Summary: In 1959 over 1 million serfs in Tibet were emancipated and March 28 marks the 60th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet. It is also the third official Serfs Emancipation Day. Since its liberation, Tibet has seen life expectancy nearly double from 35.5 to 67 years. Tibet's GDP has also increased to $7.8 billion, which has been increasing by 12.4% each year since 2005. Because Tibet was one of the first places in China to provide free compulsory education, it has almost eliminated illeteracy. Although Tibet has been allowed to remain largely autonomous, its chairman, Padma Choling, says that "all the achievements should be attributed to the socialist system and the leadership of the Communist Party". He goes on to say that the democratic reform that took place 52 years ago is what allows Tibetans today to enjoy legal rights and interests.
Significance: Not mentioned in this article is that the Dalai Lama recently gave up his political role, which allows Tibet to have truly free elections. This experiment in democracy that China has been allowing for some time now is a great step in breaking the chains of Communism. People like to forget that America experimented with democracy on a smaller scale for a long time before it finally broke off from any ties of monarchy and Tibet will allow China to do much the same. China is also showing more leniency in village elections, which is how our democracy started out. And now these figures showing that a democratic portion of China is doing so well for itself is a beacon of hope for democracy. As long as the experiment that began 50 years ago can continue (and hopefully spread), then China is well on its way to becoming the biggest democracy in the world. And the fact that they're not trying to accomplish this overnight as so many other countries have done is a great sign that they may succeed. Of course, if Tibet loses the increasing prosperity that it's been experiencing since gaining autonomous rule, then Communism may clamp down even harder in China.
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