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China Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Peaceful Liberation of Tibet
Thousands of people in various parts of Tibet celebrated the 50th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet on Wednesday by attending colorful celebration activities.
Tibet is immersed in a festival atmosphere today. People raised the five-star Chinese national flags and streamers on roofs and placed Hada, pieces of white silk symbolizing luck, in front of the portraits of late leaders Mao Zedong and the Banchen Lama.
In the streets of Lhasa, the regional capital, dancers clad in masks and lamas with Buddhist revolving wheels gathered at an open square for a mass rally.
Celebrations were also held in many other Chinese cities. Students at the Tibetan School in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, exchanged gifts for the occasion.
At a grand celebration ceremony held in Beijing, Luo Gan, a member of the political bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said the peaceful liberation of Tibet marked the great unity of the Chinese nation in a new historical period and opened a new chapter in the history of Tibet.
The central government of China signed the 17-article agreement with the local government of Tibet on May 23, 1951. Then, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) marched into Lhasa in October that year.
As an integral part of China, Tibet carried out democratic reforms in 1959, which turned serfs, accounting for 95 percent of the total population in Tibet, into masters of their own destiny. The Potala Palace was brightly lit today. More than 5,000 Tibetan people, clad in either Tibetan robes, monk's robes or western suits, gathered at the square in front of the Potala Palace for the flag-raising ceremony.
Watching the national flag being hoisted into the air, Soinam, a 78-year-old man who was a serf 50 years ago, said, "I never witnessed such a happy event in the old Tibet."
Wang Ronghua, a descendant of a Tibetan women who married a liberation army soldier in Tibet, said, "This is a day everyone shares the great joy."
Some westerners applauded and smiled at a place few steps from the Potala Square.
Visitors and local residents had their photographs taken at the 1,300-year-old Johkang Monastery and hung Hada on a willow planted by Wencheng Princess in the Tang Dynasty.
Lamas at the Zhaxi Lhunbo Lamasery cited Buddhist scripture in union amid Buddhist horns. Lobsang Puncog, the abbot of the lamasery, said, "We pray for the prosperity of China and world peace."
Raidi, deputy secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of China, said with the help of other parts of China, the gross domestic product of Tibet increased by 30 times over the past 50 years. The life span of local residents has increased from 36 to 67.
Performance, Tibetan drama and galas will continue late into the night.
The peaceful liberation of Tibet was prominently featured in all the papers across China today.
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