Xinhua Headlines: Tibet - 60 years of democratic reform through a lense

About a week before this year's Serfs' Emancipation Day, which falls on March 28, Badro celebrated his 99th birthday with relatives and local officials at home in Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region.

The emancipated serf Badro eats birthday cake on his 99th birthday at his home in a village of Tohlung Dechen District in Lhasa, March 20, 2019. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

Sixty years ago, more than 1 million people, or 90 percent of the region's population at that time, were emancipated from the feudal serfdom.

Badro was 39 years old when the sweeping democratic reform ushered in a new chapter for the plateau region in southwest China. Before that, he had lived a miserable life, without dignity, freedom or even his own home.

"I was like the serf owner's farming mule during the day and house dog at night, sleeping in the cattle pen," he said.

Upper left file photo shows a slave being forced to work in chains because slave owners in old Tibet didn't want slaves to run away. Upper right photo taken by Chogo on Jan. 30, 2018 shows a deputy to the regional people's congress, who is also a descendant of serfs, casting her vote at the annual legislative sessions of the autonomous region in Lhasa.The lower part photo taken by Chogo on Oct. 2, 2010 shows senior citizens of the Tibetan ethnic group celebrating the 61st anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Left file photo shows the emancipated serf Pude whose eyes were gouged out by the barbaric serf owners. In old Tibet, serf owners held absolute power over the lives of serfs and slaves. The owners ensured their domination through savage punishments. The right part photo taken by Chogo on May 14, 2014 shows Sonam Dondrup after a cataract surgery at the People's Hospital in Lhasa.

Left file photo shows women and children begging for their lives on the street before the cruel serfdom system in Tibet was ended in 1959.The upper right part photo taken by Li Xin on March 16, 2019 shows women sowing in Khesum Village, Nedong of Shannan City.The lower right photo taken by Purbu Zhaxi on Jan 20, 2019 shows a model of the Tibetan ethnic group walking on Barkor Street of Lhasa.

No modern medical institution was available at the time. A serf could only wait for death to come from falling ill. People's average life span was only 35.5 years.

"I never expected to live long," he said.

Badro had eight siblings, six of whom were forced to leave their hometown to beg for a living.

Crop yields were extremely low before the democratic reform. The regional GDP was only 174 million yuan (25.9 million U.S. dollars) in 1959, with social wealth in the hands of no more than 5 percent of the population.

Left file photo shows a mother and her daughter in a slum in Lhasa before the democratic reform in Tibet in 1959. The upper right photo taken by Chogo on Feb. 5, 2018 shows girls of the Tibetan ethnic group playing on Barkor Street in Lhasa. The lower right photo taken by Jigme Dorje on Nov. 19, 2017 shows two sisters dressed in ethnic minority costumes playing in the field in a village of Puqu Township in Nyingchi.

Upper file photo shows an old man who suffered from hunger and illness begging on the street in Lhasa before the democratic reform in Tibet in 1959. The lower part photo taken by Purbu Zhaxi on Sept. 14, 2016 shows the elderly celebrating the Mid-autumn Festival at a senior center in Qonggyai County of Shannan City.

An ancient Tibetan ballad describes the miserable life of serfs at the time: "Stomach remained empty even if snow mountains turned into butter; mouth continued to be thirsty even if rivers turned into milk; bodies were not ours even though they were given by our parents."

Upper file photo shows a slum in Lhasa before the democratic reform in Tibet in 1959. Lower aerial photo taken by Purbu Zhaxi on Oct. 10, 2016 shows Sanyou Village in Dagar Township of Chushur County in Lhasa.

But the democratic reform that began 60 years ago changed everything.

Upper file photo taken by Ma Pengwan shows students, who were sons and daughters of serfs, playing in the fields in Nedong of Shannan after the democratic reform in Tibet in 1959. The lower part photo taken by Chogo on Nov. 10, 2017 shows the first group of PhD degree students graduating from Tibet University in Lhasa.

Upper file photo taken by Li Changyong in 1959 shows the emancipated serf Drolma holding her first own allocated calf in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The lower part photo taken by Jigme Dorje on March 20, 2019 shows Yeshe, a female Tibetan helicopter pilot in Damxung County in Lhasa.

Badro was granted land, housing and livestock that year, and he got married and had children. The family of five now live in a spacious and bright Tibetan house. Various insurances and subsidies amount to over 13,000 yuan a month.

Jampa sits in his car in Jedeshol Township, Gonggar County of Shannan City, Nov. 26, 2018. (Xinhua/Purbu Zhaxi)

The upper part photo taken by Chogo on March 16, 2019 shows a villager taking selfies in Menzhonggang Village of Nedong in Shannan City. The lower part photo taken by Purbu Zhaxi on Sept. 1, 2008 shows a herdswoman participating in a horse racing festival in Damxung County of Lhasa.

After 60 years of rapid development, the regional GDP soared to 147.8 billion yuan, an increase of 191 times calculated at comparable prices. Urban and rural per capita disposable incomes are 73 times and 105 times that in 1965, respectively. Crop yields in Tibet stabilized at over 1 million tonnes a year. Its total highway mileage stands at 97,400 km and is still expanding.

Photo taken on Sept. 28, 2018 shows the Zam Super Major Bridge across the Yarlung Zangbo River on the Lhasa-Nyingchi section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Purbu Zhaxi)

Photo taken on Sept. 5, 2018 shows a solar photovoltaic-powered residential area in Jangdam Township in Xigaze City. (Xinhua/Zhang Rufeng)

Photo taken on July 28, 2018 shows a Tibetan opera performance at Dzongyab Lukhang Park in Lhasa. (Xinhua/Purbu Zhaxi)

"I hope I can live even longer to see a more prosperous Tibet," the 99-year-old Tibetan said as his birthday wish.

Family and friends celebrate the 99th birthday of the emancipated serf Badro in his home in a village of Tohlung Dechen District in Lhasa, March 20, 2019. (Xinhua/Purbu Zhaxi)

Producer: Zheng Wei, Wang Jianhua;

Editor: Xue Dongmei, Hou Dongtao, Lin Fanjing, Lian Yi, Zhao Yusi;

Writer: Painba Cering, Purbu Zhaxi, Cao Bin