Tibetan village’s story: dark past and bright future

TWO hours driving southeast from Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, brings one to Khesum Village, situated among the mountainous landscape in the Yarlung River valley.

Small as the village is, with a population of just 700, Khesum was the starting point of sweeping democratic reform in 1959, which ended feudal serfdom under theocracy and began a new chapter for the plateau region in southwest China.

On June 6, 1959, 302 serfs in the village, clad in rags, elected the preparatory committee for the first association of peasants in Tibet. The day marked the beginning of community-level democracy in Tibet.

Serfs’ Emancipation Day is celebrated in Tibet on March 28. During the reform, more than a million people, or 90 percent of the region’s population at that time, were emancipated from the feudal serf system in 1959.

In Khesum, there are about 100 elderly villagers who lived through the reform period and all of them had been serfs. The dark pages of history have turned, but they should never be forgotten, they said.

Sonam Dondrup was a serf until the age of 16, and his memories have barely faded. “I got up before the sunrise to work in the fields. I could never be late. If I was late, I would be whipped,” he said.

“After the landowners ran away, no one had any idea what the future would bring. It was not until my family burnt the land contract and the debt papers that the idea of liberation finally sank in,” the now 75year-old said.

Sonam Dondrup now lives in peaceful retirement. Every morning, he takes his greatgrandson to kindergarten and then goes to the nearby Changzhu Monastery to pray.

Penpa Tsering, secretary of Communist Party of China of the village, said Khesum is one of the most developed villages under the jurisdiction of Changzhu Township in the city of Shannan.

It has 55 students attending the local kindergarten and school. Per capita annual income in 2017 was around 17,000 yuan (US$2,700). No one lives under the poverty line.

A barefooted man suffering from extreme starvation stole a plate of dog food. When the theft was discovered, the man received a whipping. This scene was everyday life in Khesum about 59 years ago. Now it only exists on stage.

In Shannan, actor Tsewang Lodro, 37, plays Trilai, the serf, in the one-hour play “The Tears of Serfs,” which was staged on Tuesday. “I’ve spent a lot of time rehearsing this month. It satisfies me that my acting makes the audience cry at the destruction and despair, and laugh at the ridiculous and funny,” Tsewang Lodro said.

Director Basang Tsering said writing the script for the play was easy. Almost every family had memories. “My job was to collect the stories and guide the actors and actresses to render them in an artistic form.”

The Yarlung River flows near the village, and nurtures fertile farmland. Khesum has about 93 hectares of land in the river valley and farming is highly mechanized. Penpa Tsering said they plan to expand corn fields to raise earnings for farmers. The village has built 89 vegetable greenhouses.

“Khesum will see new opportunities with the rural revitalization strategy. We will continue to protect the environment, while developing the local economy,” said Nima Tsering, CPC Secretary of Nedong District in Shannan.