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Foreword
China is a united
multi-ethnic country. The Han-Chinese population makes up more than 90
percent of the total population. The populations of the other 55 ethnic
groups, including the Tibetan people, are relatively small, and such
ethnic groups are customarily called ethnic minorities.
In order to protect the equal and autonomous rights
of ethnic minorities, the Chinese Government, in view of the reality that
ethnic-minority people live together over vast areas while some live in
individual concentrated communities in small areas, regards exercise of
regional ethnic autonomy in areas where ethnic minorities live in compact
communities as a basic policy for solving the ethnic issue and a
fundamental political system for implementation of the people's democracy.
Regional ethnic autonomy means, under the unified leadership of the state,
regional autonomy is exercised and organs of self-government are
established in areas where various ethnic minorities live in compact
communities, so that the people of ethnic minorities are their own masters
exercising the right of self-government to administer local affairs and
the internal affairs of their own ethnic groups.
The Tibet Autonomous Region is one of the five
autonomous areas in China at the provincial level where regional ethnic
autonomy is exercised, as well as an ethnic autonomous area with Tibetans
as the main local inhabitants. In the Tibet Autonomous Region there are a
dozen other ethnic groups besides the Tibetans — Han, Hui, Moinba, Lhoba,
Naxi, Nu, Drung and others. They have lived in the region for generations,
and Moinba, Lhoba and Naxi ethnic townships have been established there.
Since regional ethnic autonomy was implemented in
1965 in Tibet, the Tibetan people, in the capacity of masters of the
nation and under the leadership of the Central Government, have actively
participated in administration of the state and local affairs, fully
exercised the rights of self-government bestowed by the Constitution and
law, engaged in Tibet's modernization drive, enabled Tibetan society to
develop by leaps and bounds, profoundly changed the old situation of
poverty and backwardness in Tibet, and greatly enhanced the level of their
own material, cultural and political life.
To recall the four glorious decades of regional
ethnic autonomy in Tibet, and to give an overview of the Tibetan people's
dramatic endeavors to exercise their rights as their own masters and
create a better life under regional ethnic autonomy is beneficial not only
to summing up experiences and creating a new situation for regional ethnic
autonomy in Tibet, but also to clarifying rights and wrongs, and
increasing understanding of China's ethnic policy and the truth about
Tibet among the international community.
I. The Establishment and Development
of Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet
Tibet, situated
on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is one of the border areas where ethnic
minorities live in compact communities. In view of the then transport and
communications conditions and realities of Tibet and other border areas
where ethnic minorities live, Chinese central governments throughout
history have adopted administrative methods different from those exercised
in the heartland of the country. After Tibet became part of the territory
of China in the 13th century, the central governments of the Yuan, Ming
and Qing dynasties and the Republic of China, while assuming the
responsibility of approving the local administrative organs, and deciding
and directly handling important affairs concerning Tibet, maintained, by
and large, the region's original local social setup and ruling body,
widely appointed upper-strata ecclesiastic and secular members to manage
local affairs, and gave the Tibetan local government and officials
extensive decision-making power. This played a historically positive role
in safeguarding the unification of the country, but as the feudal
autocratic rulers in various periods exercised an ethnic policy marked by
ethnic discrimination and oppression, keeping the original social system
and maintaining the power of the local ruling class for their
administration of Tibet, they did not solve, nor could they possibly
solve, the issue of ethnic equality and that of enabling the local people
to become masters of their own affairs.
Even in the first half of the 20th century, Tibet
remained a society of feudal serfdom under theocracy, one even darker and
more backward than medieval Europe. The ecclesiastical and secular serf
owners, though accounting for less than five percent of the population of
Tibet, controlled the personal freedom of the serfs and slaves who made up
more than 95 percent of the population of Tibet, as well as the
overwhelming part of the means of production. By resorting to the rigidly
stratified"13-Article Code" and"16-Article Code," and extremely savage
punishments, including gouging out eyes, cutting off ears, tongues, hands
and feet, pulling out tendons, throwing people into rivers or off cliffs,
they practiced cruel economic exploitation, political oppression and
mental control of the serfs and slaves. The right to subsistence of the
broad masses of serfs and slaves was not protected, let alone political
rights.
After the Opium War of 1840, China was reduced to a
semi-colonial, semi-feudal country. Tibet, like other parts of China,
suffered from the aggression of imperialist powers, which grabbed all
kinds of special privileges by means of unequal treaties, subjected Tibet
to colonial control and exploitation, and, at the same time, groomed
separatists among the upper ruling strata of Tibet, in an attempt to sever
Tibet from China. Therefore, the removal of the fetters of imperialism and
feudal serfdom became a historically paramount task for safeguarding the
unification of the country and realizing the development of Tibet.
The founding of the People's Republic of China in
1949 ended the dark history of the semi-colonial, semi-feudal China,
realized unification of the country, unity of ethnic groups and people's
democracy, and brought hope to the Tibetan people that they could control
their own destiny in the large family of the motherland. It was expressly
stipulated in the Common Program of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which had the status of the provisional
Constitution, that "All ethnic groups within the territory of the People's
Republic of China are equal, unity and mutual assistance shall be
practiced, discrimination against and oppression of ethnic groups, and
acts undermining the unity of the ethnic groups shall be prohibited; the
people of all ethnic minorities shall have the freedom to use and develop
their own spoken and written languages, and to preserve or reform their
own ways and customs and religious beliefs; and regional ethnic autonomy
shall be practiced in areas where ethnic minorities live in compact
communities." In the first Constitution of the People's Republic of China,
promulgated in 1954, the principles of equality, unity and mutual
assistance among all ethnic groups, and the system of regional ethnic
autonomy were officially included in the fundamental law of the state.
