On Top of the World

60 Years of Transformation in Tibet

—60 Years of Transformation in Tibet

“Today, as we plainly describe the effort to ‘overthrow the system of feudal serfdom’ in Tibet, most don’t realize the people underwent a radical emancipation of the mind.”

Tibetan native Wande Khar has worked for China Tibetology Research Center (CTRC) for decades. He was born and grew up in Hezuo City in Gansu Province’s Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. In the late 1970s, Tibetan language education had just been officially introduced to local schools. After graduating from high school, Khar became a teacher in a local primary school. A year later when the gaokao (national college entrance examination) resumed in China, he enrolled in Northwest Minzu University. In 1988, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree. By that time, CTRC had been established for only two years. Khar ventured to Beijing to join the research center which eventually became China’s most prestigious institution for Tibetological studies.

A few years ago, Khar was approached by an elderly European woman while attending an academic exchange event in France. She showed him a 1984 photo of Xigaze in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region and asked whether the area remained as poor and underdeveloped as decades ago. “I suggested she visit Xigaze again and take another photo for comparison,” he recalls. “In the eyes of many Westerners, Tibetans were a very vulnerable group, and based on inadequate sensory experience and nd imagination, they seem to think Tibet stopped pped developing.”

However, after six decades of modernization and transformation, Tibet has indeed eed achieved self-sufficiency in grain production ion and supply, developed modern industry from om scratch, and enjoyed convenient transportaation facilities, with all low-income farmers s and herders covered by the social security system. Increasing numbers of Tibetans educated elsewhere are returning home to support local development. Moreover, Tibet bet is known as one of the regions with the best environmental quality in the world and nd

remains a world-renowned tourist destination featuring distinct, abundant religious and cultural heritage.

From the peaceful liberation of Tibet in the early 1950s to the launch of Tibet’s democratic reform in 1959 and the establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965, Tibet has kept in step with the country’s epoch-making changes. Alongside the great liberalization and development of its productive forces, the autonomous region has accumulated abundant social wealth and transformed the traditional mindsets of locals.

The photo shows Tibetans reading a newspaper. After the peaceful liberation of Tibet, modern education took root in the region with a rising number of formal schools as well as increasing night schools, seasonal winter schools and newspaper reading groups. by He Shiyao/ China Pictorial

The photo shows workers constructing the 2,400-kilometer Sichuan-tibet Highway, along a cliff on the Nujiang River. Built in the 1950s, the Qinghai-tibet Highway and the Sichuan-tibet Highway ended the prolonged isolation of Tibet, substantially cutting travel time between Tibet and other parts of China. Fotoe

In many scholars’ view, the most prominent force driving Tibet’s development has been the transformation of the social system. The shift from serfdom to a socialist system brought radical changes to productivity and production relations in the region. Given ownership of land and livestock, Tibetan farmers became highly motivated. This 1959 photo shows ordinary Tibetans who were given houses, land, livestock and production tools. by Chen Zonglie/cfb

Four scholars from China Tibetology Research Center participate in a group interview with China Pictorial . From left to right, they are Tsering Yangdzom, Wande Khar, Li Jian and Yang Tao. by Chen Jian/ China Pictorial

August 2007: Wande Khar (second right) takes a photo with herders from nearby Gegyai County at the foot of Mount Kailash in Ngari, Tibet. The herders came to circle the mountain as a pilgrimage. courtesy of Wande Khar

Since the democratic reform of Tibet, the region has built a sound educational system with Tibetan features and ethnic characteristics, offering pre-school, primary, middle and high schools as well as vocational, adult training and higher education. This 1960 photo shows Sonam Chodron, whose parents were serfs, in class at a local school. by He Shiyao/ China Pictorial

The photo shows Tibetan textile workers in 1960. Abundant in wool and cashmere, Tibet has developed a long-standing textile industry. by He Shiyao/ China Pictorial