Editor's note: March 28 marks the 65th anniversary of Tibet's democratic reform, which liberated more than 1 million people from serfdom and slavery, and started Tibet's modernization process. Li Decheng, deputy director-general of China Tibetology Research Center, shares his views on the significance of the democratic reform with China Daily's Zhu Ping. Excerpts follow:

Q1: Why is the democratic reform in Tibet a bigger milestone in the history of human rights than the abolitionist movement in the United States?

A1: Before the democratic reform, Tibet was a decadent, backward and dark feudal serfdom, far from being any kind of paradise. Under the feudal serfdom, the religious-political administration was led by feudal lords. The social structure consisted of two major classes: the serfs and the serf-owners. The serf-owner class primarily comprised government officials, nobles and the upper clergy, accounting for about 5 percent of the total Tibetan population. They owned all of Tibet's land including pastures, and the majority of livestock.

Serfs, who accounted for 90 percent of the population, and slaves, who comprised 5 percent, had limited or no freedom and were firmly tied to the land, serving their feudal lords for generations. Additionally, they were forced to perform backbreaking labor and shoulder heavy tax burdens. They also suffered due to usury and exploitation by the upper class.

In the feudal serfdom in old Tibet, serfs and slaves led a miserable life. The slave-owners exercised arbitrary powers over them, including the use of the "13-Article Codes" and the"16-Article Codes", which divided people into three classes and nine levels. The life of people who belonged to the highest class had the highest value for their lives, equivalent to gold, while the life of the lowest class had very little value, equivalent to a rope made of grass. This unequal and oppressive class system made old Tibet a treacherous place, not a paradise. It was the darkest, most decadent and backward society, even more brutal than medieval Europe.

That's why the democratic reform in Tibet, which liberated Tibetans, was a more progressive movement than the abolitionist movement in the United States, though the historical and social conditions of the two movements were different.

After the American Revolution, the Southern and Northern states had two different social systems: the South mainly had a feudal system with slave-owners and a plantation economy, while the North had a capitalist economy under a capitalist system. The North required a huge number of workers to fuel the "industrial revolution", while the South bought and sold slaves and used slave labor for agricultural production. That resulting contradiction between the North and the South led to the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, and Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and eventually the victory of the North in 1865, leading to the abolition of slavery.

However, after the abolition of slavery, the freed individuals who became wage laborers were subjected to exploitation and oppression by the Northern bourgeoisie. They did not gain true liberation like the former Tibetan serfs did following the democratic reform. The serfs in Tibet not only got personal freedom and enjoyed equal rights but also received land and livestock, and access to pastures and other means of livelihoods, becoming the masters of their destiny and country.

Post-emancipation US did not guarantee equal rights for the former slaves either, with racial segregation and discriminatory policies remaining a persistent issue in American society. The former slaves in the South, despite being eligible for employment, faced racial discrimination and violence — a situation totally different from Tibet where equal rights were granted to the former serfs and slaves following the democratic reform.

Q2: Why did the democratic reform kickstart the modernization process of Tibet?

A2: In the 1950s, Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, the then vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said that if the feudal serfdom was retained, the serfs would soon perish, leading to the demise of Tibetan society. Therefore, he concluded, the democratic reform should not only liberate the huge serf population and unleash social productivity but also save Tibetan society.

Without the democratic reform, which granted the serfs and slaves personal freedom and made them masters of their own destiny and country, Tibet would not have entered a stage of benign development or transformed into a socialist society. From this standpoint, the democratic reform in Tibet did lay a solid political and social foundation for Tibet's rejuvenation and socialist modernization.

Tibet's economic development in the past was at a very low-level. Historically, Tibet's economy was undeveloped, lacking in scale and growing at an extremely slow pace. However, after the democratic reform and the liberation of productive forces, the former serfs used their labor and enthusiasm to build contemporary Xizang (the Xizang autonomous region was founded in 1965). Consequently, agriculture, industry and various social undertakings in Xizang experienced rapid development.

In terms of education, under the old Tibetan feudal serfdom, there were hardly any modern schools. However, after the launch of the democratic reform, modern schools were built, and they provided education from the kindergarten and primary to the middle, high school and even the university level. Xizang today provides universal education, with nearly 100 percent enrollment rate for the children of the vast population of farmers and herdsmen. This historical leap was not possible under the old Tibetan feudal serfdom, in which only a few nobles had access to a certain level of education, as there were no modern schools.

So rapid has been the pace of Tibet's development that in the two decades before 2017, Xizang's GDP and social development grew in double digits, consistently ranking the highest in the country.

Additionally, in terms of public health, under the feudal serfdom, the average life expectancy in Tibet was only about 35.5 years. But following the democratic reform and Tibet's transition to a socialist society, the health and living standards of the people have continuously improved. At present, life expectancy in Xizang is as high as 72.19 years.

Q3: Some Western politicians and media claim the democratic reform has undermined religious freedom in Xizang. What's your response to this claim?

A3: This is not reality. Before the democratic reform, the Tibetan people did not have religious freedom. First, in terms of faith, whether to believe in a particular religion or sect should be the voluntary choice of an individual. However, under the feudal serfdom, there was no freedom of choice. Monasteries would force some people to become monks or nuns, with different monasteries having different rules. For instance, in some Tibetan monasteries, it was stipulated that if a family had three sons, at least one, or even two, of them had to become a monk.

Moreover, before the democratic reform, more than 90 percent of the people in the Tibetan monasteries were impoverished monks and nuns. Only a small minority, roughly 3 percent, belonged to the upper echelons of the monasteries who enjoyed certain religious and feudal privileges, and oppressed and exploited the impoverished monks and serfs. There were even prisons in the monasteries, where the "disobedient" monks and serfs were thrown in and treated cruelly. Therefore, the upper echelons of the monasteries, the monastic feudal lords, and the vast impoverished monks and nuns were not equals, which goes against the basic tenet of all religions.

After the democratic reform, Xizang implemented a policy that ensured religious freedom, and allowed the people to choose which religion or sect they wanted to follow. The believers could freely practice their religion and choose where to study the scriptures, and the monks achieved equality. Unlike in the past, the vast number of monks and nuns were equals and could freely study the scripture of their choice and engage in religious activities. They were no longer forced to perform menial tasks.

There has been a change in the management of monasteries, too. In the past, the upper echelons of the monasteries, essentially the feudal lords, controlled the monasteries. After the democratic reform, a democratic management system was introduced, granting the impoverished monks and nuns the right to manage the monasteries. Under the feudal serfdom, there was no religious freedom. Only through democratic reform of the religious system have the Tibetan people achieved true religious freedom.

Q4: How can modernization better protect Tibetan traditional culture?

A4: Chinese modernization represents the comprehensive progress of society, and encompasses not only economic and social advancement but also the development and advancement