Proceeding from the fundamental interests of the Tibetan people, the
Central People's Government has profoundly changed the destiny of Tibet
and realized and developed the rights of the Tibetan people as masters of
their own affairs through great strategic decisions and measures such as
peaceful liberation of Tibet, promotion of democratic reforms,
establishment of the autonomous region, carrying out socialist
construction, reform and opening-up.
— Peaceful liberation laid the foundation for
regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet.
On May 23, 1951, the "Agreement of
the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet on
Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" (“17-Article Agreement" for
short) was signed, and Tibet was peacefully liberated. The peaceful
liberation put an end to imperialist aggression against Tibet, enabled the
Tibetan people to shake off political and economic fetters, safeguarded
the unification of state sovereignty and territorial integrity, realized
equality and unity between the Tibetan ethnic group and all other ethnic
groups throughout the country as well as the internal unity of Tibet, and
laid the foundation for regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet.
The "17-Article Agreement" provides that" According
to the ethnic policy in the Common Program of the CPPCC, under the unified
leadership of the Central People's Government, the Tibetan people shall
have the right to exercise regional ethnic autonomy." According to the
provisions of the"17-Article Agreement," the Preparatory Group of the
Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region was established in
November 1954, and began preparations for the establishment of the
Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region. In March 1955, the
State Council held a special meeting to deliberate and adopt the "Decision
of the State Council on Establishment of the Preparatory Committee for the
Tibet Autonomous Region," which expressly stipulates that "The Preparatory
Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region shall be responsible for
preparatory work for the establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and
an organ with the nature of a political power and accountable to the State
Council, its principal task being to prepare for the exercise of regional
ethnic autonomy in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, the
'17-Article Agreement' and the actual situation of Tibet." In April 1956,
the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region was established
in Lhasa, with the 14th Dalai Lama as the chairman, the 10th Panchen Lama
the first vice-chairman and Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme the secretary-general.
The establishment of the Preparatory Committee enabled Tibet to have a
consultative work organ with the nature of a political power, and
vigorously promoted the realization of regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet.
— The Democratic Reform cleared the way for
regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet.
When Tibet was peacefully liberated,
in consideration of the reality of Tibet, the"17-Article Agreement," while
confirming the necessity for reform of the Tibetan social system, provided
that "The Central Government will not use coercion to implement such a
reform, and it is to be carried out by the Tibetan local government on its
own; when the people demand reform, the matter should be settled by way of
consultation with the leading personnel of Tibet." But in face of the
ever-growing demand of the people for democratic reform, some people in
the upper ruling strata of Tibet, in order to preserve feudal serfdom, and
supported by imperialist forces, staged an armed rebellion all along the
line on March 10, 1959, in an attempt to separate Tibet from China. On
March 28 of the same year, the State Council announced the dismissal of
the original local government of Tibet, and empowered the Preparatory
Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region to exercise the functions and
powers of the local government of Tibet, with the 10th Panchen Lama as its
acting chairman. The Central People's Government and the Preparatory
Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region led the Tibetan people in
quickly quelling the rebellion, implemented the Democratic Reform,
overthrew the feudal serfdom under theocracy, and abolished the feudal
hierarchic system, the relations of personal dependence, and all savage
punishments. As a result, a million serfs and slaves were emancipated, and
became masters of the country as well as of the region of Tibet, acquired
the citizens' rights and freedom specified in the Constitution and law,
and swept away the obstacles, in respect of social system, to the exercise
of regional ethnic autonomy.
— The establishment of the Tibet Autonomous
Region marked the full implementation of the regional ethnic autonomy in
Tibet.
After the Democratic Reform, the Tibetan people enjoyed all the
political rights enjoyed by people of all other ethnic groups throughout
China. In 1961, a general election, the first of its kind in Tibetan
history, was held all over Tibet. For the first time, the former serfs and
slaves were able to enjoy democratic rights as their own masters, and
participated in the election of organs of state power at all levels in the
region. In September 1965, the First Session of the First People's
Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region was convened, at which the organ
of self-government of the Tibet Autonomous Region and its leaders were
elected, and the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region was officially
proclaimed. Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme was elected chairman of the People's
Council of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Many emancipated serfs took up
leading posts in state organs at various levels in the region. The
establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region marked the establishment of
the people's democratic power in Tibet and the commencement of exercise of
regional ethnic autonomy in an all-round way. From then on, the Tibetan
people were entitled to enjoy the right to administer their own affairs in
the region and, together with the people throughout the country, embarked
on a road of socialist development.
— The reform and opening-up has opened a vast
horizon for the Tibetan people to fully exercise the right of regional
ethnic autonomy.
After China adopted the policy of reform and opening
to the outside world, Deng Xiaoping said expressly that the key to the
exercise of regional ethnic autonomy lay with development of the
ethnic-minority areas. In Tibet, he pointed out, "The important things to
consider are how the Tibetan people will benefit from their presence and
what is will take to stimulate rapid development in the region and bring
it into the forefront of the drive for modernization." (Selected Works of
Deng Xiaoping, English Edition, Vol. III, pp. 242-243, Foreign Languages
Press, Beijing) This affirmed the guiding principle for an all-round
exercise of regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet in the new era.
