Serfdom is an economic system of exploitation and enslavement of serfs established by feudal lords on their territories in feudal society, of which serfs are the main objects of exploitation. Serfdom in Tibet began at the end of the ninth century, took shape in the thirteenth century, and has continued for more than 700 years since then. During this period, the vast number of Tibetan people were exploited and oppressed by serf owners, who accounted for 90% of the total population of Tibet at that time. In the photo, a serf is ridden on a horse by a serf owner.
The Tibetan people living under the serfdom have long been oppressed and enslaved by the serf masters, and at the same time, the Tibetan serfs not only have to perform various kinds of labor, but also have to hand over most of the labor products, so the basic characteristics of serfs being bound to the land for a long time have emerged. Not only that, but the lives of the serfs were like grass and mustard, and they were always faced with all kinds of torture. In the photo, a serf holds a half-amputated arm cut off by a serf owner.
The French Tibetologist once wrote in the book "Ancient Tibet Faces the New China": All the peasants in old Tibet were serfs in debt for life, and they completely lost the freedom of all people. The display in the Xuesheng Exhibition Hall below the Potala Palace restores the various management systems of old Tibet: the children of serfs are slaves from birth to death, children can be sold, bought, sold, and exchanged, and everything used in goods can be used to exchange children; the old Tibetan code once showed that women had to pay taxes when they gave birth to children and chickens laid eggs. In the photo, in 1957, minji Kangse, the housekeeper of Yangda Manor, collected a poll tax on newborn babies from serfs.
This is a serf living in an earthen cave, and the mother is pictured holding her young child. It can be said that their living environment was inferior to that of the serf owners' livestock, who still had decent sheds, but they lived in damp earthen caves. The serf owners in the farming areas occupied almost all the land, and the serfs had to work free of charge in the territory of their masters all year round, and although they could also get a poor "share of the land", the variety of taxes would leave their income with little.
In this photo is the "Langsheng" (house slave) Dawa of the DongGadung Larushika (manor), who was married at this time, but could not live with his wife, and still spent the night in this stable.
Before the reforms of old Tibet, it was a feudal serfdom society that was even darker than in the European Middle Ages. Serfs and slaves, who accounted for 95 percent of Tibet's total population, were completely deprived of their personal freedom and political rights, and serf owners treated them as private property that could be bought, sold, transferred, gifted, paid off and exchanged. This phenomenon prevailed in old Tibet for hundreds of years, until the Thirteenth Code and the Sixteenth Code, which were abolished during the democratic reforms, clearly divided people into three classes and nine levels, stipulating that people's legal status was unequal. In the photo is a serf trading ground.
The Code stipulates that the life price of a superior person, such as a prince, is gold equal to the weight of his corpse, while the life price of a lower subordinate person, such as a woman, a butcher, a hunter, a craftsman, etc., is a straw rope. Serf owners maintained the feudal serf system with barbaric and cruel punishments, and often carried out horrific tortures such as eye-cutting, ear cutting, severed hands, chopping off feet, and throwing water on serfs and slaves. In the photo is an old serf dying on the side of the road.
In old Tibet, the political system of theocracy was practiced, and the Dalai Lama, as one of the leaders of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, also served as the head of the local government, and concentrated the political and religious power. The former local government of Tibet implemented a dual-track system of monks and lay officials, with monks and officials being larger than lay officials. Monasteries enjoy a range of privileges in all aspects of political, economic and social life. The serfs are pictured eating.
The photograph was shocking to see, of a thin serf working in the fields with chains and ropes around his neck. In the eyes of the serf owners, these serfs were just talking "livestock." Abolishing the feudal serfdom system is an inevitable requirement for the social development of Tibet and is also the urgent aspiration of the broad masses of the Tibetan people. In 1959, after the democratic reform in Tibet, serfdom was completely abolished, and millions of serfs turned into masters of their own homes and were no longer exploited and oppressed.