The archive office of the Tibet Autonomous Region has revealed several historical files in the Tibetan language recently, involving contracts and photos of serfs, which depict their miserable lives and the dark times of the old Tibet.

All the following photos are provided by the Tibet Autonomous Region Archives.

Photo taken in1958 shows an old man with his disabled child begging on the street.[Photo/Xinhua]

Tibet, located in southwest China, has been an inalienable part of China since ancient times.

Before the Democratic Reform of 1959, Tibet had long been a feudal society with a despotic temporal and religious administration.

Photo taken in 1959 shows Pude, a serf, describing the process of exoculation.[Photo/Xinhua]

It was a society that was darker and crueler than the European serfdom of the Middle Ages. The People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, and in 1951 Tibet won peaceful liberation.

In old Tibet, a serf is chained with shackles by serf owners,to prevent escape.[Photo/Xinhua]

The Central Government was prudent with regard to the reform of the social system of old Tibet and adopted a tolerant attitude toward the local government of Tibet. With great patience and sincerity, the Central Government did its best to talk to the upper ruling class in Tibet and waited for it to reform the old system of its own accord.

 
The upper left photo shows a corvee carrying his owners on hisback, working like an animal. The upper right photo shows a serf living in the livestock barn. The bottom photo shows a serf sleeping with a dog.[Photo/Xinhua]

However, the reactionary clique of the upper social strata of Tibet tried to preserve the feudal serfdom, and in March 1959 launched an armed rebellion with the aim of tearing Tibet away from the motherland.

Photo shows a serf who hadhis right hand cut by his owners in the old Tibet.[Photo/Xinhua]

The Central Government, with the support of the people in Tibet, dissolved the local government of Tibet and resolutely suppressed the armed rebellion. At this same time the Central Government, responding to the will of the Tibetan people, implemented the Democratic Reform and abolished the feudal serf system that had lasted for several centuries.

Photo shows Anan, a serf, living in the stables with his family before the peaceful liberation of Tibet.[Photo/Xinhua]

During the Democratic Reform, one million serfs and slaves in Tibet won emancipation, Tibet entered into a new era of social development, and the Tibetan people stood up and came into their own.

Photo shows a serf who hadone of his feet cut by owners in the old Tibet.[Photo/Xinhua]

In order to mark this historic event, the People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region decided on January 19, 2009 that March 28, the day in 1959 on which the Central Government ordered the disbandmentof the local government of old Tibet, become the "Serf Emancipation Day" of Tibet.

Photo shows a beggar on the street in the old Tibet.[Photo/Xinhua]

Photo shows the slum in Lhasa before the peaceful liberation of Tibet.[Photo/Xinhua]