Tibetans hail "Serfs Emancipation Day"

Source: Xinhua | 01-21-2009 08:18

LHASA, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- The establishment of "Serfs Emancipation Day" will offer Tibetans an occasion to remember history and remind themselves to cherish the good days they have enjoyed since the democratic reform 50 years ago, local people have said.

People of the Tibetan ethnic group dance to celebrate the  setting of the Serfs Emancipation Day in Lhasa, capital of  southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Jan. 19, 2009.  The People's Congress (legislature) of Tibet Autonomous  Region endorsed a bill on Monday to designate March 28 as  the Serfs Emancipation Day to mark the date on which about  1 million serfs in the region were freed 50 years ago.  On March 28, 1959, China's central government announced it  would dissolve the aristocratic local government of Tibet  and replace it with a preparatory committee for establishing  Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Chogo)

More than 380 legislators in Tibet unanimously endorsed a bill Monday to mark March 28 as "Serfs Emancipation Day", the date when about one million serfs and slaves in the region were freed in 1959 following an order of the State Council, or the Cabinet, to dismiss the local government of Tibet and replace it with a preparatory committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Emgyi Arma, 86 years old, said she cried with tears when she got the news that Emancipation Day was established.

"Thank the government for the decision to mark the day. I hope our youth would not forget the history," said the old woman who was presented as a gift by her owner in Xigaze to an aristocrat in Dagdze County of Lhasa when she was a teenager.