In 1984, the state promulgated and implemented the
"Law of the People's Republic of China on Regional Ethnic Autonomy,"
making regional ethnic autonomy a basic political system of the state,
setting out comprehensive provisions regarding the rights of
self-government of the ethnic autonomous areas in political, economic,
cultural and other spheres, and their relations with the Central
Government. It has thus provided a powerful legal safeguard for the full
exercise by the Tibetan people of the right of self-government. From 1984
to 2001, in light of the reality of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the
Central Government convened four Forums on Work in Tibet; set the guiding
principles, major tasks and development plans for work in Tibet timely in
the new era; made the important decision to devote special attention to
Tibet and get all the other parts of China to aid Tibet; formulated a
number of special favorable policies and measures for speeding up the
development of Tibet; formed a mechanism for all-round aid for the
modernization of Tibet, by which the state would directly invest in
construction projects in the region, the Central Government would provide
financial subsidies, and the other parts of the country would provide
counterpart aid. All this powerfully propelled economic development and
social progress in Tibet, greatly enhanced the living standards of the
Tibetan people, and guaranteed the realization of equality and the right
of self-government of the Tibetan people.
II. The Tibetan People Enjoy Full
Political Right of Autonomy
The Tibetan people enjoy, according to law, the equal
right of participation in the administration of state affairs as well as
the right of self-government to manage affairs of their own region and
ethnic group.
The Tibetan people enjoy the democratic right to be
masters according to law. The Chinese Constitution provides that all
citizens of China who have reached the age of 18 have the right to vote
and stand for election, regardless of ethnic status, race, sex,
occupation, family background, religious belief, education, or length of
residence. Since the establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the
Tibetan people have actively exercised the right to vote and stand for
election bestowed by the Constitution and law, participated in the
election of deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) as well as
the people's congresses at all levels in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and
participated, through deputies to the people's congresses, in
administration of state and local affairs. In 2002, when re-election at
the regional, prefectural (city), county and township (town) levels took
place in Tibet, 93.09 percent of electors in the autonomous region turned
out to directly take part in the election at the county level. In certain
places, the participation rate of local electors reached 100 percent.
Among the elected people's deputies, the proportion of deputies of the
Tibetan and other minority ethnic groups was more than 80 percent at both
regional and city (prefectural) levels, and more than 90 percent at both
county and township (town) levels.
The Tibetan and other ethnic-minority cadres make
up the bulk of the cadres of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and fully
exercise their right as the masters of society. The Constitution
stipulates that among the chairman and vice-chairmen of the standing
committee of the people's congress of an ethnic autonomous area there
shall be one or more citizens of the ethnic group or ethnic groups
exercising regional autonomy in the area concerned; the chairman of an
autonomous region, the prefect of an autonomous prefecture or the head of
an autonomous county shall be a citizen of the ethnic group exercising
regional autonomy in the area concerned. Since the establishment of the
Tibet Autonomous Region, six terms (including the current one) of the
Standing Committee of the Regional People's Congress and seven terms
(including the current one) of the Regional People's Government have had
Tibetans as the chairman. Since the establishment of the Tibet Committee
of the CPPCC in 1959, five terms of the Regional Committee of the CPPCC
have had Tibetans as the chairman. According to statistics, at present, of
the chairman and vice-chairmen of the Standing Committee of the People's
Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibetans and people of other
ethnic minorities make up 87.5 percent; of the members of the Standing
Committee of the Regional People's Congress, 69.23 percent; of the
chairman and vice-chairmen of the Tibet Autonomous Region, 57 percent; and
of the Standing Committee members and members of the CPPCC Tibet
Committee, 90.42 percent and 89.4 percent, respectively. Of the
functionaries of the state organs at the regional, prefectural (city) and
county levels, Tibetans and citizens of other ethnic minorities make up
77.97 percent; of the people's courts and people's procuratorates at the
regional, prefectural (city) and county levels, they make up 69.82 percent
and 82.25 percent, respectively.
In addition, a number of Tibetan and other
ethnic-minority citizens in Tibet directly participate in the
administration of state affairs, and some serve in leading positions in
state organs at the central level. Of the deputies to the National
People's Congress, 19 are from Tibet, of whom, 12 are Tibetans. In the
Standing Committee of the NPC of all previous terms, Tibetans such as the
14th Dalai Lama, the 10th Panchen Lama, Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Pagbalha
Geleg Namgyai, and Raidi once served, or are serving, as vice-chairmen. At
present, 29 Tibetans and persons of other ethnic-minority groups from
Tibet serve as members of the CPPCC National Committee or members of its
Standing Committee. Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme and Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai serve
as vice-chairmen of the CPPCC National Committee.
The local organ of self-government in Tibet fully
exercises the power of autonomy bestowed by the Constitution and law.
According to the provisions of the Constitution, the organ of
self-government of the Tibet Autonomous Region exercises the functions and
powers of the local organ of state at the provincial level according to
law as well as the power of autonomy according to law; and implements the
laws and policies of the state in light of the existing local situation.
