Democratic Reform in Tibet
—— Sixty Years On(Ⅳ)

IV. The People Have Become Masters of Their Own Affairs

Through democratic reform, feudal serfdom under theocracy in Tibet was abolished completely,bringing fundamental changes to the Tibetan social system. It was a historic leap. Due to democratic reform, about one million serfs were liberated. They gained personal freedom and became masters of the new society. The completion of the reform laid a solid foundation for the establishment of socialism in Tibet.

- One million serfs were liberated and gained personal freedom.

When feudal land ownership was abolished in democratic reform, serfs were no longer treated arbitrarily by serf owners as their private property,and the personal ownership of serfs by serf owners came to an end.

Tibet’s democratic reform destroyed the institutional shackles which infringed serfs’ rights to subsistence, marriage, migration, residence, work,personal freedom, human dignity, and education.Thanks to this reform, one million serfs gained true personal freedom. Anna Louise Strong, a renowned American journalist and activist, included the remarks by a serf interviewee in her book When Serfs Stood up in Tibet: “Always I wanted to send my son to school to learn to read and to have some trade like a tailor. This was impossible, but now my son has gone to study in the interior and when he comes back he will be a skilled worker for a factory. He will not be weighed down by all those things that weighed down my head.”

Through democratic reform, all feudal privileges of monasteries were annulled. Monks and nuns gained equal rights and the right to be the masters of their own destiny. Many of those who were at the bottom of the hierarchy broke free of their religious bondage and resumed secular life. In Ganden Monastery alone, more than 300 monks demanded to return home or resume secular life in the surrounding areas of the monastery. The local government granted them the fare for their journey home and a settlement allowance. It also found jobs for 13 young monks who asked for employment at the Lhasa Department Store Company, and sent some child monks to school.As to the 312 monks who wanted to stay at the monastery, the local government made arrangements to ensure their daily life. In democratic reform, the system by which monasteries assigned monk and nun quotas to counties, manors and tribes was abolished.Monasteries were prohibited from coercing people to become monks or nuns.

- People’s governments were established at various levels for the people to exercise their rights.

On March 28, 1959, the State Council announced that the government of Tibet was dissolved. The Qamdo People’s Liberation Committee and the Panchen Kampus Assembly were also abolished, thus ending the coexistence of political powers of different nature. Under the leadership of the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region, people’s governments were gradually set up at various levels. In mid-July, 1959,the first township-level peasants’ association, known as the Peasants’ Association of Khesum Village, and the first county-level peasants’ association, known as the Peasants’ Association of Nedong County,were established. Former serfs were elected as chairs or members of the associations, leading the people to conduct democratic reform. By the end of 1960,Tibet had established 1,009 organs of state power at township level, 283 at district level, 78 at county level and eight at prefecture (city) level. The number of officials from Tibetan and other minority ethnic groups totaled over 10,000. More than 4,400 liberated serfs became officials at community level. In the second half of 1961, a general election was held all over Tibet. For the first time, the former serfs were no longer regarded as “speaking tools”, and emerged on the political stage as the masters of the new Tibet.

Now enjoying the broadest possible democratic rights endowed by the Constitution and other laws that they had never had in the pre-liberation society, former serfs engaged in elections with great enthusiasm, and elected organs and governments at various levels. For the first time in the history of Tibet, local governments at various levels were elected in a democratic way through people’s exercise of their right to vote and to stand for election. By July 1965, general elections had been basically completed. Among the 2,600-plus deputies elected to the people’s congresses, 2,200 were former impoverished serfs. In Gyantse County,voters called their electoral certificates “masters’certificates”. They saw elections as joyous events and actively participated in the elections of deputies to the people’s congresses.

On August 25, 1965, the bill to establish the Tibet Autonomous Region, tabled by the State Council, was approved at the 15th Session of the Standing Committee of the Third National People’s Congress. From September 1 to 9, 1965, the First Session of the First People’s Congress of Tibet was held. At this session, the Tibet Autonomous Region was established, and the People’s Committee of the autonomous region came into being by election.Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme was elected chairman of the Committee. A large number of liberated serfs held leading posts in organs of political power at various levels of the Region. The establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region and the organs of self-government of the Region realized the historic leap from theocratic feudal serfdom to people’s democratic socialism, and signified that Tibet had set up a people’s democratic government and begun to exercise thorough-going regional ethnic autonomy.In 1979, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region was elected at the Second Session of the Third People’s Congress of the Region.

According to the Constitution and the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy of the People’s Republic of China, people of all ethnic groups in Tibet fully enjoy the right to vote and to stand for election.Since 1978, Tibet has held 11 elections of deputies to the people’s congresses at township level, 10 at county level, and eight at the level of municipalities having subordinate districts. The people in Tibet can directly elect, in accordance with the law, deputies to the people’s congresses at county (district) and township (town) levels, and these elected deputies will then elect deputies to the people’s congresses at the autonomous regional and national levels. Through the people’s congresses at various levels, the people of Tibet exercise their right to participation in the administration of state and local affairs.

