China: Former serf recalls hardship in old Xizang with tears

In Lhunzhub County of Lhasa, southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region, 95-year-old Palmo has witnessed profound changes of Xizang.

In old Xizang, Palmo’s life was fraught with hardship. From the age of 15, she was forced to work for serf owners day and night in the county. Basic foods such as tsampa, a traditional Tibetan staple made from barley flour, became luxury hopes. “Wearing new clothes was a luxury. Serfs had to borrow clothes from each other to keep warm. We had no shoes to wear, so we could only walk barefoot, enduring the pain of thorn injuries.” Palmo recalled with tears in her eyes.

In March 1959, people in Xizang launched a democratic reform that ended the region’s feudal serfdom and freed a million serfs. Former serfs and slaves like Palmo’s family ushered in the dawn. They got land, cattle and sheep with life heading towards a new beginning.

Today, Palmo’s family enjoys a prosperous life. “In recent years, our families and friends often gift us large bags of rice during festivals. This is a far cry from the old days when we could only afford a small amount of rice at a time,” said Palmo.

Reference Link:- https://english.news.cn/20250324/6c7bcb19816d45d7a8dd05ab23a20638/c.html

Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan 全球丝绸之路研究联盟创始人兼主席

Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…

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