The People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region has the power to
enact local regulations enjoyed by an ordinary administrative region at
the provincial level and the power to enact regulations on the exercise of
autonomy as well as separate regulations in light of the political,
economic and cultural characteristics of the ethnic group or ethnic groups
in the region. According to statistics, since 1965, the People's Congress
of the Tibet Autonomous Region and its Standing Committee have enacted 220
local or separate regulations, covering political, economic, cultural,
educational and other aspects, including the "Regulations of the Tibet
Autonomous Region on the Protection and Management of Cultural Relics,"
"Regulations of the Tibet Autonomous Region on Environmental Protection,"
"Regulations of the Tibet Autonomous Region on the Administration of
Mountain Climbing in Tibet by Foreigners," "Regulations of the Tibet
Autonomous Region on Correspondence and Visitation," "Resolutions on the
Study, Use and Development of the Tibetan Language in the Tibet Autonomous
Region," "Resolutions on Safeguarding Unification of the Motherland,
Strengthening Ethnic Unity and Combating Separatist Activities," and
"Decision on Severely Cracking Down on Illegal Imposition of 'Compensatory
Damages for Lost Lives.'" The enactment and implementation of these local
regulations have provided an important legal safeguard for protecting the
special rights and interests of the Tibetan people and promoting the
development of various undertakings in Tibet.
According
to the "Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy," if a resolution, decision, order
or directive of a state organ at the higher level is not suitable for the
actual situation of the region, the Tibet Autonomous Region has the right
to flexibly implement or not to implement such a resolution, decision,
order or directive of the state organ at the higher level, upon approval
by the higher authorities. For instance, the organ of self-government in
Tibet has designated the Tibetan New Year, the Shoton (Yogurt) Festival
and other traditional Tibetan festivals as official holidays in the
region, apart from the official national holidays. In addition, out of
consideration for the special natural and geographical factors of Tibet,
the Tibet Autonomous Region has fixed the work week at 35 hours, five
hours fewer than the national statutory work week. Besides, subject to
authorization, the legislative body of the Tibet Autonomous Region may
also enact and implement flexible regulations and supplementary provisions
with regard to relevant state laws based on the actual local situation.
For instance, in 1981, in consideration of the historical customs and
other actual conditions in marriage of the ethnic minorities in Tibet, the
Standing Committee of the People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region
adopted the "Accommodation Rules for the Implementation of the Marriage
Law of the People's Republic of China," which lowers by two years the
statutory marriage ages for men and women provided in the "Marriage Law,"
and stipulates that polyandrous and polygamous marriages formed before the
promulgation of the "Accommodation Rules" shall be valid if none of the
persons involved takes initiative to terminate the marriage. The
implementation of the state laws and policies in a flexible manner as
prescribed by law has effectively protected the special interests of the
Tibetan people.
III. The Tibetan People Have Full
Decision-making Power in Economic and Social
Development
The key to regional ethnic
autonomy is to speed up social and economic development in ethnic
autonomous areas and guarantee minority people's equal rights to
development. Over the past 40 years, the Tibet Autonomous Region, under
the correct direction and wholehearted support of the state, has fully
exercised the decision-making right guaranteed to it by law in economic
and social development, and formulated a series of policies and measures
suitable for the actual situation in Tibet. This has greatly promoted the
modernization drive in Tibet and improved its people's living
standards.
According to the Constitution and the "Law on Regional Ethnic
Autonomy," the Tibet Autonomous Region has the power, within the framework
of the Constitution and law, to adopt special policies and flexible
measures according to the local conditions to speed up its economic and
cultural development; under the direction of the state plan and in
accordance with its local features and needs, to map out its principles,
policies and plans for economic development, and decide and manage
independently its economic and social development undertakings; to
administer, protect and be the first to utilize its natural resources; to
administer its own finances and independently arrange the use of its
fiscal revenue; to independently develop its educational and cultural
undertakings and manage its educational, scientific, cultural, health and
physical education undertakings; and to enjoy the state's preferential
policies in the aspects of finance, banking and taxation. In the past 40
years, the Tibet Autonomous Region has fully exercised autonomy in
economic and social development in accordance with the law, and formulated
and implemented 10 Five-Year Plans for Economic and Social Development in
light of Tibet's reality. With the leapfrogging of stages of development
as the target of economic and social development and the improvement of
the infrastructure and the people's living standard as the key, it has
independently arranged its economic and social development projects, and
has thus guaranteed the rapid and healthy progress of Tibet's
modernization drive and the development of Tibet's society and economy in
line with the basic interests of the Tibetan people.
In accordance with Tibet's special features and needs, the state has
spared no effort to help promote Tibet's economic and social development.
The ordinary people in Tibet are the direct beneficiaries of all these
support, aid and policies. Considering present-day Tibet being born from
the backward feudal serfdom, its weak economic and social foundation and
its high altitude, for many years the state has given Tibet special
support and help in terms of finance, banking and taxation, as well as
materials, technologies and personnel according to the stipulations in the
Constitution and the "Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy." Since the early
1980s, the Central Government has convened four Forums on Work in Tibet
according to the needs and requirements of the Region, and worked out a
series of special preferential policies and measures concerning the major
problems in Tibet's economic and social development. For instance, since
1984 the policies of "long-term household land use and independent
management" and "long-term private ownership of livestock and independent
management" have been adopted in the agricultural and pastoral areas of
Tibet, which have greatly raised farmers' and herdsmen's enthusiasm for
production, and brought about sustained improvement in both production and
the people's living conditions in the agricultural and pastoral areas.
Another example is that Tibet is the only place in China to enjoy a
preferential taxation policy at a rate three percentage points lower than
in any other part of China, and where farmers and herdsmen are exempt from
taxes and administrative charges. In banking, Tibet has all along enjoyed
a preferential interest rate on loans two percentage points lower than in
any other place in China, as well as a low rate on insurance premiums.
Also, farmers and herdsmen receive free medical care, and their children
go to school with board and lodging free of charge.
