National People's Congress (NPC) deputies from all five provinces and autonomous¹ regions with many ethnically² Tibetan inhabitants, who are in Beijing for the ongoing³ NPC session, attended an exhibition on the 50th anniversary of Tibet's Democratic Reform yesterday.

The free exhibition at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities opened on February 24 and runs until April 10. Most of the deputies are from the Tibet autonomous region, as well as Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces.

Foreign diplomats⁴ and journalists were invited to a grand evening performance by the Tibetan Song-and-Dance Troupe⁵ entitled “Tibet in Heaven” at the China Grand Theater.

Featuring many photographs, objects, documents, videos and sculptures, the ongoing exhibition showcases the last 50 years of development, during which time Tibet has moved from poverty to affluence⁶, dictatorship to democracy, and isolation⁷ to opening-up, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Among items on display in the exhibition is a copy of a letter from the old Tibet government in the early 1950s. It reads: "To celebrate the (14th) Dalai Lama's birthday, all the staff ... would chant the sutra. To successfully complete this ceremony, some special food would be thrown to the animals. Thus, a corpus of wet intestine⁸, two skulls⁹, many kinds of blood and a full human skin were urgently needed, all of which must be promptly¹⁰ delivered."

Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet autonomous region's government, called the exhibition - intended to showcase Tibet's achievements over the past 50 years - an achievement in itself.

"As a contributor to Tibet's development, I have a strong sense of personal participation," he said.

"I hope more such exhibitions could be arranged for people of all ethnicities, and from all sectors¹¹ and all countries.

"I hope they can come on site to learn about the real situation in Tibet - the region's gruesome and dark past, and the vast changes since then."

Tibet abolished serfdom in March 1959. That year, the central government began the Democratic Reform, emancipating¹² serfs, who accounted for 95 percent of old Tibet's 1 million people, allowing them to work their own fields for the first time.

Legqog, chairman of the standing¹³ committee of the autonomous region's people's congress and a former serf, said old Tibet had "an extremely pitiful" human rights record.

"The Democratic Reform in Tibet is an important chapter in the history of global human rights development," the 65-year-old said.

"Its implications are no less than those of the abolitions of serfdom in the United States and Europe.Exhibitions and more comprehensive lessons are crucial to the education of our younger generations," he added.

Tibet is set to celebrate its first Serfs Emancipation¹⁴ Day on March 28 - two months after its 382 legislators unanimously endorsed¹⁵ a bill adding the holiday to the calendar during the local people's congress' annual session in Lhasa.

Questions:

1. Where is the exhibition being held?

2. Name three things the exhibit will feature.

3. When did Tibet abolish serfdom?

Answers:

1. At the Cultural Palace of Nationalities

2. Any of the following: photographs, objects, documents, videos and sculptures.

3. March 1959.