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Old system in Tibet dooms to end: white paper

Xinhua, April 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

The end of the theocratic feudal serfdom in Tibet was a historical inevitability, as the system went completely against the progressive trend in China and the rest of the world, according to a white paper issued on Wednesday.

The system trampled on human dignity, infringed upon human rights and impeded development in Tibet, says the white paper titled "Tibet's Path of Development Is Driven by an Irresistible Historical Tide," issued by the Information Office of the State Council.

Political and religious powers were combined with absolute supremacy held by religious power, which was a typical manifestation of theocracy, says the white paper.

Before Democratic Reform in 1959, there were 2,676 monasteries and almost 115,000 Buddhist monks and their acolytes in Tibet. Active monks accounted for one quarter of the local male population, a total that far exceeded the proportion of clergy in Medieval Europe, and was highly unusual throughout the world, it says.

Since a large proportion of the population were not engaged in economic activity and reproduction, but were used as tools of oppression by the religious power, there was an acute shortage of social resources, and demographic growth had remained stagnant for a long period of time, it says.

Under the feudal serfdom, there was a rigid hierarchy. The 13-Article Code and the 16-Article Code, which had been practiced for centuries in Tibet, divided people into three classes and nine ranks, enshrining the rigid hierarchy in law.

This backward social structure led to a chasm of wealth in old Tibet. Closed, backward and isolated from modern civilization bore no resemblance to the "Shangri-la" fantasy, says the white paper.

After the People's Republic of China was founded and along with the progress in Chinese society, the old systems in Tibet were completely eradicated around the late 1950s and early 1960s.

However, the 14th Dalai Lama and his followers have acted against this historical trend. Instead of acknowledging the ruthlessness and cruelty of theocratic rule, they pine for the old system and dream of resurrecting it in Tibet one day. Relevant statements can be found in their documents, the white paper says. Endi