Meanwhile, the state gives special support for Tibet's development in
terms of capital, technology and personnel. From 1984 to 1994, a total of
43 projects were undertaken, with a total investment of 480 million yuan
from the state and nine provinces and municipalities. Between 1994 and
2001, the Central Government again financed 62 projects, involving an
additional 4.86 billion yuan in direct investment; and 716 projects have
been financed and constructed with free aid from 15 provinces and central
ministries and commissions, involving a total investment of 3.16 billion
yuan. At the Fourth Forum on Work in Tibet, held by the central
authorities in 2001, it was decided to further strengthen the support for
Tibet's development by investing 31.2 billion yuan in 117 projects during
the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005) with funds from the Central
Government, coupled with 37.9 billion yuan in financial subsidy.
Meanwhile, Tibet will receive aid from other regions throughout the
country in the construction of 71 projects, involving a total investment
of 1.062 billion yuan. According to statistics, in close to 40 years since
the Tibet Autonomous Region was founded, of Tibet's 87.586 billion yuan of
financial expenditure, 94.9 percent came from Central Government
subsidies. In the last decade, well over 2,000 cadres at various levels
have been selected and sent to help with work in Tibet, together with
10.166 billion yuan in financial help in the form of capital and materials
(not including the capital involved in the 117 Central Government's aid
projects in the same period). The support from the Central Government and
other parts of the country has greatly improved the production and living
conditions in Tibet and promoted its economic and social development.
In the last four decades, Tibet has progressed by leaps and bounds in
the system, structure and total volume of its economy, ending the closed,
manorial-system-based natural economy for good and moving forward to a
modern market economy. From 1965 to 2003, the GNP of Tibet increased from
327 million yuan to 18.459 billion yuan, and the GDP per capita rose from
241 yuan to 6,874 yuan. A modern industrial system comprising more than 20
categories and with distinctive Tibetan characteristics has come into
existence from nothing. Burgeoning industries and trades such as modern
commerce, tourism, posts and telecommunications, catering services,
entertainment and IT that used to be unheard of in Tibet, are now
developing with great momentum. There was no highway in Tibet in the old
days, but today a road transportation network has taken shape with
national highways and 14 provincial highways as the trunk lines, with more
than 41,300 kilometers open to traffic. Construction of the Qinghai-Tibet
Railway began in 2001; when it is completed and opened to traffic in 2007,
the days when Tibet is not accessible by rail will go beyond recall. In
2003, Tibet received 928,600 visits of tourists from both home and abroad,
and the total income from tourism made up 5.6 percent of the GDP in Tibet.
By the end of 2003, there were 22 telephones for every 100 people in
Tibet, with the total number of fixed and mobile phone users reaching
601,700.
The modernization drive has been developing in harmony with the
protection of the environment. Tibet adheres to the strategy of
comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development, integrating
environmental protection with modernization efforts by planning and
developing them simultaneously, and forming an efficient supervision and
control system for environmental protection and pollution control.
Attention has been given to ecological improvement, and 18 state- and
provincial-level nature reserves have been built, covering 33.9 percent of
the region's total land area, effectively protecting Tibet's fragile
plateau ecology and the living environment in the urban and rural areas.
At present, the ecology in Tibet basically maintains its pristine state,
and it is the place where the environment is best protected in China.
The people's material and cultural wellbeings have improved by a large
margin. Now, most of the farmers and herdsmen in Tibet have basically
solved the food and clothing problem, and some people are now fairly well
off. The old Tibet had no school of the modern type, and the attendance
rate of school-age children was less than two percent, with 95 percent of
young and middle-aged people being illiterate. By the end of 2003, Tibet
had 1,011 schools of various types and levels and 2,020 teaching centers,
with a total of 453,400 students, the enrolment proportion of primary
schools rising to 91.8 percent and the illiteracy rate dropping to less
than 30 percent. Since 1985, the Central Government has established
Tibetan classes/schools in 21 provinces and municipalities, training up to
10,000 college and secondary technical school graduates.
Medical and health-care conditions have improved markedly. Now, there
are 1,305 medical and health institutions in Tibet, with 6,216 beds and
8,287 medical personnel, the number of beds and medical personnel per
1,000 people being higher than the national average. The people are now
much better assured of their health than before. Infant mortality rate has
dropped from 43 percent before 1959 to 3.1 percent, and the average life
span of the Tibetan people has increased from 35.5 years to the present 67
years. Tibet's population has grown from 1.1409 million before 1951 to the
present 2.7017 million, of whom the number of Tibetans rose from 1.2087
million in 1964 to 2.5072 million in 2003, making up over 92 percent of
the region's population.
IV. The Tibetan People Have
the Freedom to Inherit and Develop Their Traditional Culture and to
Practice Their Religious Belief
Over the past
40 years, the Tibet Autonomous Region has fully exercised the right to
autonomy guaranteed to it by the Constitution and the "Law on Regional
Ethnic Autonomy," administered and developed local cultural undertakings
on their own, protected and sifted the Tibetan cultural heritage,
developed and promoted Tibetan culture, and protected Tibetan people's
freedom of inheriting and developing their traditional culture and
practicing their religious belief.
