An article released on Tuesday by Guangming Daily quoted a number of Chinese experts as saying that the feudal serf system in old Tibet was crueler than that in Western Europe in the middle ages. The following is an excerpt:

Serfdom in old Tibet was much darker and more ferocious compared with the serf system prevailing in Western Europe during the middle ages, said Zhang Yun, a researcher with the China Tibetology Research Center (CTRC).

He said that before 1959, Tibet had long been a feudal serf society that integrated religion with politics, and in which monks and the nobles practised dictatorship.

Serfs made up more than 90 percent of the population in old Tibet but they had no land, freedom or democracy. However, serf owners, usually officials, the noble and senior monks, owned all land and most of the livestock, and exploited serfs by practising usury, said Dainzin Lhunzhub, researcher of the Society and Economy Institution under CTRC.

They sold, mortgaged and bartered serfs as just any other kind of property and even imposed extremely brutal methods of punishment, such as hacking off hands and feet or cutting ears, said Zhang.

Only by shaking off such fetters and getting freedom people were able to regain the strong momentum of initiative and creativity, said Meng Guanglin, professor with the Renmin University of China.

The feudal serfdom in old Tibet was running against the trend of history and was the root of poverty and underdevelopment in Tibet, said Dainzin Lhunzhub.

Zhang pointed out that the Dalai Lama has been spreading various kinds of lies in order to disguise the real purpose of seeking "Tibet independence" and restoring the feudal serf system that mixed religion with politics.

Tibet will never return to the dark old days and any attempt to make that happen is doomed to fail.

(China Daily April 18, 2008)