Tibetans memories: From serfs to masters of their own destiny

Source: Xinhua | 03-28-2009 16:05

BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Serjor Drolkar was a herding serf until 1959, when Tibet underwent democratic reform.

"The memories of the first 13 years of my life are all about hardship, cold and hunger," said Serjor Drolkar, now 64.

Serjor Drolkar said that 1959 was a turning point in her life, when the Chinese central government launched democratic reform in Tibet, which ended feudal serfdom and emancipated the serfs and slaves there.

"I remembered that one day, I attended a mass gathering with several other children. I couldn't quite follow what was being said. But one People's Liberation Army officer told us, 'You don't have to be servants anymore. You're free now.' I knew what that meant."

Serjor Drolkar began going to school, later studying medicine in college. She retired as vice president of Tibet University.

Serjor Drolkar was not alone in Tibet in experiencing the vicissitudes of life, rising from serfdom to become masters of their own destiny and the nation.

Before 1959, serfs and slaves accounted for about 95 percent of the population in Tibet, according to Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak, a living Buddha of the Kagyu sect and also vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Tibetan Autonomous Region People's Congress.