Tibetan language is widely studied, used and promoted. The regional
government promulgated and implemented the "Stipulations of the Tibet
Autonomous Region on the Learning, Use and Promotion of the Tibetan Spoken
and Written Language (Interim)" and its "Rules of Implementation" in 1987
and 1988, respectively, and revised the first as the "Stipulations of the
Tibet Autonomous Region on the Learning, Use and Promotion of the Tibetan
Spoken and Written Language" in 2002. These stipulations and rules make
clear that equal attention be given to Tibetan and Han-Chinese languages
in the Tibet Autonomous Region, with the Tibetan language as the major
one, thus putting the work of using and promoting Tibetan spoken and
written language on a legal basis.
Both Tibetan and Chinese languages are used in all schools in Tibet,
with the Tibetan as the major one, and the textbooks and teaching
reference books from primary to high school have been edited, translated
into and published in Tibetan language. All the resolutions and
regulations of the people's congresses at various levels in Tibet, and
formal documents and public announcements of the governments at all levels
and all governmental departments in the Tibet Autonomous Region are
printed in both Tibetan and Chinese languages. In judicial lawsuits,
Tibetan language is used when Tibetans are involved and in the writing of
legal documents. The official seals, certificates, forms, envelopes,
letter paper, standardized writing paper and emblems of all units, and the
signs and logos of all government agencies, factories, mines, schools, bus
and train stations, airports, shops, hotels, restaurants, theaters,
tourist destinations, stadiums and libraries, and all the road and traffic
signs and street names are all written in both Tibetan and Chinese
languages.
At present, both radio and TV stations in Tibet have special
Tibetan-language channels. There are 14 magazines and 10 newspapers
published in Tibetan in the autonomous region. The Tibetan edition of the
Tibet Daily is published every day, using advanced Tibetan-language
computer editing and typesetting systems. In recent years, more than 100
titles of books have been published in Tibetan every year, with a
circulation of several hundred thousand. The standardization of
specialized terms and information technology in Tibetan has made great
progress. The encoded Tibetan language has reached the state as well as
international standard, making Tibetan the first ethnic-minority language
in China to have attained international standardization.
The fine aspects of traditional Tibetan culture are being carried on,
protected and promoted. Specialized institutions for salvaging, editing
and researching Tibetan cultural heritage have been established by
governments at all levels in the region. These institutions have
collected, edited and published the Records of Chinese Dramas "Tibetan
Volume," Collection of Chinese Folk Ballads "Tibetan Volume," and other
collections of folk dances, proverbs, quyi ballads, folk songs and folk
tales, effectively salvaging and protecting the excellent parts of
traditional Tibetan culture. Life of King Gesar has been called the "king
of world epics," as it is the longest of its kind in the world. The
Tibetan people created it, and it has been transmitted orally for
centuries. A special institution was founded in 1979 by the regional
government to carry out all-round salvaging and editing of Life of King
Gesar. The state has put it on the list of major scientific research
projects, and organized the relevant research and publication work. After
some 20 years of effort, more than 3,000 audio tapes have been recorded,
almost 300 hand-copied and block-printed editions of the epic have been
collected, and 62 volumes of the epic in Tibetan have been edited and
published, with a distribution of more than three million copies.
Meanwhile, over 20 volumes of its Chinese edition have been published so
far, and some of them have been translated into and published in English,
Japanese and French.
Since the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region, a number of
regulations on the protection of cultural relics have been promulgated and
implemented. Altogether, some 300 million yuan has been used to renovate
and open over 1,400 monasteries and to give timely repair to a large group
of cultural relics. From 1989 to 1994 especially, the Central People's
Government allocated 55 million yuan and a large quantity of gold and
silver for the first-phase maintenance project of the Potala Palace. From
2001, the state has also earmarked 330 million yuan for the second-phase
maintenance project of the Potala Palace and the maintenance of the two
other great cultural sites of Norbulingka and Sakya Monastery.
Traditional Tibetan customs and habits are respected and protected.
Tibetans and all the other minority ethnic groups in China enjoy the right
and freedom to keep their traditional lifestyles and to engage in social
activities according to their own customs and habits. While maintaining
their traditional styles of costume, diet, and housing, they have also
absorbed some modern and new healthy customs in clothing, food, housing
and transportation as well as weddings and funerals. Traditional festivals
such as the Tibetan New Year, Sakadawa (Anniversary of Buddha's Birth,
Enlightenment and Death) Festival, Ongkor (Bumper Harvest) Festival, and
Shoton (Yogurt) Festival, and many religious celebrations in monasteries
are observed, while accepting different kinds of national and
international festivals that have been introduced in recent years.
Tibetans fully enjoy the freedom of religious belief. Most of the
people of the Tibetan, Moinba, Lhoba and Naxi ethnic groups believe in
Tibetan Buddhism, while others believe in Islam and Catholicism. At
present, there are over 1,700 venues for Tibetan Buddhist activities, with
some 46,000 resident monks and nuns; four mosques and about 3,000 Muslims;
and one Catholic church and over 700 believers in the region. Religious
activities of various kinds are held normally, with people's religious
needs fully satisfied and their freedom of religious belief fully
respected.
The transmission lineage system of reincarnation of a great lama after
his death is unique to Tibetan Buddhism, and this has been respected by
the state and governments at all levels in Tibet. In 1992, the State
Bureau of Religious Affairs of the State Council approved the succession
of the Living Buddha of the 17th Karmapa. In 1995, according to religious
rituals and historical conventions, the Tibet Autonomous Region completed
the whole process of the search for and confirmation of the reincarnation
of the 10th Panchen Lama through drawing lots from a gold urn and the
honoring and enthronement of the 11th Panchen Lama, and reported it to the
State Council for approval. Since Tibet's Democratic Reform, altogether 30
Living Buddhas have been approved by the state and the government of the
Tibet Autonomous Region. Tibetan clergy has also carried out a reform of
the sutra learning system among the monks, which has greatly stimulated
sutra-learning enthusiasm among the monks, and played a positive role in
inheriting and developing Buddhist doctrines.
