Chinese President Hu Jintao, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits an exhibition marking the 50th Anniversary of Democratic Reform in Tibet, at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing, capital of China, on March 27, 2009.(Xinhua Photo)

Wu Bangguo (front), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China, visits an exhibition marking the 50th Anniversary of Democratic Reform in Tibet, at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing, capital of China, on March 27, 2009. (Xinhua/Fan Rujun)

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (C), also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, visits an exhibition marking the 50th Anniversary of Democratic Reform in Tibet, at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing, capital of China, on March 27, 2009.

Jia Qinglin, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, visits an exhibition marking the 50th Anniversary of Democratic Reform in Tibet, at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing, capital of China, on March 17, 2009. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)
 

Li Changchun (C), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, visits an exhibition marking the 50th Anniversary of Democratic Reform in Tibet, at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing, capital of China, on March 17, 2009. (Xinhua/Fan Rujun)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (1st R), also a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, visits an exhibition marking the 50th Anniversary of Democratic Reform in Tibet, at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing, capital of China, on March 27, 2009. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)
 

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (R), also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, visits an exhibition marking the 50th Anniversary of Democratic Reform in Tibet, at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing, capital of China, on March 27, 2009. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

He Guoqiang (front), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, visits an exhibition marking the 50th Anniversary of Democratic Reform in Tibet, at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing, capital of China, on March 27, 2009. (Xinhua/Li Tao)
 

Zhou Yongkang (front), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Central Political Science and Law Commission (CPSLC) of the CPC, visits an exhibition marking the 50th Anniversary of Democratic Reform in Tibet, at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing, capital of China, on March 27, 2009. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

Chinese President Hu Jintao said on 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."

All the nine members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee visited the exhibition, including top legislator Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao, and top political advisor Jia Qinglin.

The exhibition, opened on Feb. 24, 2009, showcases archives, cultural relics, photos, videos, and restored landscapes that have recorded the great changes Tibet has gone through since 1959, when serfdom was abolished.

The exhibits show that Tibet has been a part of China since the Yuan Dynasty (1271 to 1368 A.D.). Also exhibited are scenes of surfs being exploited by their owners in the old times and how they were liberated 50 years ago.

The exhibition puts on videos recording the March 14th Riot in Lhasa last year and the major projects the Chinese government has sponsored in the plateau, such as the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the Tibet Gymnasium. It also includes photos about Tibetan people's lives today.

When visiting the exhibition, Hu stressed that, only by staying in the big family of the motherland under the leadership of the CPC, 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 ethnics.

Tibet should speed up economic development and further improve the living standards of people living there, especially the peasants and herdsmen, Hu said.

Hu also said that Tibet should move from being "basically stable" to "peaceful and stable in the long run."

The exhibition, co-organized by the State Council Information Office, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the Tibet Autonomous Region, has attracted about 137,000 visitors since its opening.