BEIJING, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Some foreign media on Saturday reported activities marking Tibet's first Serfs Emancipation Day, and some gave coverage on the great changes that have taken place since the Democratic Reform in the autonomous region 50 years ago.

    The legislature of China's Tibet Autonomous Region designated March 28 as the annual Serfs Emancipation Day to mark the emancipation of about 1 million serfs in Tibet 50 years ago.

    Some media said the serfs' emancipation has brought about great changes in Tibetans' life.

A Tibetan man smiles prior to the celebration ceremony to mark the first Serfs Emancipation Day in front of Potala Palace in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, on March 28, 2009. (Xinhua/Purbu Zhaxi) Photo Gallery>>>

    In a story, the Associate Press quoted 69-year-old Tsondre, who was born into a serf's family in Lhasa, as saying that "Nowadays we have roads, we have televisions and telephones, children go to school, and we have savings in the banks, which is all made possible by the Communist Party."

    It also said that "Chinese rule has brought economic development, higher living standards and infrastructure to the remote Himalayan plateau where people traditionally eked out a living by farming and herding."

    The website of the British paper The Times said in a story on the emancipation day that "It is an unsubtle message that Beijing rule has brought a prosperity and freedom unknown previously."

Tibetan herders from Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region attend the celebration ceremony to mark the first Serfs Emancipation Day in front of Potala Palace in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 28, 2009. (Xinhua/Soinam Norbu) Photo Gallery>>>

    "Mr Pelma, 61, lives in the village of Kesong, near Lhasa. It was the first place where Beijing introduced reforms eradicating serfdom. Living in a neat house with photos of Chairman Mao and Deng Xiaoping, there is little doubt that 30 years of economic reform have brought him a measure of prosperity."

    "A neighbor remembered that dissolution of the serf system meant that he could have his first taste of rich yak butter tea," it said.

    The story noted that "Historians agree that most Tibetans lived in some form of servitude" in old Tibet. It also quoted Melvyn Goldstein, a U.S. expert on Tibet, as saying that "(old) Tibet was characterized by a form of institutionalized inequality that can be called pervasive serfdom."

    The Hindu, one of India's major English newspapers, said in an editorial that "History shows that resistance to anti-feudal reform was deeply entrenched in his (the Dalai Lama) ancient regime -- fusing the causes of separatism and the preservation of feudal serfdom and theocracy."

Famous artist of Tibetan ethnic group Cedain Zhoema sings a song at a gala to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the emancipation of Tibetan serfs in Beijing, China, March 28, 2009.(Xinhua/Fan Rujun) Photo Gallery>>>

    Massive historical documents and material, and the accounts of several western adventurers, scholars, and journalists who visited old Tibet, testify to the historicity of the existence, right up to 1959, of a system of medieval feudal serfdom that, in its rapacity, cruelty, theocratic absolutism, and long-lastingness, had no parallel in modern times, said the editorial written by the newspaper's chief editor Narasimhan Ram.

    Ram said the establishment of the annual celebration is conducive to "telling the right from wrong in history," helping "the world better understand a real Tibet in progress" and revealing "the laws governing the social development of Tibet."

    Ming Pao of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong Daily News said China held high-key celebrations of the first Serfs Emancipation Day, adding President Hu Jintao and other top Chinese leaders visited an exhibition in Beijing marking the 50th Anniversary of Democratic Reform in Tibet.

    When visiting the exhibition, Hu stressed that, only by staying in the big family of the motherland under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, can the economy and society of Tibet develop by leaps and bounds, and the people of Tibet be the owner of the country together with other Chinese ethnic groups, the newspapers said.

    The newspapers also quoted Tibet's Communist Party chief Zhang Qingli as saying that any conspiracy attempting to separate the region from China is doomed to fail, and China's national flag, the five-star red flag, will fly high in Tibet forever.

Celebration for Serfs Emancipation Day held in Tibet

    LHASA, March 28 (Xinhua) -- A grand celebration to mark Tibet's first Serfs Emancipation Day was held Saturday morning at the square in front of the Potala Palace in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

    The meeting was presided over in both Tibetan and Mandarin by Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the regional government of Tibet, who was dressed in a traditional Tibetan robe. It was attended by about 13,280 people.

On Serfs Emancipation Day, celebration, recollection, and wishes from across China

    LHASA/BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The first Serfs Emancipation Day was celebrated across Tibet Autonomous Region on Saturday, while people from elsewhere in China expressed their wishes to the Tibetans.

    In Lhasa, readers of the broadsheet Tibet Daily and Tibet Economic Daily found that Saturday's edition of both newspapers became thicker--special issues were published to introduce the changes since democratic reform in 1959.

Beijing hosts gala to celebrate emancipation of serfs in Tibet

    BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- A gala was held Saturday in Beijing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the emancipation of Tibetan serfs. Top political advisor Jia Qinglin and other senior officials watched the performances.

    The gala, held in the studio hall of the official CCTV, are mainly songs and dances performed by Tibetan artists expressing their joys and gratitude over the liberation of Tibetan serfs in 1959.
Chinese president praises Tibet development, hails democratic reform

    BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao said here Friday that the "good situation" in today's Tibet was "hard-earned and should be highly cherished."

    Hu said during his visit to an exhibition marking the 50th Anniversary of Democratic Reform in Tibet, at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing, that the reform 50 years ago was "the most extensive, profound and progressive social transformation in the history of Tibet."

Emancipation of Tibetan serfs hailed as human rights progress

    BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The emancipation of one million serfs in Tibet 50 years ago is a historic movement that deserves to be celebrated and remembered by 1.3 billion Chinese, a signed article in People's Daily has said.

    This was because the movement to free Tibetans from the cruel and dark rule of feudal serfdom had forever changed human rights situation in Tibet, which should also be hailed worldwide, said the article, published Thursday under the byline Ren Zhongping.