The stupendous work of collecting, editing, publishing and researching
religious classics has progressed continuously. Sutras and Buddhist
classics preserved in the Potala Palace, Norbulingka and Sakya Monastery
have been well protected. Ancient documents and books, such as the
Catalogue of the Classics in the Potala Palace, Snowland Library, The
Origins of Religions in Tewu, etc., have been rescued, edited and
published. Since 1990, the Chinese Tripitaka: Tengyur (collated edition)
and the General Catalogue of the Tibetan Tripitaka in the Tibetan and
Chinese Languages have been published. Of the Tripitaka, 1,490 sections of
the Tengyur have been published, in addition to offprints of Tibetan
Buddhist classics of rituals, biographies and treatises for monasteries to
satisfy the needs of monks, nuns and lay followers. The Chinese Buddhist
Association Tibet Branch publishes its Tibetan Buddhism journal in the
Tibetan language. It also runs a Tibetan Buddhist college and a
Tibetan-language sutra printery. The state has also set up the China
Tibetan-Language Senior Buddhist College in Beijing specially to foster
senior personnel of Tibetan Buddhism.
V. Regional Ethnic Autonomy
Is the Fundamental Guarantee for Tibetan People as Masters of Their Own
Affairs
It should be recognized that regional
ethnic autonomy has only been instituted in Tibet for a short time, and it
needs to be improved and developed in the course of implementation. Since
Tibet had very little to start with in terms of social development, and
because of its high-altitude oxygen deficiency and other harsh natural
conditions, the level of modernization in Tibet still lags far behind the
coastal areas in southeast China. Tibet remains thus far an underdeveloped
area in China. However, the basic fact is that in the nearly 40 years
since Tibet adopted regional ethnic autonomy, it has turned from an
extremely backward feudal serfdom into a modern socialist people's
democracy, and during this process it has recorded rapid economic growth
and all-round social progress and steadily narrowed the gap between it and
other regions of China. As a member of the big family of the Chinese
nation, Tibetans have won the right to jointly manage state affairs on an
equal footing with other ethnic groups, and the right to autonomy as
arbiters of their own destiny and masters of their own affairs. They have
become the creators and beneficiaries of the material and cultural wealth
of Tibetan society. The ethnic characteristics and traditional culture of
Tibet are not only fully respected and protected, but also publicized and
carried forward. Their contents are also being enriched along with the
progress of modernization to make it more representative of the times. It
is undeniable that the development and changes Tibet has undergone are
visible to everyone and have attracted worldwide attention.
Historical facts indicate that the institution of regional
ethnic autonomy in Tibet was the natural result of social progress in
Tibet, and that it accords with the fundamental interests of the Tibetan
people and the inexorable law of development of human
society.
To advance from a feudal, autocratic medieval society to a modern,
democratic society is the inevitable law of development of human society
from ignorance and backwardness to civilization and progress. It is the
irresistible historical trend of modernization of all the countries and
regions in modern times. As late as the first half of the 20th century,
Tibet was still a feudal serfdom under theocracy. This, plus the policy of
ethnic oppression practiced by domestic reactionary ruling classes over
long years in various historical periods as well as invasion and
instigation by modern imperialist forces, reduced Tibetan society as a
whole to constant unrest. But, after the founding of the People's Republic
of China, the Central Government brought peaceful liberation to Tibet, and
instituted the Democratic Reform and regional ethnic autonomy there,
completing the task of the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal national
democratic revolution. As a result, Tibet broke away from the control of
imperialism, leapfrogged several forms of society, and entered socialist
society. Tibet saw the completion of the greatest and most profound social
transformation in its history, and in its social development achieved a
historic leap never before seen. This is in line with the law of
development of human society and the progressive trend of the times. It
also reflects the requirements of social progress in Tibet and the
fundamental wish of the Tibetan people.
To institute regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet is the natural
requirement for safeguarding national unification and national solidarity,
and for the equal development and common prosperity of the Tibetan people
and people of other ethnic groups in China.
Over the long course of
historical development, the Tibetan people together with people of other
ethnic groups in China have created a unified, multi-national country, and
formed the big family of the Chinese nation, in which all the ethnic
groups share weal and woe, and are inseparable from each other. As an
integral part of Chinese territory, Tibet has for centuries gone through
thick and thin together with the motherland for common development. In
modern times, China was reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal
society; Chinese territory, including Tibet, was subject to invasion and
devastation by the big powers of the West, and China was confronted with
the deplorable fate of being carved up and dismembered. After the founding
of the People's Republic of China, under the unified leadership of the
state and with generous support from other ethnic groups, the Tibetan
people, through peaceful liberation and Democratic Reform, have come into
their own and instituted regional ethnic autonomy. They have displayed
unprecedented initiative, zeal and creativity, and brought Tibet onto the
track of development in step with the other parts of the country.
Historical facts indicate that without the unification and prosperity of
the country and without the unity and mutual aid of different ethnic
groups in China, there would have been no new lease of life and no rapid
development for Tibet. By the same token, without the prosperity and
development of Tibet, the complete modernization of China and the great
rejuvenation of the Chinese nation cannot be achieved. The institution of
regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet has integrated the unification of state
sovereignty, the role of the people as masters of the country and the
local autonomy of Tibet as an organic whole. This has provided a powerful
guarantee for the Tibetan people to realize equal development and common
prosperity together with other ethnic groups in China.
