agents,who made up less than 5 percent of the population,owned almost all of the land,pastures,forests,mountains,rivers and flood plains,and most of the livestock.Before Democratic Reform in 1959,there were 197 hereditary aristocratic families,including 25 major ones,the top seven or eight of whom each possessed dozens of manors and over 1,000 hectares of land.The family of the 14th Dalai Lama owned 27 manors,30 pastures,and over 6,000 serfs.The Dalai Lama alone had 160,000 taels(one tael = 30 grams) of gold,95 million taels of silver,over 20,000 pieces of jewelry and jade ware,and more than 10,000 pieces of silk clothing and rare furs. Meanwhile the serfs and slaves,who accounted for 95 percent of the population,had nothing and lived a miserable life with no human rights at all.As a Tibetan proverb goes,“Life given by parents,body controlled by officials.Though they have life and body,they are not masters of their own”.

——Closed,backward and isolated from modern civilization—bearing no resemblance to the“Shangri-la” fantasy

In the 1930s,British novelist James Hilton in his Lost Horizon depicted an earthly paradise,which he called “Shangri-la”.Since then,many have dreamed of searching for this fictional place,and some have even taken Tibet as the prototype.But “Shangri-la” was no more than a fantasy,and there was nothing at all in old Tibet that corresponded to the Utopian images of“Shangri-la”.

The backwardness of old Tibet can be seen from the following facts:Until its peaceful liberation in 1951,Tibet did not have a single school in the modern sense;its illiteracy rate was as high as 95 percent among the young and the middle-aged;there was no modern medical service,and praying to the Buddha for succor was the main resort for most people if they fell ill;their average life expectancy was 35.5 years;there was not a single standard highway,and all goods and mail had to be delivered by man and beast of burden;and the region’s single hydropower station,with a generating capacity of 125 kw,served only the 14th Dalai Lama and a few other privileged people.

Those who had visited Tibet in person,whether Chinese or foreign,were all struck by how backward the place was,and many of them have left factual records.Li Youyi recalled,after a field survey of a couple of months in Tibet in 1945,“What I saw on my 1,700-mile journey along the mid-lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo was a state of complete decay. Every day I would pass by a number of abandoned houses,and expanses of barren fields with no one tending to them.I saw more than 100 such ‘ghost towns’...I set out in the season of autumn harvest.At this time of the year,you would expect to see the joy of harvest on the faces of peasants,even in backward inland areas.But in rural Tibet in 1945,I saw no sign of any happy face.What I saw was the nobility and their rent collectors whipping and yelling at the serfs;what I heard was the weeping and moaning of their victims”.

In his 1905 book The Unveiling of Lhasa,Edmund Candler,the former British journalist in India working for Daily Mail,recorded details of the old Tibetan society:Lhasa was “squalid and fi lthy beyond description,undrained and unpaved.Not a single house looked clean or cared for.The streets after rain are nothing but pools of stagnant water frequented by pigs and dogs searching for refuse”.

In the memory of Dortar,who once served as director of the Radio and Television Department of Tibet Autonomous Region,“When I came to Lhasa in 1951,I was shocked at the shabby and poor conditions. With the exception of the Barkhor near the Jokhang Temple,there was hardly a decent street in town.No public facilities,no streetlights,no water supply and no drainage.What I often did see were the corpses of thosefrozen to death,in addition to beggars,prisoners and packs of dogs.To the west of the Jokhang was a colony of beggars,and there was another near the Romache. The beggars numbered as many as three to four thousand,or one-tenth of Lhasa’s total population”.

In a telegraph to the Gaxag(Tibetan name of the local government of Tibet) in 1950,Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme,then a local government Galoin(minister) and later vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China,reported on the conditions in Qamdo:“The people live in dire poverty in this time of turmoil.In some counties roasted barley is to be found in only seven or eight households,and all the rest have to rely on turnips.It is terribly bleak,with hordes of beggars.”

Extensive documentation confirms that the old system in Tibet was doomed by the mid-1950s.Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme recalled:“In the 1940s,I talked more than once with close friends about the crisis of the old society(system) in Tibet.Everyone believed that,if Tibet continued like this,the serfs would all die out in no time,and the nobles would fi nd no escape.Then the whole of Tibet would perish.”

By the 1950s,political and religious powers had been separated in most countries and regions throughout the world.But a backward system of theocracy was still practiced in Tibet,hindering the progress of Tibetan society and isolating the region from modern civilization.

Starting in the 19th century,a worldwide campaign to eliminate slavery had spread over many countries and regions.Britain,Russia and the United States were among them.In 1807,the British Parliament adopted an act that forbade British ships to engage in the slave trade.In 1861,the Russian tsar Alexander II formally approved a decree and announcement to eliminate slavery.The following year,US President Lincoln published his Emancipation Proclamation,and in 1865 the US Congress adopted the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution,formally marking the end of slavery.In 1948,the UN Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,which stipulates that no one shall be held in slavery or servitude;slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

However,in the mid-20th century,when serfdom had nearly disappeared throughout the world,the largest fortress of serfdom was still deep-rooted in China’s Tibet.This not only hindered China’s social progress,but also represented an affront to human civilization,conscience and dignity.

After the People’s Republic of China was founded and along with the progress in Chinese society,the old systems in Tibet were completely eradicated around the late 1950s and early 1960s.However,the 14th Dalai Lama and his followers have acted against this historical trend.Instead of acknowledging the ruthlessness and cruelty of theocratic rule,they pine for the old system and dream of resurrecting it in Tibet one day.Relevant statements can be found in their documents.

For instance,their Draft Democratic Constitution for Future Tibet,promulgated in 1963,stated,“Tibet shall be a unitary democratic State founded upon the principles laid down by the Lord Buddha”.The Charter of the Tibetans-in-Exile,adopted in 1991,stated,“The future Tibetan polity shall uphold the principle of non-violence and shall endeavor to promote the freedom of the individual and the welfare of the society through the dual system of government based on a Federal Democratic Republic”.The Guidelines for Future Tibet’s Polity and Basic Features of Its Constitution,promulgated in 1992,defined the nature of future Tibet’s polity as being “founded on spiritual values”.The Charter of the Tibetans-in-Exile,amended in 2011,stipulated that the future polity of Tibet would be “a combination of political and religious power”. (To be continued)