- 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 filthy 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 those frozen 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 find 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."
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