A new book entitled "Research on frontier issues of Tibet" was published by Chinese Tibetologist Zhu Xiaoming prior to the 55th anniversary of the Serfs' Emancipation Day on March 28. It states the historical significance of the eradication of the feudalist serfdom in old Tibet and the democratic reform, and gave an insight into the "democracy" the 14th Dalai Lama has been preaching.

After the armed rebellion was quelled in March 1959, a democratic reform was conducted in Tibet by China’s central government and the Tibetan people. However, the Dalai Lama asserted that "I am just about to conduct the reform when the Chinese army entered Tibet." And his followers always describes him as "the representative of democracy", "democracy is always the Dalai Lama’s dream" and "he is pursuing democracy among exiled Tibetans."

Tibet under feudalist theocratic serfdom before 1959

According to Zhu’s book, before the democratic reform in 1959, Tibet’s land and people were distributed to the three major estate-holders -- local administrative officials, aristocrats and upper-ranking lamas., who accounted for less than five percent of Tibet's population, but owned all of Tibet's farmland, pastures, forests as well as most livestock, while serfs, taking up 90 percent of old Tibet's population had no no means of production and could be traded by their masters.

The "13-Article Code" and "16-Article Code", which were enforced for several hundred years until 1950s, divided people into three classes and nine ranks, by which decedents of the aristocrats could keep their political, economic and social status, while serfs’offspring would be serfs forever.

Under theocracy, religion was not only people’s faith, but also a political and economic entity. The majority of the people lived in extreme poverty without the basic human rights. One tenth of the young people were lamas and monks who enjoyed the economic privileges, which impeded the overall economic development and the population growth.

However, the Dalai Lama, the then head of the Tibetan local government had never been concerned for Tibet’s "democracy", nor serfs’"human rights." In fact, it was the fear for the democratic reform of the upper ruling class and the Dalai Lama himself that made them decide to flee abroad.

The book said, there are several documents on human rights concerning the eradication of serfdom in the world. The "Universal Declaration on Human Rights" approved by the United Nations in 1948 stipulated, "all forms of serfdom and trades of serfs should be prohibited." "The Supplement Convention on the Abolishment of Serfdom, Trades of Serfs and Similar Serfdom and Customs" promulgated by the U.N. in 1956 pointed out that all systems related to serfdom were included in the category of abrogation. And the "land tenants" the Convention mentioned were those "who live and work on other people’s land," and whose social status could not be changed. The book stressed that "the serfs in old Tibet, no doubt fall into his category."

"Democracy" claimed by "exiled Tibetan government"

The book said, after the Dalai Lama fled abroad in 1959, the political framework of the theocratic system had been preserved. The "Constitution of the Tibetan government-in-exile" clearly stipulates that "theocracy will continued to be carried out, the Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader and has the final say in all major issues". Important posts of the "exiled government" are always held by senior lamas, including the Dalai Lama’s siblings, who control the political, economic, educational and military authorities.

In the recent years, the Dalai Lama followed the western political system of checks and balances among the three branches of government, by which he established the "Gagxa administration", "Tibetan people’s parliament" and the "Supreme court". However, on the issue of former director of Radio Free Asia Ngabo Jigme’s sudden dismissal, the Dalai Lama, who had declared his "retirement" in 2011 "decided to exploit his authority to appease the discontent," said an American Tibetologist from the Indiana University. And an Tibetan American writer Jamyang Norbu said that "the disputes over Jigme’s dismissal has exposed a lack of transparency in the politics of the "exiled Tibetan government".

As an online report disclosed in June 2013, many Tibetan refugees who have lived in the areas near the Himalayas cannot live a normal life for lack of necessary birth certificates.

"Without the birth certificate, I don’t know where I belong to. I don’t have a future here," a refugee named Paden said.

The dream of refugees like Paden is to apply for the nationalities of the countries they reside in for a sense of security. However, such common desire has been impeded by the "exiled Tibetan government". In 2012, the head of the "exiled parliament" repeated that "the refugees should keep their status because the Tibetans in Tibet would lose their confidence otherwise."

As the website phayul reported in March 2013, most of the exiled Tibetans are distressed by unemployment, poverty and insufficient education resources. Most children of the exiled families become street children or orphans, who can only receive education by funding from overseas.

Drakpa Tenzin, a Tibetan who is living in the U.S. said to the RFA, he witnessed "dire poverty" on his visit to a refugee camp in October 2013. "I saw many people suffering from cataract and tuberculosis. Rats and pests are everywhere. People have no food and job, and they don’t get enough help only with the permits of residence."

An adviser to the RFA disclosed in his article that the census issued by the "exiled Tibetan government" in 2012 showed that the big majority of the exiled Tibetans lived near the poverty line although they were somewhat supported by the local government, NGOs and emergency relief from overseas. However, the leaders of the "exiled Tibetan government" all hold citizenships of the foreign countries themselves, including the head, whose relatives have owned property in the U.S. And he himself had got the permit to apply for the "green card" or American citizenship any time he wants.