The institution of regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet is the logical
outcome of the Tibetan people's adherence to development along the road of
Chinese-style socialism under the leadership of the Communist Party of
China, and also the basic institutional guarantee for Tibetans to be true
masters of their own affairs.
Regional ethnic autonomy is a basic
policy of the Communist Party of China for solving ethnic problems. It
embodies the essential requirement of Chinese-style socialism for
equality, unity, mutual aid and common prosperity among all ethnic groups.
It is a basic political system whereby the state guarantees that ethnic
minorities are masters of their own affairs. Practice has proved that this
system is commensurate with China's national conditions and the reality of
the Tibet region, and is therefore full of vitality. Over the past 40
years, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the
institution of regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet has effectively
guaranteed the equal rights of the Tibetans in the big family of the
Chinese nation and their right to autonomy in Tibet. The Tibetan people
are entitled, without any discrimination, to the same equal rights as
enjoyed by people of other ethnic groups in China in political, economic,
cultural and social fields. They also enjoy the right of self-government
to manage all affairs concerning their own region and ethnic group, as
well as the right to special help and protection from the state, as
prescribed by law. It can well be said that the regional ethnic autonomy
instituted in Tibet not only comprehensively embodies the principles of
equality, freedom from discrimination and special protection as stipulated
in the United Nations' "Declaration of the Rights of People Who Are
Minorities in Terms of Nationality, Race, Religion or Language" and other
international documents on the protection of rights of minorities, but
also fully embodies the advantages of Chinese-style socialism. Practice
has proved that only by adhering to the leadership of the Communist Party,
the socialist road and the system of regional ethnic autonomy can it be
possible to truly make the Tibetan people masters of their own affairs and
guarantee them this status. Only then can it be possible to safeguard and
develop the fundamental interests of the Tibetan people, and guarantee the
long-term stability and rapid development of Tibet.
It is thought-provoking that the Dalai clique, disregarding the fact
that the Tibetan people have become masters of their own affairs and
enjoyed full democratic rights and extensive economic, social and cultural
rights, has constantly attacked Tibet's regional ethnic autonomy, in the
international arena, as being "devoid of essential contents," and proposed
the institution of "one country, two systems" and "a high degree of
autonomy" in Tibet, after the model of Hong Kong and Macao. This argument
is totally untenable. The regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet the Dalai
clique attacks is the very regional ethnic autonomy for Tibet which the
14th Dalai supported and for whose preparation he was involved in. While
preparing for the establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the
Central Government conducted full consultation with the Dalai and Panchen
and other members of the upper strata in Tibet. In 1956, the Preparatory
Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region was established, with the Dalai
as the chairman. In his opening speech at the inaugural meeting, he said,
"The establishment of the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous
Region indicates that the work in the Tibet region has entered upon a
brand-new stage." In his report at the inaugural meeting he again declared
that "The establishment of the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet
Autonomous Region is not only timely but also necessary" and that "we
wholeheartedly support the policies of regional ethnic autonomy, ethnic
equality and unity and protection for the freedom of religious belief
implemented by the Communist Party of China and the Central People's
Government." The Dalai's attack against the regional ethnic autonomy in
Tibet runs counter not only to the reality of present-day Tibet but also
to the words he once uttered in all seriousness.
The situation in Tibet is entirely different from that in Hong Kong and
Macao. The Hong Kong and Macao issue was a product of imperialist
aggression against China; it was an issue of China's resumption of
exercise of its sovereignty. Since ancient times Tibet has been an
inseparable part of Chinese territory, where the Central Government has
always exercised effective sovereign jurisdiction over the region. So the
issue of resuming exercise of sovereignty does not exist. With the
peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, Tibet had fundamentally extricated
itself from the fetters of imperialism. Later, through the Democratic
Reform, the abolition of the feudal serfdom under theocracy and the
establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the socialist system has
been steadily consolidated there and the various rights of the people have
been truly realized and constantly developed. So the possibility of
implementing another social system does not exist either. Regional ethnic
autonomy is a basic political system of China, which, together with the
National People's Congress system and the system of multi-party
cooperation and political consultation led by the Communist Party of
China, forms the basic framework of China's political system. The
establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region and the scope of its area are
based on the provisions of the Constitution, and the law(s) on regional
ethnic autonomy and decided by the conditions past and present. Any act
aimed at undermining and changing the regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet is
in violation of the Constitution and law, and it is unacceptable to the
entire Chinese people, including the broad masses of the Tibetan people.
It must be pointed out that the local government of Tibet headed by the
Dalai representing feudal serfdom under theocracy has long since been
replaced by the democratic administration established by the Tibetan
people themselves. The destiny and future of Tibet can no longer be
decided by the Dalai Lama and his clique. Rather, it can only be decided
by the whole Chinese nation, including the Tibetan people. This is an
objective political fact in Tibet that cannot be denied or shaken. The
Central Government's policy as regards the Dalai Lama is consistent and
clear. It is hoped that the Dalai Lama will look reality in the face, make
a correct judgment of the situation, truly relinquish his stand for "Tibet
independence," and do something beneficial to the progress of China and
the region of Tibet in his remaining years.
Information Office of the State
Council
of the People's Republic of China
May 2004,
Beijing
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