Currently, there are 35,963 deputies to the people’s congresses at all levels in Tibet. Among them, deputies from the Tibetan and other minority ethnic groups account for 92.18 percent. Upholding the organic unity of Party leadership, the running of the country by the people, and law-based governance,the People’s Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region and its Standing Committee guarantee and develop the rights of the people of all ethnic groups to be their own masters through legislative and institutional channels, ensure that the people of all ethnic groups enjoy broad rights and freedom, and expand citizens’ orderly political participation. They provide support for the deputies to the people’s congresses to perform their duties in accordance with the law. Maintaining close ties with the deputies and the people, they take responsibility for the people and accept their oversight. They work to safeguard the fundamental interests of the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet and promote well-rounded human development.

Since the establishment of the autonomous region in 1965, the People’s Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region and its Standing Committee have enacted or approved more than 300 local regulations, resolutions, and decisions of a regulatory nature. In so doing, they have fulfilled the rights of autonomy of the localities enjoying regional ethnic autonomy. Now, work in various respects in Tibet has been law-based, and great progress has been made in promoting rule of law in the Region.On January 19, 2009, the Second Session of the Ninth Regional People’s Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region voted and adopted the Decision of the People’s Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region to Establish the Commemoration Day for the Liberation of One Million Serfs in Tibet. According to the decision, March 28 was designated as the day to commemorate the event.

- The rights of the people of all ethnic groups to participate in the deliberation and administration of state affairs have been fully guaranteed.

To fully ensure that people from all walks of life have the right to participate in the deliberation and administration of state affairs, the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) was established in December 1959. According to the Charter of the CPPCC, the CPPCC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee performs the duties of political consultation, democratic supervision, and participation in the deliberation and administration of state affairs, and plays an important role in democratic reform, socialist construction, and reform and opening up in Tibet. Focusing on formulating the 13th Five-year Plan of the Region, accelerating the construction of key projects, developing industries with local characteristics and strengths,and developing non-public economic sectors, the 10th CPPCC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee alone made 2,401 proposals, among which 2,347 were accepted for deliberation. At the sessions of the CPPCC committees at all levels in Tibet, people of all social strata have broad participation and play their role to the full extent. For instance, among the 518 members of the 11th CPPCC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee, 80 - the highest number -are representatives of religious groups (Buddhist associations), and 64 are from ethnic minority groups, the second-highest number.

Community-level democracy is developing and improving. After democratic reform, people’s governments at all levels were established in Tibet. In 1980, direct elections were held at township level all over Tibet, and they were expanded to county level starting from 1984. In 1987, the Tibet Autonomous Region issued the Decision on Strengthening the Development of Community-level Power Organs and the Decision on Strengthening Communitylevel Party Organizations in Farming and Pastoral Areas. Through years of experimentation, Tibet has gradually developed and formed community-level democratic systems in farming and pastoral areas. In rural areas, the system of villagers’ representative meetings has been established. In urban communities,community residents’ congresses and community committees have been set up, providing a solid organizational guarantee for the self-governance of urban residents. In enterprises and public institutions,the system of employees’ congresses is widely practiced. As of the end of 2018, there were 5,756 community-level workers’ unions, having 497,082 members.

Through democratic reform, people from all walks of life in Tibet have gained the right to participate in the administration of state affairs. In July 1959, there were 565 members of the upper class working in the executive organs of the government at district and prefectural levels. Among them, 415 were aristocrats, officials of former government, or religious figures. In the People’s Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, a former serf owner and a former serf were successively elected to the post of vice chair. They were Kyibuk Phuntsog-Tseten and Lhagpa Phuntshogs. Both of them were born at the Kyibuk Manor prior to the liberation, and they became colleagues participating in decision making in the people’s government of the autonomous region. Through democratic reform, women were empowered with political rights. They took an active part in political affairs by participating in elections of the people’s congresses of various levels, serving as leading officials at various levels, and establishing women’s organizations. Pasang, a former vice president of the All-China Women’s Federation,and Tseten Dolma, a former vice president of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, are outstanding representatives of women participating in the management of public affairs. Thangme Konchog-Palmo, a former vice chairwoman of the CPPCC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee, was born into an aristocratic family in Lhasa. She made the following comments: “Under the feudal serfdom of the old society, even the wives of the kalons of the local government had no political rights, which were enjoyed exclusively by men. After the peaceful liberation of Tibet, men and women became equal.Women are empowered with rights. This was a huge change.” (To be continued)