In terms of the "democratic election in the settlements", only four of them had elected officials by the end of 2011, according to a report issued by the "Tibet human rights and democracy center" in September 2013. Instead, some settlements demanded to appoint an official instead of "electing" one for fear of the official as well as for fear of the representative of the Dalai Lama."

Maxime Vivas, a French writer analyzed the Dalai group’s "checks and balances" in his book "Not so Zen" published in September 2011, saying that “ Buddha dharma and Buddhist Commandments are always superior to the secular law (if this happened in France, it would incur strong protest)…The bills of the "exiled parliament" could not become law unless being approved by the Dalai Lama…The administrative authority also went to the Dalai Lama himself." Maxime indicated that the "exiled Constitution" could only be enforced within the "exiled kingdom”, but not in Tibet.

Zhu Xiaoming also pointed out in his book that no matter how much camouflage the Dalai Lama and his followers has put on for his claim of "democracy", essentially, the "exiled Tibetan government" remains a theocratic institution ruled by the upper class lamas and aristocrats. Has there been a "democracy" under theocracy in the world?

He emphasized that compared with the wishful "democracy" preached by the Dalai Lama, the separation of politics and religion, the democratic reform carried out in Tibet as well as the power of regional ethnic autonomy established, "His ‘democracy’ is merely a fraud to deceive the world."

Regional ethnic autonomy implemented in Tibet

As the White Paper of "Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet" said, 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 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.

As Zhu Xiaoming said in his new book, since the democratic reform was carried out in March 1959, many democratic elections of people’s deputies at various levels, and direct elections had been held at the county level and below. According to Xinhua’s report in the article titled "People who are no longer serfs", Phuntsog, a Tibetan old man, who used to be serf in the mansion said: "I am living a happy life today with human rights given by the Communist Party of China. I will value it to my utmost and elect deputies who can truly represent us."

Padma Choling, director of the Tibet People’s Congress said in the interview by the Xinhua News Agency on March 11, 2014 that the rate of people’s participation into the elections had reached 94 percent at the regional, prefectural, county and township levels. There are 20 deputies of the National People’s Congress from the Tibet Autonomous Region, including 12 Tibetans.

Apart from democratic elections, the Tibet Autonomous Region also enjoys preferential policies in promoting its local economy and culture according to China’s Constitution and the Law of Regional Ethnic Autonomy. Over the past 60 years since China’s reform and opening-up, the Tibetan people’s living standard has much improved thanks to the aiding Tibet policy as well as the aids provided by different provinces or cities. Many projects have been completed in construction of infrastructure such as transportation and electricity, and comfortable housing, as well as public service including 15-year compulsory education, healthcare and so on.

The Halugang Village in Lokha, which used to be known as the "village of beggar" has now become one of the "richest" in Tibet. Fifty-eight-year-old Chokyi, a descendant of the serf, has a car and two trucks. His son goes in for transportation business, and can earn over 600,000 yuan (100,000 U.S. dollars) a year, as Xinhua reported.

"The dark days will never come back," said Chokyi. "I want to follow the younger to set up my own business."

According to Xinhua，the per capita income of urban families in 2013 reached 22,561 yuan in 2013，ranking the first in China. And the net income of farmers and herders was 6,578 yuan, with the increase rate ranking the second across the country. People of all ethnic groups have enjoyed the fruits of the reform including a wide coverage of medical care or insurance for farmers, herders, urban residents, monks and nuns, the minimum living allowances for farmers, medical insurance, and full employment for college graduates. In the meanwhile, over 88 percent of the farmers and herders have moved into comfortable houses, 1.73 million people have accessed safe drinking water, and 670,000 people accessed electricity.

As the White Paper of "Development and Progress of Tibet" issued in October 2013 said, in the past six decades, the development and progress of Tibet has always centered around the people's fundamental interests. The self improvement of individuals is consistent with the progress of the society, which is a great practice in respecting human rights. The development of Tibet has been a process in which people are gaining more and more freedom, and the transformation from "deity first" to "people first." Fundamentally, it is the Tibetan people who have benefited most from Tibet's development and progress.

According to Zhu Xiaomin’s assertion in his book, the "Democracy" claimed by the Dalai Lama and his followers is schemed to to "internationalize the ‘Tibet issue’, prevent them from being marginalized, and showed the value of the Dalai Lama in order to grab more support from the West, especially the financial support. Meanwhile, they are trying to find an excuse to appease the disappointment of some exiled Tibetans toward the Dalai Lama.

"People should not be misguided by the Dalai Lama’s pretense of ‘freedom, democracy, ethnicity and religion’", Zhu said.

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